#10/10 no notes (except all the notes i took on dissecting the book itself)

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

your favorite of my favorites: A Book Poll

okay, i have now officially seen Just Enough open tags to override my vampiric need to be explicitly invited into things, so! here are my (current) Five Favorite Books for y'all to vote on, in order of Publication Date (and incidentally the order in which i read them)

shout out to @e-b-reads and @beardedbookdragon for the recent open tags! i am inflicting this on paying this forward to @asexualbookbird and @alloreli (who i warned), and to @sixofravens-reads (who i did not).

[thearabkhaleesi]

SOME THOUGHTS ON HAMILTON & THE HAMILFILM

I said I wasn’t going to review Hamilton, & this isn’t technically a review, but I couldn’t help myself from discussing its genius or the film. If you wanted me to rate it, consider it to be a perfect rating: 10/10, 100%, A+, you name it. Since I’ll never be able to dissect or talk about Hamilton as in-depth as I’d like to (I could write an entire book on it & wouldn’t know where to stop), consider this a discussion or appreciation post where I express SOME of my thoughts on Hamilton & the Hamilfilm. - To me, Hamilton is a masterpiece and Lin-Manuel Miranda is a genius. He said something along the lines of “people will just think you’re a genius if you write a musical about a genius” but I disagree with him (& he was awarded the MacArthur “Genius Grant” so yeah Lin, you're a genius). Only a genius would look at the founding fathers and say: “yes, this is a hip-hop story”. And he doesn’t just tell Hamilton’s incredible story, he wrote Hamilton in such a way that every line, word, song, & verse is written in a specific way for a specific reason, whether it's as simple as a rhyme, or whether it’s because Lin Manuel Miranda is making a deep-reference we might later discover or whether it’s in the exact style & structure of Alexander Hamilton’s writings. Combine that with his fellow brilliant collaborators - Alex Lacamoire, Thomas Kail, Andy Blankenbuehler - you have a show where every stage direction, dance move, & note serves a greater purpose & they come together perfectly. Hamilton is absolutely filled with an unbelievable amount of hidden treasures (meanings, symbols, references) that I still find myself discovering new ones every time I revisit it, from the role of “the Bullet”, to the spectacular staging of Satisfied, & the mini replay in Hurricane to name a few. Lin turned a seemingly dry, confusing concept into an exciting, moving, unparalleled piece of art that speaks on each theme it touches upon - legacy, reputation, history, work, politics, honor, love, with great depth & meaning. And by doing so, the musical & it’s incredible lyrics could easily resonate with or impact anyone who, like Lin, Hamilton & me, have great value for those things. - One of the first things you might’ve heard or noticed about Hamilton, is that every actor in the show is a person of color (except those in the ensemble/King George). Everyone else: Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, The Schuyler Sisters, they’re all white in real-life, yet they’re played in the show by BIPOC, which in itself is a stroke of genius because Hamilton’s story is extremely relevant today & resonates more with BIPOC experiences than white people, & in every major project he’s worked on, Lin-Manuel helps amplify BIPOC representation; not only does he do that in Hamilton as well, but it’s the perfect way for the story to be delivered when you combine this casting choice with the music Lin wrote for the show that stem from BIPOC origins. Can you imagine how underwhelming it’d be for a white person to sing Lafayette’s raps?  It’s one of the ways “the story of America then is told by America now”, WITHOUT glorifying the founding fathers or excusing the horrible things they did. On the contrary, the show goes out of its way numerous times to emphasize that fact & anyone who took that away from Hamilton didn’t understand or pay attention enough. (Plus LMM condensed an entire man’s life into two & a half hours, give him a break).

