Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Thematic Photographic 14 - Faded


Chevy in the rough
Port Stanley, ON, September 2008 [Click to enlarge]


Everything has its prime. When it's new and perfect, it's easy to find a flawless angle. But over time, the world takes its toll. Cars get rusty and dented. Bricks crumble. Skin gets wrinkly. Sadly, it's almost in our nature to look elsewhere.

This red Chevrolet stood out in the parking lot behind Mackie's, an almost-century-old restaurant just off the beach in this cottage/resort town on Lake Erie's northern shore. Our eldest son, Zach, saw it from way off and knew it would make a great photo subject. But as we drew closer, it became apparent that this car had seen better days. I couldn't find a workable composition in between the haphazardly applied bondo, mismatched paint and faded, scuffed chrome. I almost gave up before it dawned on me: Its imperfection is part of the story. That's the beauty.

So this week's Thematic Photographic theme, faded, zooms in on stuff thay may be a little older, a little run down, a little broken, a little humble, a little forgotten. Here's how this weekly photofest works:
  1. Every Wednesday evening, I post a new Thematic Photographic entry.
  2. Each entry has a unique theme. This week's is...faded.
  3. You post a similarly themed image over on your blog.
  4. You paste a link to your entry in a comment here.
  5. If you've already posted something that fits (on a blog, Facebook, MySpace, wherever) simply post the link to the existing entry.
  6. You may post one per day, many per day, one each day of the entire week, whatever suits your fancy. This is all about sharing, so feel free to share to your heart's content!
  7. Please share this link with friends, too. I want this thing to being photographic happiness to lots of people - and I need your help.
Your turn: Go nuts with this one, as I know you will! I suspect this is going to be a very entertaining week. And if you know of someone who might be interested in joining this insanity, please forward them this link: http://tinyurl.com/phototheme

40 comments:

smarmoofus said...

Great theme, Carmi! And a beautiful photo to start us off. The scuffs and scratches are just character. Right?

And the same goes for my photo... the hole is added character.

-smarmoofus

Linda said...

Ah....there are SO many ways to take this! Here's My Take

Mamie said...

Another winner of a theme. Like the way it can be interpreted on so many levels. My interpretations? FADED.

Chad Oneil Myers said...

You did a great job capturing a great "part" of this car. I would had never guessed that it was in bad shape as a whole.

That's the job of us photographers, we choose what to include in the frame and what to exclude.

Anonymous said...

I used an old photo, but it's one that means a lot to me.

Link is here

Anonymous said...

Thematic Photographic 14 - Voici ma photo

awareness said...

LOVE the theme Carmi and SO timely.

Here's my first post....have another one I will post later tonight when I have some writing time. :) Thank you for this.

dana

http://mayfairplace.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/margela/

i feel like this is a game this week, my photo is a match to yours.

sealaura said...

Hola Carmi!
So glad I was introduced to your blog. My entry is Caribbean Lazarus at http://sealaura.blogspot.com/

Janet said...

Carmi, thanks for feeding my addiction to photo challenges ;-)

Mine's up

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Robin said...

Great shot Carmi, I love the way you've set the stage for this one.

Faded is such an intriguing theme. I went out shooting today and came back with some great blog fodder.

Here's the first offering:

More Than the Sum of its Parts

Megan said...

Hey buddy!!

Haven't heard from you in forever, mostly because I haven't had time to do anything on here forever.

I have been going home for my lunches lately.

So, how is everything?? Your dad, how is he?

Let me know!

MamaCta! said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MamaCta! said...

This is going to be a fun theme!

Here is my corrected link:

http://the5cfamily.blogspot.com/2008/09/thematic-photographic-fadad.html

It is sort of a collaboration with SeaLaura.

Anonymous said...

seems that my link is not working.

http://www.cheeseinmyshoe.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Ok, here is my faded. Thanks for the great themes, Carmi!

kenju said...

I love old cars! I wish you had a full body shot of this one.

Catherine said...

I've posted a shot of Tibetan prayer flags in a rather unlikely spot
Faded

Unknown said...

That's a super photo carmi, it looks like a new car .. I guess the wee dent in the chrome would tell me it's not.

My photo is
here

Great theme!

Maddy said...

Well I shall try and have a go, although Wednesday is a bit crammed at the moment.
Cheers

Anonymous said...

Done!

Heather said...

My first one is up :)

Faded

MamaCta! said...

Here is my second contribution to the theme:

http://the5cfamily.blogspot.com/2008/09/faded.html

Barbara said...

Carmi, another great theme! While I am still posting about the trip on the USS Eisenhower, I just have to insert something "faded" in keeping with the TP this week. Stop by for a look (and don't miss the shots of the air show at sea).

Terri said...

Love this theme. Glad I found your site through Robin...gives me a chance to get back to taking pictures. It's been too long.

Faded

Mojo said...

I'm late to the party again, but for a different reason this time. "Faded" isn't something I'd normally actively seek out for a subject, so the archives didn't really yield much up that I thought was useful. Of course, I was taking the theme literally, which I think made it tougher than it needed to be. But then I stumbled up on this which I thought fit perfectly. One day perhaps I'll have a day job where my "real" camera won't be out of place. Or perhaps someone will figure out how to put a decent camera in a wireless phone. But in this case, for this theme, perhaps the image quality adds to the photo as much as it detracts from it.

You be the judge.

docemdy said...

I thought it was a new car. My entry is about how the old has sparked new developments. Tourists flock to heritage sites after all and hotels get built.

Nestor Family said...

This theme is good. I appreciate it beacuse I grew up with parents that collected antiques. I think I gained a perspective on life knowing about things past. It's good to see where we've been once in a while, I think.

Here is my photo.

Driftwood and Pumpkin said...

I am in! What a fun theme. Here is
mine.

me said...

Mine's up at last, glad I had something on hand.

http://spottychop.blogspot.com/2008/09/thematic-photographic-14-faded.html

Anonymous said...

Hi friend,

Better late than nevah?

A few recent images that came to mind with this week's theme...the second reminds me of one of yours as well :).

Faded beauty

smarmoofus said...

I'm back with another look at "faded". And quite a few people have posted since I last checked! I've got some photos to appreciate!

Meanwhile, mine are here:
1. "Faded Blue Jeans"
2. "Retro GE"

-smarmoofus

Wonelle said...

This is fun - many, many ways to interpret faded... My 3 year old son is [accidentally] playing along. Mine will be up shortly. http://conversationswithanicelady.blogspot.com/

Wonelle said...

Installment II is up, too! conversationswithanicelady.blogspot.com

Coach Paulette said...

I enjoyed this theme, Carmi. I find I'm taking my camera with me more and more and taking photos of interesting things - because I like them ~ and in hopes they fit a theme of yours in the future :-)

Here are my attempts at this week's theme:

Faded in the Pasture

Anonymous said...

Okay, I'm going to add one here. The shriveled hand of my aunt is faded by her nearly 96 years on this earth, but she was a mere 5 hours from heaven-bound when it was taken.

The amazing thing is that it was shot with a camera phone.

http://myhomesweethomeonline.net/2008/03/12/wordless-wednesday-holding-hands/

Barbara said...

I have one more faded post to share for this week's TP. This was a fun theme for me as I got to re-visit memories. What's next, Carmi? Can't wait!

Susan said...

Here are two last-minute entries:

Faded hearts and faded glass.

janie said...

hi there, this is a great idea, i'm not sure how to actually link so ... http://janies-rainy-day.blogspot.com