(Combien de temps?)
How long until I find the just-right thing? And do it in the just-right way? To create the just-right result?
I wanted to do a photo shoot with ma maman’s little blue Limoges creamer and clusters of grapes (les raisins). But then I got blue on my mind.
The blue took me to another Wedgwood. A Ralph Lauren “Empire” cup with an image on the bottom, in gold, of a man playing polo.
These tea niceties have nothing to do with the person for whom I wanted to make these photos. And the person for whom I wanted to make these photos will never see them, can never see them.
Imagine a world where we made beautiful things for people, just because.
Where we left a rose at the door without ringing the bell. Maybe even the wrong door, as if it did not matter. As if a kindness, a gift of beauty given to anyone, would ripple out into the larger world—a gift to all.
I noticed the other day that I love to photograph things in isolation. A white teacup alone in a sea of white. Not lonely. Just alone.
So today I worked with several items at once. All kinds of blue.
Photography and French, both, invite me to explore. To notice where I am, what I do, how I see—and how I might try to do things differently. My tea keeps me company, as I experience le dépaysement.
Exploration can open us to more exploration.
I’ve always wished I could do video. Well, why not try?
So here are three. From decaffing my tea, to pouring it, to watching it steam merrily.
If this were a food humor blog, I could have given you two more videos: the one where I totally poured the tea all over the counter instead of aiming it squarely into the teacup; and the one where I created a truly beautiful video—only to discover I’d had the camera off during the beauty and had only turned it on after the fact.
(So, whoosh went the camera, landing its photographic eye in the sink. Not what I was going for, to say the least :).
How long?
(traduction: as always, L.L. :)
below ↓ exploring movement with the camera. i love the way it created a planes effect, which i recall some french artist did at some point in his painting. was it manet?
And look at this light… playing on the heart of my daughter’s long-ago sculpture of a sorrowful girl in a pensive mood. Only after more snow shoveling did I come in the house to find this additional study in blue. And I had to give it to you.
Come sip with me. A little tea. A little French. Explorations in photography.
All images: copyright LL Barkat
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As another Francophile, I love Limoges and pretty much all things blue and white. Enjoyed your writing.