As for the Hamilfilm, the only thing I can attempt to “review” is how it was adapted/filmed. And let me just say, director Thomas Kail pulled off an incredible feat with the Hamilfilm. When listening to Hamilton for the first time, I could visualize it all in my head like a movie, & I couldn’t really imagine how it’d be on stage. And when I saw it live, I was blown away & almost couldn’t imagine it as a traditional movie. So when I heard they were filming it this way, I was pleased but worried it wouldn’t be as immersive as the show. But Kail did it. He made Hamilton as immersive as it could possibly be on film, & I’d even go as far as to say it might be even more immersive than seeing it live as you’re provided a better perspective than any seat in the theater. He puts you on stage & in the audience simultaneously, through closeups that put us in the midst of the drama & show us the actors’ talents, wide shots that show us the stage & choreography in all its glory, and tracking shots that put us in the midst of the action, following all the melodious movements of the actors & dancers on stage. I’ve seen similar “professionally filmed” Broadway shows but none of them are as well-done or as well-directed as Hamilton was. (Though I’d trade a few closeups of King George for wide shots…) The editing was never off or felt choppy, which is remarkable considering they filmed it over several days & shows, yet it still feels like one outstanding show with the original cast - all of whom were sensational. I can’t even pin-point a favorite number or performance because I loved them all so much - Satisfied did give me goosebumps like nothing else though.

Still, it doesn't compete with actually being there in the room where it happens. The energy and experience of seeing it live is unbelievable. Does that mean you should wait until you see it live? It’s up to you really, but we never know when theaters will reopen, & the first instinct I had after the Hamilfilm ended is that I couldn’t wait to experience it live again. Rating: ‪10/10‬⭐️

[where-is-keith]

       Saturday, November 18, 6:15 pm

             Lance                     about to go on for the last time <3             see you after the show!

         Saturday, November 18, 10:45 pm

              Lance                        can’t find you, gotta head to the cast                party. i’ll see you at home tonight.

          Sunday, November 19, 12:50 am

              Lance                 leah’s driving me hmeo i missed you                tonigfht

          Sunday, November 19, 1:32 am

               Lance                where era you

          Sunday, November 19, 10:36 am

               Lance              where did you go last night? i missed you                   at the show and you weren’t home when                 i got home

          Sunday, November 19, 2:26 pm

               Lance                   keith?

It had been approximately 27 hours since he had last seen Keith and hadn’t heard a single thing from him. No phone call, no text, no lazy handwritten post it note pressed against the fridge; nothing. At first it had been easy to brush it aside but every hour that went by without him coming home had made it difficult and waking up to find Keith’s room empty had made it impossible. He was driving himself crazy and was almost certain that the open door was taunting him because every time he looked up he’d expect to see Keith groggy eyed with bed head ambling out from his bedroom with a dopey expression plastered on his face.

Instead what he saw was the sun casting a warm glow on an empty bed and it caused his stomach to drop every time; as if he was expecting different results from the first 20 times he had walked by. But Lance continued to torture himself hoping against all logic that this was all just a bad dream that he’d wake up from because it was easier to play pretend than to admit that Keith, the boy who meant the entire world to him, might be gone. He didn’t want to think about what that would mean or imagine his life without Keith in it because while he can still recall a time before  him his life felt brighter with the other boy in it. Lighter even, like the feeling of stepping off a roller-coaster when adrenaline and excitement is still bubbling within. Everything felt more complete.

It was almost alarming how Lance couldn’t recall grabbing his wallet and keys from the side table until he was standing in their apartments hallway with the fluorescent light shining down above him. Though he continued to let his legs move, working on autopilot, because in all honestly he didn’t know what he was doing because everything felt wrong and while he was physically present his mind was miles away. Only half aware of clicking the down button on the elevator an upwards of 10 times with an older lady looking at him with an expression that could only be explained as a mixture of confusion and exasperation.

“Do you live in the building?” Lance found himself blurting out, his hands shaking at his sides when the lady nodded. “Do you, um–” He pulled his phone out of his back pocket clicking the button to illuminate the screen and tilted it towards her, “Have you seen this boy recently?”

