Thursday, February 23, 2017

This is... Photo Writing

Happy French Girl and Her Cat, 1959

I'd like you to do a New Post on your own blog with some writing about one of your own photos inspired by Katy Barber's "Photograph 1969." I'll leave it up to you to decide whether you'd like to arrange your words as a poem or a short piece of prose. I'll be looking for a vivid description of what we can actually see in the photo, followed by that "twist" we discussed in class, where you intimate or imply what else is "in" the photo...an understanding, an observation, a hint at something that came later, a bigger idea at play...something more. Please include the photo in your post. 

If you don't have a photo of your own or find that too personal, find a striking or interesting photo that speaks to you on the internet or in a magazine or use one we looked at in class and write about it in this same way instead.  Here are the historic photos I put up, and here are the heartwarming ones.  

Photograph 1969 by Katy Barber

This is my mother
lifting her hair long
like a low whistle
off her neck
These are her fingers
caught in the tangles
of brown and gold caught in
silver earrings
This is my father
reaching through the lens
to touch the edge
of a new family
to touch her opening belly
under her full dress

This is existing
before I exist

This is me growing up
against their lives
him watching for a sharp
breath from her looking out
onto the border of birth
this is bumping us into three


We will move on to a new theme on Monday so please have all work connected to PHOTOS posted by the end of class today or this Sunday night at the latest to receive credit.

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