The image that came to mind would have worked for last week’s challenge (Self), but it is the story that came to me this week (Invisible). As you have heard me
Allow me to try to describe this dual-purpose story-picture. Imagine, if you will, the following:
A small living room. There is a long couch along one wall, a love seat along another. The two couches form an L shape with the corner being a table. Across from the long couch is a TV. Your view is from the remaining wall or entryway. There is a man sitting on the couch at the end where the small table and loveseat connect to create the L-shape. He is staring at the TV. The image of the man is echoed outward (along the couch cushions) with various colours of shirts, giving the impression of passing time – a constant, a habit, a daily ritual. (Upon editing, the various faded images may contain him talking on the phone or looking at a laptop.)
Between the other end of the couch and the tv, closer to your view and in the middle of the room, stands two teenagers a few feet apart. One is clearly a few years older than the other. The one on the right, male and older, is taller and angry; the one on the left, younger and female, is shorter and angry. Their poses are, for there are many to express a constant state of discord, shouting at each other. They too have the translucent echo of passing time with various shirts, poses expressing stages of yelling and expressions of irritation/hatred.
In the middle of the room, out of the line of sight of all three, stands a shadowed form of an exasperated and broken woman. The form is … large. Her hair is unkempt. Even though it is but a dark form, you can tell. Within that shell is a smaller version of herself – thinner, pleasantly dressed, healthier looking – crouched, head tucked in…waiting and unseen. The woman is ignored, her inner-self is unseen, invisible, lost…
There is no time blur, no echo of form, no change for her.
That is my SFS-challenge mental-image story that tells the tale of both “Self” and “Invisible.”
However, I missed last week and this week that picture just won’t come to pass – at least not by my hand.
So, I have created another picture. I was passing time and getting lost in images on a popular website. I came across one that inspired me. I took the concept and twisted it around in my head and let the words flow. The image, in case you wondered, can be found here:
http://pinterest.com/pin/125397170847341260/ (copy and paste; link inactive)
The new picture-story my mind created contained a fade woman’s form. It may even have been blacked out with a white background. Words describing what people see are contained within the woman. What you see is not always what is.
That, of course, progressed into something else. The words of what people see were outside the woman's faded form; within her form were words describing what people do not see.
That original something else went far beyond the limit of 140 characters (obviously). Cutting it down stay within the boundaries of the challenge was very, very difficult. Once I finally did, I ended up with this:
It is not my favorite. It is not quite as elegant as the image in my mind. It is more of a rough draft than a final image, despite the fact that it is, indeed, the final image.
My mind’s eye saw a couple of other picture-stories as well.
- A bar scene. Average girl. Guys. Sleezy girl… The “average girl” was, of course, invisible
- A photo of a person mid-fall. Tripping over nothing. “It must have been something invisible…”
Perhaps one day I will either get back into a virtual world or take the time to properly photograph a good base to create the tale that should be told. Until then, I suppose, those images will remain, to you, forever invisible.
~B