“Yes.” His heart soared, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulder, “Yesterday morning.” Just like that he felt himself deflate with the weight of the world crushing down on him.

He was no closer to knowing where Keith was.

But maybe Shiro did.

Lance had been to this house hundreds of times before but never had he stood on the other side of the door with shaky hands and an erratic heartbeat. He was nervous because whatever answers he received they could never be unheard and that made him hesitant because there was a good chance that whatever he found out would be the exact things that he didn’t want to hear.

Taking a deep breath in hopes that the act itself would lessen his nerves he brought his hand up and rang the doorbell once, ignoring the underlying hope that maybe Shiro wouldn’t be home and he could put this off. Of course nothing was ever that simple and he watched as the door pulled open to reveal Shiro smiling across at him. “Come on in, Lance.” Hesitantly, he made his way off of the porch and through the threshold into the house moving towards the couch to sit down.

“Can I get you anything?” Shiro asked and there was something about his expression, the small hesitant smile, that made a lump in his throat form and his knee bounce where he was sat on the couch in Shiro’s living room. It was the kind of expression he had seen on others before when they knew they were about to share bad news and were nervous on how the person would react.

It made Lance want to get up and flee, to go home and curl up in his bed with the covers drawn up over his head like he used to when he was little and was scared of monsters. Except this time the terror wasn’t in the form of a giant shadow monster coming to get him but rather the confirmation that Keith – someone who meant the entire world to him – was truly gone and not even Keith’s brother knew where.

“Yeah, uh, tea?” The words came out raspy, the side-effect of trying to force the words to come out, and he was thankful that Shiro didn’t say anything and instead nodded before making his way into the kitchen leaving him alone with his thoughts. He didn’t necessarily want tea but what he did want was a moment to get himself together and brace himself for what came next. Lance could do this and even if he couldn’t he had  to.

In an attempt to keep himself from panicking and talking himself out of this newly formed courage to face this head on he let himself he let his eyes wander around the immediate vicinity. None of it were things he hadn’t seen before the beige painted walls were the same, the plant in the corner by the windows was still there but perhaps had grown larger, and there was still a pile of books scattered on the living room table in front of him. He took a moment to read the titles on the books -  The Hidden Reality, The Great Beyond, The Fabric of Reality  - and several other books remained that Lance quite frankly lost interest in knowing the titles of. Instead he found himself looking to the left where there were two shelving units with more books but the books themselves weren’t what caught his attention, it was the pictures.

He could see several pictures of Shiro and Slav together, with bright smiles and eyes filled with fondness, some on their wedding day and others on days that Lance couldn’t determine. Though those weren’t the pictures that he found himself staring at with his fingers digging into his legs but rather the ones containing Keith. There was one in particular, one taken a year earlier, of Keith and himself, it was on the Shiro and Slav’s wedding day and Keith was in a suit and Lance had his arm strewn across his shoulder showing off a bright grin. He could recall the moment so clearly, how nervous Keith had been about giving a best man speech, and how Lance had been right there trying his best to calm him down. He wished he could go back to that moment because they were so happy and Keith was still  there .

“I like that photo too.” The sudden words caused Lance to jump back slightly as Shiro set a black mug on the table in front of him. “It’s one of the only photos from that day where he didn’t look overtly uncomfortable.”

“He really hated that suit, complained about how uncomfortable it was the entire time.” He recalled with a fond smile and it was almost easy to forget why he was here in the first place.  Almost .

“I know you said Keith wasn’t here when I texted you but I wanted to ask, did he say anything about where he was going last night?” Lance questioned, wasting no time and trying to get it out of the way before he lost his nerve.

It was hard to miss the confusion plastered all over Shiros expression as he sat down in a chair across from him. “Last night?”

“Yeah, he told me he was coming here before my show.”

He watched as Shiro’s expression morphed into a frown and saw the confliction pass over before he leaned forward ever so slightly before he spoke. “I’m sorry, Lance, he wasn’t here. I haven’t seen Keith since Thursday.”

