Can a photo be worth 1000 words?
Can a photo be worth 1000 words? Perhaps not 1000, but surely at least a couple hundred. I wonder how many authors or wannabe authors there are on Newstalkers who can either describe a photo or tell a story that can be depicted by the photo, in at least 200 words, and in fact any number up to 1000 or so. As an example I tell a story here about this photo:
Around 45 years ago we travelled through North Wales, stopping late in the afternoon of Christmas Eve at the town of Ruthin. Finding the hotels filled we sought a B&B and did not find one in town except for one just outside the city limits where the owner was just taking down his "vacancy" sign. I told him that we couldn't find anywhere to sleep, and we would sleep in his manger if he had one. He told us that he had just rented their one rental room to an American couple, but he did have a very small attic room if we wanted to see it, so we followed him up the stairs when he stopped and said "I can't let you stay in that tiny room. You can stay in our bedroom and my wife and I will sleep in the attic." We stayed the night there, but before that we and the American couple went to Ruthin Castle for a Medieval Christmas Dinner - complete with "wenches" serving mead, the type of meal Lords and ladies from those days would have enjoyed, and entertainment - an absolutely magnificent evening. Finally we went to bed. They were so trusting - they left all their valuables, jewelry box, etc. in the room and of course my wife and I did not touch anything. We went down for breakfast, and our host had already prepared a map and written directions for us to follow all the way across North Wales to Caernarfon Castle and LanfairPG (short form for the town with the longest name in the world) pointing out all the most scenic spots. They were so good to us, so besides paying the bill, I gave him the large bottle of Canadian Crown Royal Rye Whiskey that I had purchased at the duty free shop when leaving Toronto's airport. This photo was taken with my Canon F1 SLR film camera when we stopped to gaze at this beautiful scene of a hillside sheep farm with a mountain backdrop. It was a trip to remember.
(That was about 350 words)
Now I have posted a series of photos each as a separate comment, and you can choose one or any number to either describe the photo or tell a story about it (make up whatever story you wish) by posting it in a "reply" comment to the photo or photos you choose. It should consist of at least 200 words - (I am NOT looking for captions here) - or up to as many as around 1000 words. Each photo is posted as a separate comment, and to post your story just click the "reply" link under the photo. If you wish, you can also either describe the photo or tell a story about the article photo of the sheep farm in Wales.
Looking forward to seeing some creativity.
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AS a batter old woman I sit and think, WTF did I do with my life ? My kids are gone, My husbands long dead. Most of my friends are dead . All my livestock have fled and I’m so sick of chicken I could puke. The damn house is falling down around my head and we never did have city water or electricity like the damn government promised we‘d have. O-Well I guess there’s no since sitting here being all negative, at least I still have my beauty. They say that’s the first thing to go but you know only ugly people say that. Anyway I suppose I should get off my lazy butt and start dinner, I’m not getting any younger and it takes me a little longer to get things done. I guess I’ll slaughter Fred today, he should be quite tasty because he’s still a young cock. Then it’s off to work, I’ve got to talk with my boss about getting on a different shift, these night shifts are aging me quickly. Anyway back to dinner. Thank God for Tupperware now I can take a snack to work as well. OK Fred, dinner time…… Chop.. Chop
When I reached "I still have my beauty" I burst out laughing, and then couldn't stop laughing through the rest of your story. Thanks for that.
In a short version.. that would have been the ending. my beauty.
Thanks for the opportunity to try to do this and the feedback after. I enjoyed it.
PS: It "happened" to be exactly 200 words as well ... lol
and....I wouldn't want to go for a thousand.
thanks again
Consider what is happening when a reflection is seen … it is a LOOK AT THE PAST!
"What," you cry out incredulously … "How am I looking at The Past by looking at a reflection … is this some kind of a riddle … a joke … ; "You're messin' with me, right?"
"Not at all," I say. Everything we see … we see as 'the past'! EVERYTHING!"
In the absence of light, we see nothing at all … and when a source of light is present, we see either objects, or light transmitted to our eyes from that source. If we are looking at a red sweater, what we literally see is LIGHT REFLECTED from the surface of that sweater … all the colors of which are absorbed by the sweater from the light that strikes it … except for the red … which it REFLECTS, and, which we see.
Light is comprised of a spectrum of colors … Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet … when combined, they comprise what is called, "WHITE LIGHT".
NO OBJECT HAS COLOR! The color of the surface of any object is the color of the spectrum it REFLECTS! If it reflects all of the colors of the light striking its surface, it will appear to be white -- if it absorbs all of the light's colors and reflects none -- it will appear to be black.
And all this reflection business takes TIME, and, even traveling at approximately 186,000 mile/second, for whatever amount of time, no matter how minuscule, it takes to reflect from the object to your eye … what you see is not the object as it is in the NOW … but as it WAS back before it you got to see it.
The sunlight is about 9 minutes old when seen by a viewer on the earth … 93 million miles divided by 186,000 miles/second … 500 seconds (give or take) divided by 60 seconds = 8.3333333 minutes!
