Month August 2013

Place of Safety – VisDare 33

freyathewriter 19 Comments

I’m on a roll! Here’s my first offering for Anonymous Legacy‘s photo-inspired prompt, VisDare. The rules are simple:

150 words – or less.

Post entry to your blog and “link in”.

(Please – no erotica or graphic violence.)

DON’T FORGET to read and comment on others’ entries!!

So, the photo is below, and my piece follows. Let me know what you think, and give it a go yourself, why not?

– Place of Safety –  

“Mr Riordan, it wasn’t so long ago that my colleague had you in tears! Please, share your thoughts!”

I sigh. That memory is the reason why I have returned to my first love – photography. The whole process, the camera, the ink-black cocoon of the dark room, it is safety for me.

“If you insist. This new direction is a comment on the divisions between east and west, from the end of World War Two to the Cold War. My signature piece, which I call Die Frauen der Berliner Mauer, is my artistic representation of the Berlin Wall, bound on each side by the east and west of the city itself. The image was taken in Berlin, along the Wall’s route.”

Would she accept this spiel?

“Thank you, Mr Riordan. I know our readers will be charmed by both your new direction, and your explanation.”

Success, for now.

Full Circle – Alastair’s Photo Fiction

freyathewriter 16 Comments

Here is my offering for Alastair’s Photo Fiction this week, inspired by the photo below.  Why not take part? And why not visit his photography and writing blog to take a look at his other photos…?

Copyright - Katerrmonran

Copyright – Kattermonran

– Full Circle –

“She’s a beauty, isn’t she?”

“Oh yes. But I’m not so happy about the new colour scheme.”

I stood with Sol, mirroring his stance – arms folded, legs locked in position. He was angry. I steeled myself against the onslaught. ‘I’m not so happy’ was code for ‘Bloody angry’.

“I need to tell you something,” I scratched my cheek, feeling two days’ worth of bristles rasp against my fingernails.

Silence.

“We sourced the paint livery from the original makers. We painted her sky blue, just like you asked, but it just didn’t cover up the, the…”

“I asked you – no, told you – to get rid of the stains! Sandblast the wheel, smooth it, seal it, paint it. For God’s sake, that’s why I hired you!”

“That’s what we did, Sol.”

“And she never had a red wheel – never!”

I sighed, faked my ‘I’m sorry’ shrug and turned away. The captain’s daughter had been torn to pieces on Dixie’s maiden voyage, her skirt caught up in the paddle steamer’s big wheel. It seemed like the old girl didn’t want anyone to forget. A red-painted wheel was her way of honouring Ruby – my great-grandmother.

Sol could go swivel.

Constant Companion – Trifextra Week Eight One

freyathewriter 35 Comments

This weekend, the Trifecta team’s Trifextra challenge asks us to write only 33 words, inspired this beautiful photo project by Erik Solheim. Here is the still – 3,888 images from a year’s worth of pictures taken of the view from his window.

One year in one image - Copyright Erik Solheim

One year in one image – Copyright Erik Solheim

The Trifecta team have obviously been disturbed by our affectation for the dark, the depressing, the sinister and the bleak, so we have been requested, nay ordered, to give the dark side a swerve this week. Joy, light, happiness are the order of the day! A heck of a restriction for some of us!

So, after much joy-induced angst, here’s my offering this week. I hope and pray that it fits the bill! Let me know your thoughts, and why not visit the Trifecta website to read the brilliant offerings of others, and take part yourself whilst you’re at it?

*****

– Constant Companion –

Cat adopted me on my arrival.

Now I leave, Cat in tow; my familiar.

She and I have communed with this land in mute admiration.

In return, the trees whispered to us incessantly.

*****