Just like that he felt all his resolve shatter.

He lost all ability to think rationally as he pushed himself up muttering a quick “ I have to go ” before pulling his shoes on and ignoring Shiro calling his name as he left.

‘He wasn’t here.’

It was as if the whole had world tipped on it’s axis, leaving everything off kilter.

Keith didn’t go to Shiro’s.

Keith lied.

If he didn’t go to Shiro’s then where did he go?

And where is he now?

His head was filled to the brim with questions that he didn’t have the answers for but what he  did  know was this: He wouldn’t stop asking them until he did because Lance was never going to give up until he found Keith.

“I will find you, Keith, I promise.”

       Sunday, November 19, 6:47 pm

Shiro

Hi Lance, Slav just came home and said that Keith Had dropped out of his class on the 16th. Hope this helps.

There had been something inherently discomforting about sitting across from two police officers and having them dissect everything you say and having little insight into what was going on in their heads. It had Lance shifting in his seat every couple seconds, his unease, plainly evident but he was determined to find out where Keith was but he knew he couldn’t do it on his own. That had made it easier to push past the uncomfortable feeling as he spent under an hour answering all their questions and told them everything that he thought might help them find Keith before they sent him off to play the waiting game while they looked into it.

“–even listening? Lance!”

The sudden yell of his name had shaken him out of the trance he had been in, for who knows how long, and looked over at Hunk who currently was sprawled out on the worn couch that was pressed up against the living room wall.

“What?” He hadn’t meant for it to come out in a snappish tone and immediately felt guilt consume him as he watched his friend’s expression that had been one of annoyance morph into a frown.

“Can you please stop clicking your pen?”

“Hm?” It was only that moment that the consistent, but frantic, clicking sound had registered in his head and immediately stopped and tossed the pen onto the coffee table in front of him. “Sorry.”

Hunk didn’t reply but Lance watched as his friend stared over at him for several moments before sighing and placing the laptop that had been in his lap onto the table as well. He knew Hunk well enough to sense that he was about to get a well meaning lecture.

“Have you been sleeping?” It was the kind of question that someone asked, despite already knowing the answer, and wished he could lie. He didn’t want to have the conversation that he knew was coming but this was Hunk who was asking and Lance never lied to him and he wasn’t about to start.

Toying with the pages in his notebook that was still balanced against his legs, that had been pulled up to rest his notebook on, he sighed. “Not really but I guess you knew that already.” Hunk didn’t even bother to look sheepish at his reply but Lance hadn’t really expected him to.

“I say this out of kindness but you look awful. I know you’re worried about Keith but you still have to take care of yourself.” This wasn’t the first time he heard this, the same well-meaning advice laid out in different words, but he wished everyone would stop.

“It’s been  four  days Hunk and he’s still gone. How am I expected to sleep? I just wish they would tell me something, anything.”

“They will, Lance, you just have to wait and maybe you should use that time to shower.” Hunk stated with a small hesitant smile trying to lighten up the mood a little.

“Hey! I resent that implication.” He stated and clapped a hand dramatically to his chest, mock wounded.

“Yeah, yeah.” Hunk waved a hand brushing it off and grabbed his laptop again. “Go back to your notes and please, no pen clicking this time, I’m trying to focus.”

It was the following day and Lance for the briefest of moments had thought that things were going to get better, that he was finally going to get the answers he wanted.

He was wrong.

Which was plainly evident as he stared at Officer Iverson as he told him that they looked into the case and there was nothing criminal about it; that Keith left on his own violation and until there was evidence to contradict that it was out of their hands. Lance had barely heard him as he left because all he could hear was the pounding of his heart.

All it took was 5 days for them to decide that finding Keith didn’t matter, just 120 hours before they stopped looking into it.  

