066: Red Hat

Red Hat, originally uploaded by gingerpig2000.

If I catch you wearing this...

It's amazing what I can find to fit in my wife's wardrobe ;)

Clothed and closed are very similar-sounding words, and the clothes you can wear depend a lot on how much society closes its minds. Different cultures have different mores, and even these vary with time. What I do not understand is the problem that people have with clothes - why can I not be free to wear whatever clothes I like without threatening the very structure of society itself. Society, in reality, is very flexible when push comes to shove, and I want to do some shoving.

The other element of this picture is that wearing the same clothes is a symbol of the single unit that out marriage represents. There is no leader, no his and hers, we do what we can, the best we can. Interestingly enough, society seeks to lever this unity apart by insisting that roles and clothes be assigned to suit them, and not our own preferences and abilities.

This was an interesting shot, as we had to position ourselves in a 3D space to produce a dynamic in an essentially 2D medium, some of the pose elements would appear artificial from another viewpoint. See the major power triangle with Ania's elbow, my hat and my lower foot. Luckily, as long as I can keep the major positioning in mind, my subconscious takes care of the details. Ania, though, has her own influence on the image, completely outside of my control.

064: Partisan Rules

Partisan Rules, originally uploaded by gingerpig2000.

eye:hand

Rules are important for people who obey them, but they are even more important for those people who can make use of them for their own purposes. For the latter group, what the 'rules' say is not black and white, are not the surface appearance the obeyers believe. Rules have a purpose, but this purpose is rarely more than loosely defined.

Life by rules are like the images above - we choose the one that best fits our purposes; none of them are the reality.

I can't draw very well, and this image represents some stages of producing the 'hand' drawing from a photo, using the mouse to paint on the lines. I deliberately chose an image that was free of eyes, lips and noses, and then experimented with where to put the hard lines and the soft shading. Ultimately, though, it had to represent me, the explorer, the adventurer, and the techniques I chose were merely one of many possible routes there.

060: Low Life, High Thrills

Low Life, High Thrills, originally uploaded by gingerpig2000.

Playing Cards

This is my trinity.

The Dealer: Confidently playing the cards, relaxed, and sure of where he is going.

The Doubter: Weary, seen it all before, just knows that failure is just around the corner, taking the cards as they come.

The Darkness Within: The mysterious stranger that most people keep well hidden as it is often not very pleasant, but my Darkness Within is an acknowledged friend my other two turn to for help, the one that keeps faith and in touch with God. The cards? They are all the same.

As I rarely play cards, I was not sure where to go with this one, I found it hard therefore to find my art as my life seemed to have so little contact with them. However, when my Darkness Within spoke, I listened and set up this triple shot, and then later understood the relevance.