We see the sun as it was almost 9 minutes before its light travels to earth.
THE PAST!
One more thing … Einstein figured that if we could travel faster than the speed of light, at some point we'd be able to look back at any event in time as we passed its transmitted reflection … like maybe watching ourselves be born!
Sometimes it takes me hours to fall asleep as I lay in bed at night thinking about this kind of stuff!
How's that for 1000 words or so, Buzz.
Does it REFLECT well on me?
"Does it REFLECT well on me?"
Outstandingly.
I got a real short one
Wow acid !!!
sorry
"Wow acid !!! "
If so, and if memory serves, I think there would have been more sparkles.
LOL... I stand corrected once again.
OK ... "Scrooms !!!"
This picture was taken just after I just found out Trump had been elected. I kid, I kid. But seriously, as I reflect upon the turmoil of this day and age, in America and beyond, I also contemplate what it was like to live 60 years ago, with challenges facing the world at that time. World War 2 was still fresh in people's memories. Just as Germany was getting used to the idea on being it's own sovereign state again after a post war restructure and rebuild, so too were plenty of other countries. China definitely felt this keenly, having gone from being under Japan's yoke to trying to reclaim a sense of identity while remembering it's heritage.
This is what I remember most about my life in China back then. Yes, we all knew the legend of IP Man, and had shared a profound sense of national pride over what he had almost singlehandedly done to help reclaim a sense of ourselves. I was lucky to have witnessed his greatness after he returned to our homeland from Hong Kong after the war ended. He was such an inspiring figure.
Those times filter in with many more over the years as I witnessed what were at their times the pinnacle of human ingenuity. Television supplanted radio, there were manned space flights by both the Americans and Russians, and even eventually by our own great nation. I've seen symbols rise and fall. Egregious examples of the worst of mankind falling aside and being ground into the Earth by esteemed examples of mankind's inherent kindness and will to promote and elevate all within it's purview.
Despite this greatness, another aspect of the human spirit continued to surface....the desire for more. Our own country went through such terrible times, that crystalline moments in time such as Tienanmen Square only served as window dressing to the terror and lassitude felt by a great many people at the injustice and cruelty in the world. Things that would never be reported, never come to light, but that we all knew were happening. What was one to do? Sit idly by while cruel fate was served on fallow plates? And yet this was most assuredly the way we reacted. Stunned and bewildered, we wouldn't have even known where to begin to seek out our freedom or at the very least, an essence of dignity.
But, as the world shrinks and the population grows, we have to face the realities of our existence, and in those times we see a renaissance of the human spirit, a revitalization of the soul, in whatever form that takes for each of us individually. While I might not like the advent of McDonalds on streetcorners in my country, in the city that I live, I love it nonetheless, because it speaks to all that we've done to free ourselves from the most desperate chains of cruelty.
As I sit here, alone, contemplating what is and what was, I put my head in my hands and cry just a little for all our loss, and a lot for all we still have left to gain.
Brilliant. Thank you Peter.
My pleasure. These are fun exercises in my opinion.
Calling literary members !!! Here's a challenge for your writing skills.
Leaving a comment so that I can come back to this, later...
Apparently meeting the challenge of this article is beyond either the interest or ability of the NT members, so unless the challenge is met by anyone by midnight today, which is in about 3 hours, I wll delete the article. I can use the photos I posted in future articles. No hard feelings. I guess I was just too optimistic.
I would have liked to participate but these picture are so foreign to me I have no idea of what they would mean in their world.
Maybe try some more american style pics... funny ones are always easier to play with as well.
Just a suggestion, I loved the idea !
You may be right about a few of them, Steve, but kids are kids all over the world, as is a woman crying (think of the people who lost their homes in Texas, for example). Surely the farm in North Wales can be a common sight in America.
Now, Steve, you see how easy that was? You had me (and I'm sure others who will read it) laughing out loud with your 'old woman' story.
easy ? Well it seemed strange. Its been a long time since I wrote anything like that. Mainly I just wanted to see if I could do it.
I did actually start a book long ago but it was/is written as a letter/gift/remembrance to those I know I will leave behind. The book is much more real life based on the trials and tribulations than helped shape me written with my younger nephews with many yet unlearned lessons in life to learn in mind.
I'm really happy I've been proven wrong.
threaten to take something away... people respond. lol
PS: Thanks !
............
PS: negotiators use that all the time. Act now or I'll take it away .....lol
It worked this time, but the last time I used it it didn't so I deleted the whole article..
I think it's really child psychology. Take away privileges to discipline. e.g. I'm taking away your cell phone for 2 days.
LOL Yep sometimes some things works, sometimes some things may not.
Not all keys fit all locks, who knew...lol
Having now read an exceptional essay by Peter, and the possibility of others, I retract my intention to delete. This is an opportunity to show your skill with something that perhaps you have not had the opportunity to do for a long time.