A Bit of a Challenge

Mrs Snail (http://www.thesnailofhappiness.wordpress.com) has lent me the brilliant book Wheesht by Kate Davies. It is a series of short essays on aspects of creativity challenging some of the common assumptions made about how it works. At the end of each chapter she sets a challenge or challenges to facilitate an exploration of the theme. In the chapter ‘within limits’ she suggests taking a black and white photo each day for a week and also writing a haiku (17 syllables is the only rule) on the weather or some other simple subject. I thought it would be interesting to share them as a short blog series – it will help me keep at it!

This morning I tried to set my phone to take monochrome pictures but failed to find a way. How things have changed! Of course I am old enough to remember when all photos were black and white unless the photographer then hand painted the prints. A roll of film had to be loaded into the camera; a process which had to be undertaken in the dark or with only a red lightbulb for illumination, or inside a bag made of blackout material. The advice was to practice the process with an empty film spool first in the light and then in the bag as it was easy to jam the spool or damage the camera or not thread the loose end of the film onto the second spool correctly and find it had not wound on. There were usually 36 shots on each spool. After taking one photo you had to wind the film on manually. If you forgot or failed to wind far enough the same piece was exposed twice and the pictures would be on top of each other. Since film and processing were relatively expensive it often took weeks or months to use all 36 exposures. Then out came the bag again and you hunted for the light-proof container the film had come in. More fumbling in the dark and the full spool was safely in the tube to be taken to the Chemist or posted off for processing. Another wait until the processed negatives and prints could be collected. Only then would you know if there was a telegraph pole growing out of Uncle Tom’s head or you had cut off someone’s legs. Too late if you had made a mistake!

So here, thanks to the magic of photo editing, is my first picture and first haiku.

Clouds scudding across the sky make light and shade dance on the tarmac ahead