The lowly toothpick is one of those things that most of us can easily forget about. Like the coffee-stirrer and the now-redundant lighter in my car, toothpicks could disappear off the face of the earth and I wouldn't miss them.
Yet for some odd reason, this box of toothpicks seemed like a neat thing to shoot when I was looking for something different the other day. The light was working for me, and the composition seemed to be an odd mixture of randomness and symmetry. I know, I'm an artsy. Sorry.
I thought it would be the kind of picture most of us wouldn't otherwise take. So, being the contrarian that I am, I took it. I hope you like it. And I hope it prompts you to look at your own boxes of toothpicks in a new light.
Your turn: Is there nothing more mundane than the lowly toothpick? What other plain-and-ignored items can you think of?
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16 comments:
Here via Michele. Carmi, I am adding you to my blogroll because I just really enjoy your wit and your thought provoking photos. Other than salt from a salt shaker, I can't think of things we commonly use that we just don't really think about that much.
I tried to post earlier, dropping in from Michele's, but blogger ate my comment--like the picture! Nice shot. How about china--stuff many of us have but only use once or twice a year--shooting china in a cabinet with mirrors might also be a good shot.
Toothpicks remind me of "Rainman"... :)
Love the shot!
Here via michele today, Carmi!
hi carmi... i usually use toothpicks to check the middle of a cake or brownies to see if it's done so i would miss them... and i always grab a toothpick at a restaurant...
anyway... great pix!
have a question for you though... i was trying to shoot a pix of strawberries with sugar on them the other day and for some reason the pix kept wanting to blur out... so i tried another red thing and it did the same thing! it is me or is red hard to capture up close?
i'm going to keep trying, of course!
The cup that holds the tooth brushes right next to the bathroom sink...it's very overlooked...
Hi, I have come accross you via 'Here in the Hills'. I love your photo of the tooth picks as I can be a bit of a contrarian too! How about tissues as being mundane (but maybe not so great to photograph), or rubber bands?
7, 8, Lay them straight...
Tooth picks are a good exercise in dealing with just light, shadow, order and composition. I perfer the rounded ones with tips at both ends.
cheers,
I love that you notice the mundane in the world, Carmi. Somehow, you make them not so mundane after you photograph and write about them.
I, also, am fascinated at how you can take something mundane, like toothpicks, and make them not so ordinary. Thanks for letting us see the world through your eyes.
Funny you should ask that question Carmi. As I was photographing my son playing golf in the house today (long story, don't ask!!!), he threw the ball in the air. When it came down, where did it land, you ask?
In the butter on the counter. Hopefully it made a great photo. I'll see when the roll of film comes back.
So, my answer, butter. But the butter must have a yellow plastic golf ball in the middle of it!!!
Toothpicks are great-very useful.
Around my office the thing overlooked is post it notes--everyone uses so many of them that they turn out to be more like wallpaper than accual bold reminders.
Love the toothpicks, Carmi. I could hear the light, almost hollow, clicking sound of the picks hitting each other when their box is jostled, in your picture.
Mundane things? Paper clips, post-it notes, the pile of shoes in the corner of my bedroom...
ignored?? toothpicks?? you have kids man.. we use toothpicks almost everyday! when i'm not picking my teeth (which thanks to bad genes and hit 'n miss dentristy i do rather a lot), we are making spinning tops, sticking heads on potato or egg men and women orsticking flags on stuff.
toothpicks are central to our existence and fun.
but mundane stuff... the slowly toppling pile of paper stuff in front of me right now. it rarely changes, serves no purpose and is ever present.
Here from Michele.
Wow! You would not believe what I have taken pictures of. Rusted nail in a weathered fence. A rusted screw in a clean aluminum sheet. Chain link fence with trapped autumn leaves. Dried bedstraw burrs. Dandelions from every conceivable angle. All sorts of things. Most recently....cornbread.
It's little things like that or a box of paperclips that people suddenly want a stock photo of and realize they don't have one. Plus it's purdy. :-)
Oh Carmi, toothpicks are an absolute necessity for The Perfect Martini. ;-) Or as Killired mentioned, to check a cake baking...other than that, wouldn't miss 'em a bit. Hmmm, an obsolete item, ummm, rubber cement?
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