little guardian

Few people know this, but I am a cat person. And by ‘few people’ I mean everyone who knows me. And by ‘cat person’ I mean I love cats to a point that I’m relatively certain everyone who knows me likely thinks that one day I will be a crazy old lady living with twenty cats.

And I am okay with that. Perhaps this is why they think that.

That would be the original reason that I chose to write on the picture above. I figured writing about something I find appeasing to both my eye and my interests would be easy enough. However, after about three different attempts at describing the photo I’ve decided to start over with this. It seems with each time I try to analyze this adorable picture I come up with different feelings, different ways of seeing the photo. Definite conclusions, at this point, are impossible. But as I’ve come to realize, it is quite difficult to look at something the same way twice when you look at it from a more technical aspect.

The piece is titled ‘little guardian’ and I saw the picture quite differently before I knew the name. I simply thought it was a cute picture of a kitten warming himself in the sun. After discovering the title, I found that it laughable. After all, how can a small young kitten guard anything? But the more and more I thought about it, and the more I looked at the picture with the title in mind, and the more I saw the small kitten as a guardian, I began to realize something about the cat in the large windowsill. With the heavy expression, the little kitten seemed overwhelmed or aged. Perhaps it was the soft light that caught the subject’s fur, or maybe how tiny he seems compared to the windowsill, but a simple glance at the picture and my eyes are drawn to the cat that seemed tired and weak.

The soft shape of the cat is really the only part of the photo that is curved in a definite way. The windowsill frames the subject with hard, straight lines. The background is out of focus and blurry, yet also has straight horizontal lines. Strangely enough, despite the cat being the softest and curviest point in the image, he seems to be a little ridged, cold even.

It raises questions. Why is the small cat sitting there, looking tired? Why did the artist decide to title the piece ‘little guardian’? What is he guarding really? There are many things about this picture that brings out the curiosity in me, but besides the interesting thoughts on the picture, it also tells me how influence a title can be to a photo. I cannot see the cat as anything other than a guardian now.

That being said, I am glad I view the photo the way I do now. I would have never thought the cat as a guardian on my own but now that I do I find it quite fitting and so much more interesting. 

Tuesday Photos

because we share a life by fangedfem

losing colors by saligia

little guardian . by m0thyyku

Cold by Jokerup

All photos were found on deviantart. 

Contrast

‘A picture is worth a thousand words’. This cliché phrase always comes to my mind whenever I am asked to observe a photo. However, upon staring at the Plantation’s Overseer for a few minutes, I can easily come up with a single word that describes just about everything in the picture and that word is ‘contrast’.

Black and white photos are very focused on contrast. There is a very clear line between the darkness and the lightness in this picture. Nearly everything in the bottom right and up towards the top right is light while everything towards the left is darker.  

Now using the word contrast I do not just mean to describe just the picture but also the subject. It is clear to me that the white elephant in this picture is the fact that the ‘plantation overseer’ is more than likely the old white man in the picture and the darker skinned younger men are his slaves. At least, at first that is what I thought but staring a little longer at the expressions I don’t find it as likely. Of course, as the picture was taken in the later 1930’s, it is to be assumed that my first assumption is right. However, judging by the rather relaxed look on the younger men, I’m not so sure. Which brings up another contrasting element to the picture—the younger men look quite relaxed and rather bored, while the older man looks one of two things: incredulous or angry. I find that the ‘are you serious’ sort of look fits the old man better. I can only imagine what the man to the left is saying to the white man.

I try to find the good in people and perhaps that trait in me is affecting how I view this picture but as it is I find that the man hiding in the left side of the picture is the ‘bad guy’ so to say. Naturally it would be assumed that the older man was the bad guy, what with having slaves and being the boss and such, but I just can’t see it that way. I see him more of the grumpy old man who treats his help fairly but with an iron fist. There is nothing wrong with that. That guy to the left though, he looks pretty suspicious to me. The fact that the workers are so chill makes me want to trust the old man and the fact that the old man looks rather grumpy at the business-looking man makes me want to distrust him.

Of course, I could be very wrong. It very well could be what it looks like at a glance but if I were being completely honest, I like my version better. 

Why I Write

Writing has always been something that I was relativity good at. I am not vain enough to say that I am the best writer there is and I know better than to call myself great at it. Next to drawing, though, writing is probably the only thing I can do with confidence.

However being good at something is not enough reason to do it in my book. I know plenty of people who are good at tasks but despise them all the same. I, on the other hand, enjoy writing greatly. Half because it is something that you cannot imitate. With things such as math, the product will always be the same. Two plus two will always equal two. But when you write, two plus two equals whatever you want it to be because it is what you choose for it to be, and chances are no other person can come up with what you do. While writing does have laws just like math, they are much easier to work with to create something new. They are more like guidelines anyway.The other half of writing that draws me in is the creative aspect. Writing gives you the ability to create something beautiful out of nothing. Just like a paintbrush, a keyboard has the ability to make something that inspires others to feel a broad range of emotion. I cannot count the number of times a piece of writing has made me upset or has inspired me to act or persuaded me to see things differently.

Writing is something that a lot of people see as an annoying task that is, well, just that. A task. It is not something fun to do for them. I see things a little differently. I do enjoy writing and when it can be something that has the potential to be powerful and meaningful, the real question is why wouldn't I write?