The Police didn’t know Keith like Lance did. They weren’t there for every yelled goodbye, didn’t see the hurried handwriting on post it notes stuck to the fridge, or pull open a text conversation to see a ‘went out be out later’ on the bright screen below. It was what they did and he didn’t think Keith would just suddenly leave without letting him know which is why Lance wasn’t willing to buy into their story about how Keith leaving was voluntary.

They’d never leave without a goodbye.

Never.

The thought struck something in him, a sudden light bulb going off, and in a frantic pace Lance ran to the kitchen towards the fridge that had nothing but a grocery list laid out underneath a magnet. He didn't expect for anything to be on the fridge, not foolish enough to think something would appear days after he already checked but it didn’t stop him from dropping to the floor scanning frantically underneath in case something fell. His eyes moved from all around finding nothing but dust and a forgotten penny.

Pushing himself up from the floor with the mental reminder to vacuum he made a beeline from the fridge to where a bright fluorescent green post it pad was left tossed on the counter where it always was with a pencil beside it. Without hesitation he grabbed it and with the determination of a man with nothing but desperation dragged the pencil from one side to the other frantically scribbling across the pad like he had seen people do on all those crime shows he’d watch on tv.

Once the pencil hit the end of the pad he stared down at the pad as if it had all the answer but felt all his resolve crumble when all that was there were his pencil marks. He was right back where he started with no leads and no help.

He wasn’t ready to give up on Keith but he wasn’t foolish enough to think he could do this on his own; he was just one boy and there was only so much he could do but if he had help… maybe. He had no idea what he was doing but he knew he had to do something since no one else seemed to care about the startling absence that Keith left. It’s like time stopped but everyone else kept moving while he stayed stuck in position with his mind going a mile a minute trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together but the problem was all the pieces were missing. All he knew was that one day his best friend was still there and the next he was gone but no one else seemed to care but him. Which meant this; he would have to be the one to find him and the only way he could think of was to start a blog, hope it would gain traction, and someone who knew something would stumble upon it and give him some clues that would help him get the answers he so desperately longed for.

[pauldeckerus]

Learning Photography From a $90.3 Million Painting

Last month, legendary British painter David Hockney‘s 1972 painting titled “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” (shown above) sold for a jaw-dropping $90.3 million, the highest auction price ever for a living artist!

The painting depicts a male figure, the pink-jacketed painter, standing at the edge of a pool while carefully observing a man in trunks swimming underwater.

What on Earth made this piece of art so invaluable? There could be an entire book or thesis written on interpreting its elements. I see this painting more like a photograph and so found it interesting to dissect this masterful piece of art with a photographer’s eye.

Let’s inspect the composition of the painting by applying the “rules” of photography…

Timing

Ironically, this painting (or should we call it “photograph” from now on) breaks “the” most important rule of photography. Note the shadow behind the man in the pink jacket. It is sharp with distinct borders. That means this photograph was NOT shot during the golden hour, but well after sunrise.

This was quite bewildering for me at first. After a while, I realized, that one of the hardest tasks for artists is to depict water. How can you draw or paint water? Will you just paint a monochromatic blue region and show it as water? This is what separates Hockney from others. He is well known for discovering the art of how to paint water in its most natural form.

Here, he depicts the intricate details of the ripples against a relatively serene water surface. These beautiful features can be shown only when sunlight hits water and then reflects back. This is most probably why the shot was not taken at Golden Hour!

Lens and EXIF Data

If this were a photograph, what could have been the settings used? The field of view is neither wide nor too narrow. I would guess it to be a 50mm lens. As you can see, the image seems to have a good amount of depth of field. The hills in the background are kind of sharp. So, probably the f-stop was around f/16.

What was the shutter speed in this instance? The swimmer has absolutely no motion blur. Also, note the water’s surface has exceptional details. Which means the shutter speed was high? Maybe at least 1/400?

Now imagine trying to take this photograph at say 10 am to 11 am in the morning on a clear sunny day. You have your DSLR with manual mode on. You dialed in 1/400 and f/16. What do you think will be the ISO (assumed to be on AUTO) for the light meter indicator to be in the center? Wouldn’t it be probably around ISO 400?

