A Conversation for September Create: The Guilty Pleasures of cactuscafe

They flash upon that inward eye...

Post 1

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

...which is the bliss of solitude.'

So wrote William Wordsworth about a field of wild ddaffodils.

But he wasn't talking about 'poetic' flowers. He was talking about the mental snapshots that make up the mind's-eye album...he just didn't have a camera. (He really didn't, they weren't invented yet.)

That second image? With the hamburger? It gladdens my eye, too. Like a painting by Magritte. smiley - biggrin

Thank you for that image. smiley - hug


They flash upon that inward eye...

Post 2

cactuscafe

Thank you friend. smiley - kiss You like the giant plastic burgers? I love it that you like the burgers.

Wordsworth didn't have a camera? Hmm, no I suppose he didn't. Wouldn't have been the same at all if he'd photographed those daffies. The world wouldn't have had the poem. Although maybe he'd have written the poem also. And it would have been a Wordsworth photo, from the Mind's Eye Album. I love that!!!

I guess the camera is just a tool to express the Mind's Eye Album.

I'm so into The Mind's Eye Album, I'm going to dance. A bit. Just a little dance. A gangly spangly dance. Of joy. smiley - rofl


They flash upon that inward eye...

Post 3

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - rofl

I ran across a very early photograph once. Actually, it was a calotype, I think - one of the experimental thingies before true photographs. (I'm a history of photography buff.) This calotype showed Maria Edgeworth, and it was taken by he baby brother.

Now, this astonished me. Because Maria Edgeworth was this incredibly dear soul who wrote novels about Ireland in the 18th Century, when she lived. Her baby brother was 30 years younger than she was - their dad was widowed a few times...anyway, he took the calotype about 1830, when she was an old lady, and so we get to see an 18th-century novelist...

Cameras: mind's-eye archivists and time travel devices...oh, my, yes...smiley - winkeye


They flash upon that inward eye...

Post 4

cactuscafe

Fascinating!

The camera as a time travel device! Yes!

(Picks up camera. You hear that little friend? Let's go.) smiley - run

I've never heard of the calotype. That's amazing! Hmm, I should know my history of photography.

I just put calotype into Google images, and there were all these haunting images looking back at me in sepia negatives and monochrome. Curious time travel indeed!

smiley - coffee

Even though the digital camera these days has all kinds of retro settings, I'm not sure if they can ever re-create that particular essence of the original.

I love the retro settings, though.

I'm happy with the digital revolution, even though many photographers prefer film, and dark room processing.

Perhaps the digital cameras make it all too quick and easy, although I still think it's a miracle.

Not sure if I could ever get involved with dark rooms and all those chemicals, even though it must be magic seeing the image appearing on the paper!

smiley - coffee

And it's so romantic! How often will the image of a photographer in the low red light of a dark room appear in a movie! Often, I'd say. Although I can't think of any. smiley - rofl. Except for a Columbo episode, that I was watching the other day.

smiley - coffee

I'm fascinated by pinhole cameras, and the strange images they produce. No lens, just a pinhole.

smiley - coffee

Funny thing, photography. Freezing moments.

I often apologise to the essence of a moment for freezing it, and say to it that if it really feels trapped, like a trapped butterfly, could it let me know, and I will free it. Which is quite barking, really, but it matters to me.

Be spooky if I heard a fluttering sound inside my camera. Let me out, I'm a trapped moment! That would make a good story. Almost. smiley - rofl.

Or perhaps photography isn't about freezing moments. I see it as theatre, illusion, because you can't really freeze essence, so the image that appears is somehow in disguise.

What am I talking about? Hmm. smiley - coffee No idea, I'm evolving, even as I type. smiley - rofl I think I'll take a selfie to prove my point. No! No! Spare me from the selfie!





They flash upon that inward eye...

Post 5

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - biggrin Indeed.

Look up 'spirit photography'. You might find it interesting...smiley - whistle

Dark rooms leave a funny taste in your mouth. But yes, it's really magic to watch the pictures emerge.smiley - smiley


They flash upon that inward eye...

Post 6

cactuscafe

I just checked the spirit photography. smiley - rofl. This is most fascinating.

I think one day I might take a photo and see someone standing there who isn't really there. Or are they? Of course no one would believe me, they'd think it was a trick of the light. Which it would be. Unless it wasn't.

smiley - redwine

You've used a dark room then? They taste funny? I guess it's all the chemicals. I never heard that before. smiley - rofl The taste of a room.


They flash upon that inward eye...

Post 7

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - rofl It'sthe chemicals. Like the aftermath of a musket barrage, I think...

I did some dark room courses at one time. I enjoyed them. smiley - smiley I made some fun photos - one of two bears being intimate...smiley - blush


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