You know those moments when you get a really good idea and you’re so proud of yourself for coming up with such a brilliant answer, you actually walk around with a smile on your face chuffed with yourself and being such a Master of Good Ideas.
Yeah? Well I had one of those a couple of days ago. I was ever so pleased with myself.
Refreshing my Twitter account mariannewhooley after months of hibernation, I added ladies from BMB and Judith’s room and all of a sudden a brand new world opened up. I struggled to keep up with it all. RT’s, @soandso’s and it was whilst I was coming to terms with all this new tech stuff on there that I noticed a Brand New Challenge.
A photography blog workshop!
Now I love taking photos. I don’t have a flash camera, I have no training about light and the how’s and when’s but I am snap happy when it comes to capturing moments. Returning from our holidays with 100’s and 100’s of images and dead happy with myself. Sometimes, very occasionally I take a good snap.
So off I pop to the site in question to check out the theme ‘Beauty’ A synch!
I allow myself to think about it for a while.. What shall I do? How will I show Beauty in all her glory.
My beautiful chess set. Of course!
Said chess set has lived in packaging practically every day since I bought it back in 1997 thanks to its fragility. I spotted it in Bolzano’s Christmas Market. I had had a couple of Vin Brule’s, or Gluhwein’s as the Bolzanese would argue, I was with a wonderful group of friends and we were having so much fun. We were meandering through the market filled with the most beautiful art and craft pieces, I wanted to buy the lot!
And there she stood magnificent. I made a bee line to the stall and listened to the softly spoken man explain what materials he had used (Swarovski crystals, cut painted glass) and his thoughts on the Elf Kingdom and the Fairy Kingdom.
Did you hear the scratched record noise halting this post just then?
Elf and Fairy Kingdom?
This guy, I’ll have you know, actually believes they exist. He showed me a photo of himself with an elf in his back garden (yeah right!) but we were enjoying the day and the Vin brule’ was warming us to the idea, ‘Look, a real elf’ we ahhhhrrred amongst ourselves, almost in tears of gratitude with this man for sharing something so touching.
I HAD TO HAVE IT
The chess set cost me £1,000,000 Italian lire, which sounds a massive amount. It was! I didn’t have a million Italian lire and I’d bargained with this man to trust me to pay in 3 installments paying the first there and then. He accepted, I wrote out three equal cheques the first with that day’s date and ‘Bob’s your Uncle’, the set was mine. About 300 quid’s worth in ‘97.
Each piece is individually crafted from ceramic, painted and fired. The knights are dragons, and the pawns are tiny fierce-looking elves. Each piece has been given a name, Re Elrond, (that’s King Elrond to you and me) of the Elves’ kingdom and his wife Regina Niamb, the Fairy kingdom instead has Re Finvarra and his Queen Regina Donagh.
You get the picture.
So excellent idea now all that needs to be done is the photo.
I unwrap each piece and place it carefully in place after a good clean and sparkle and set it up on the table, but I’m not convinced…
It’s a beautiful sunny day so I carry out the set to the garden and place it on the grass – a contemporary look – but none of the images are doing what I want.
None of my efforts come close to the image of beauty I have in my head.
And this is where I have become unstuck. I cannot translate the glorious image in my head onto my digital camera
It’s just not happening for me, and yet I could see it so well in my mind’s eye.
What’s happened? Why can’t I do it?
I think I’m going to have to miss out on this week’s Beauty theme 
these images aren’t the beauty I wanted….and in my haste and excitement of having such a good idea, I forgot to bookmark the site holding the workshop!
One day I’ll get it right.
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