Have you heard of the Sunny 16 rule? It is a method of guessing the correct daylight exposure without using a light meter. The basic rule states that, “On a sunny day, set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed to the reciprocal of the ISO setting for a subject in direct sunlight. That means if you dialed in f/16 and Auto ISO goes to 400; set your shutter speed to the reciprocal of ISO, i.e. 400 in this example. That gives 1/400! Woah! It’s spooky how right we were about the settings, weren’t we?

Rule of Thirds

The man in the pink coat is placed at the rightmost third of the image. By placing him in this third, we know that he is the primary subject in this photograph. Indeed, the title Portrait of an “Artist” reinforces the same.

Triangles and Leading Lines

It is often helpful to have as many triangles in your photograph as possible. This piece of art, in particular, is just heavily dominated by triangles. I can count at least twenty-five triangles here.

Notice carefully the several different triangles incorporated here: right from the most obvious ones formed by the blue water of the pool and its surrounding pavement, to the slightly less obvious triangles formed by the hills, the trees, the leaves in the far right and even the small portion of the visible sky, to the cleverly incorporated hidden triangles formed by the standing man’s shoes and even the swimmer’s head, upper body, hips, thighs and feet.

The swimmer’s hands and legs are also inclined in the shape of a triangle! Most of these triangles also form leading lines that draw our attention back to the two subjects.

The most striking of the triangles is that which is completely unseen: this is known as an implied triangle. Can you guess this implied triangle here? This one is formed by:

1. the line of sight of the standing man as he observes the swimmer,

2. the swimmer’s body itself, from his feet to his head as he reaches the edge of the pool towards the man’s feet,

3. the man’s stature itself from his feet towards his head and ultimately his eyes.

This invisible triangle just plays on and on in our subconscious mind as we view the image, and this is one of the things that keeps us engrossed. So, despite the large depth of field, our eyes are mostly focused and repeatedly drawn on the two subjects. This coupled with the calmness, tranquility, and peace implied by the blue and green in the rest of the image adds to the visual tension and thus generates profound interest.

Frame within Frame

Even though the swimmer seems the secondary subject here given his subtle coloring, the edges of the pool form a frame around him that prevents his importance being undermined from the image.

Color Scheme

I’m no expert in color schemes, but a basic guideline to follow when deciding complementary colors is to choose opposite colors in the color wheel (just Google Color wheel and you’ll find one). For example, the color opposite to Red in the color wheel is Green, hence the artist has contrasted the red (pink) jacket with lots of green in the hills and the trees.

Also, there seemed to be too much blue of the water in the pool. Hence there was a cleverly placed orange strip along one of the pool’s edges that the swimmer is facing. After all, blue and orange are opposites in the color wheel!

When I researched some more about this painting online, I was awe-struck on finding exactly how Hockney devised the painting. Turns out, he is a famous photographer as well!

Before starting the painting, he took hundreds of photographs of the man in the jacket by the side of a pool with a swimmer! Then he combined his ingenious painting skills (especially showing the splendid effects on the water) with the previously taken photographs and completed the painting in two weeks, working almost 18 hours a day!

The result: a well-balanced image with the perfect composition! A photograph of the same scene will look ordinary. Turning it into a painting made it not only extraordinary but also one of the most revered ones of the 20th century!

So try to get these rules in your composition exactly right. Who knows… perhaps even your photograph could fetch millions one day!

About the author: Dr. Siddharth Shirsat (MDS Endodontics) is a practicing dentist (Endodontist) at Thane, MH, India. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. When not treating patients, Dr. Shirsat is an avid photographer as well. He can be reached by email on siddharthendo@gmail.com.

Image credits: “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” by David Hockney

from Photography News https://petapixel.com/2018/12/01/learning-photography-from-a-90-3-million-painting/