Thursday, January 18, 2007

In the margins


In the shadows
Deerfield Beach, Florida, January 2007

When I first decided to become a writer, I began to appreciate the green and red markups that my teachers/reviewers would leave in the margins of my submitted work. The richness of their feedback helped me take so-so first drafts and turn them into somewhat better pieces of work. I learned that the real value in something isn't always in the stuff you see first. Rather, it's buried in the margins, in the less obvious places most folks won't ever see.

Handwritten markups have largely been replaced by electronic collaboration tools. Microsoft Word's reviewing tools add a whole new dimension to the process, but the fundamentals remain the same.

It spills into my photography as well, where I find myself peering beside and behind the main subject, looking for little snippets of brilliance that will make the thing fly and, on occasion, stand out on their own. Consequently, I look down and a lot.

Your turn: What do you see when you look beside and behind?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the pic a lot Carmi.

When you are trying to find inspiration or something interesting to shoot it never fails that the most delightful things are very understated. Like your photo here. It is so important to remember the things that are a foot in every direction around us.

I am never let down when I take those shots!

kenju said...

I see the unexpected; the artistic side of nature that I don't usually notice.

I know Anna will love the lines in this one!

Anonymous said...

I like the picture too

Anonymous said...

You certainly have an eye for photography, Carmi. And it helps that you don't just see things in black and white....you capture those shades of gray.

Anonymous said...

Many times I see the real story my friend :)

srp said...

Here from Michele this time.
This picture interests me because in a two dimensional flat photo, you've captured a three dimensional look. The cracks between the pavement blocks bends the light and shadow just enough to "puff" the blocks out. That is incredible.

Snaggle Tooth said...

The brush behind the trees!

What a interesting shadow-shape show there!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful picture Carmi.
I always love the background of pictures, while looking at an old picture today, of a cousin & I when we were maybe, 18 months old I was amused to see my father had caught my cousin's mother's jaw dropped expression as he reached out to pull my hair!