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| an in-school suspension |
Honestly, I had to look it up. I wasn't sure if it meant tippy or chaotic or exactly how it was defined, and I certainly didn't want to misinterpret the challenge. Literally, it means "upside down". So I started imagining everything with its bottom up. My kids. My kitchen. Myself, hanging from the balcony desperately grasping onto the camera. Then, this scene. I was thinking of this room I saw in an amusement park when I was young where the entire workings of the house were on the ceiling (which was a wooden floor) to give the illusion that you yourself were on the ceiling. (Where WAS that anyway??) So, I hauled this chair up the stairs and grabbed two large, metal clamps. I set up the tripod and arranged the scene. I took a few terrible pictures. The chair just wasn't turned the way it should be. One little adjustment, I thought, forgetting how precariously the legs were balanced on the slippery plastic clamp ends. The chair came crashing down on me and eventually the desks and everything on them. I can tell you that trying to catch two six-foot clamps and a falling rocking chair that is much heavier and more awkward than you might first imagine is not gracefully (or quietly) done. But stopping mid-project, even when sensible, is not how I operate. I re-clamped. Then I tiptoed over to the window, lie down on the floor and shot my photo challenge for the week.
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| seasonal affects, in disorder |
One is never enough. I like to see what else I can do with the theme. I worked this other idea for a few days, trying out various locations and propping agents (my son, a small apple tree, the iced-over snow itself . . .) This shot won out because it is the most hectic-looking, which worked with the theme. (Topsy-turvy also means "in a state of confusion.") I wanted the corner of my yard to look like a forest. Don't we all? What is actually there is a few small pine trees and shrubs with your choice of backdrop: a chain-link fence with a "Beware of Dog" sign, a helter-skelter tree house with home-owner yard clutter, or, my favorite, the conspicuous interstate. I really had to work the angles. I was glad the falling snow helped softened the fence line. The other problem I had was that, with snow on the ground, trying to "leave no trace" is ridiculous, yet what I wanted. That this spruce simply grew for years, topsy-turvy, in this dense and natural forest unnoticed and without any aid. So, take it for what it is and is not, but maybe could be.
