Hi everyone,
For the hoi polloi the final instalment of Harry Potter hits the big screen this Friday. (For those less common and a bit “in with those in the know”, we have already had a screening and I can tell you that if you’re a Potterite then please be patient for a couple more days. It’s well worth waiting at least until Friday to see it)
Deathly Hallows Part 2 see’s the end of a 10-year, (and £5 billion), cinematic roller-coaster of a journey, but the thing that got me thinking wasn’t the film. (or indeed what will happen to poor Daniel now) I was more taken with the choice of one of the phrases which the marketeers have used to heighten and intensify the wait until the 15th July 2011. Those clever chaps from Warner Brothers are simply using the catch line:
“IT ALL ENDS FRIDAY”
Now that may well be the case if you happen to be one of the lucky ones who actually manages to get a seat in a cinema on Friday, (If you’re struggling then may I suggest the Vue at Cheshire Oaks, it’s offering 31 separate screenings on the official “opening day”). But what happens if you can’t? What happens if you’re working Friday, or you have the flu, or you’re being detained at her majesty’s pleasure? Or maybe it’s as simple as the fact that Cheshire Oaks is just too far away from where you live? Surely then for you it doesn’t actually “ALL END ON FRIDAY?” There’s a slight possibility that you could maybe survive until Tuesday of next week? (I say slight chance of survival, but only if you’ve managed to successfully disguise yourself as a bush to avoid bumping into 1 of the 13.7 million people who will have seen it over the coming weekend and are in an uncontrollably desperate state to tell you how the whole thing pans out!)
Anyway, a bit of this got me to thinking “what if, in some way, Friday WAS the end?” Not an Apocalyptic-type end, and not even a”what will life be without a Harry Potter film to look forward to” end, but a timed end with a challenge attached. What if you had from now til midnight on Friday to compose & capture an image which you will be eternally remembered for because after the clock passes the witching hour on Friday night there is a worldwide camera amnesty where all photographic hardware has to be handed into the authorities to be melted down and recycled to make a proper cage to keep King Kong in. (Don’t laugh, it could happen!) Anyway, whatever the reason for the pre-mature ending to your life as a photographer, what story would YOUR final image tell?
Now when it comes to our imagination it’s really easy to let our creative minds wander into the room with the door marked “Totally Unachievable”, but let’s keep it real folks. Let’s keep it in the realms of the feasible, an image who’s content we could ACTUALLY compose if we planned the whole thing properly.
Maybe you already have your concept in mind, maybe you haven’t as yet? But when you do, (and providing you’ve played my little game fairly), why don’t you go out at the 1st opportunity you have and do it? What’s stopping you?
Ansel Adams was once quoted as saying;
“Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop”
Wouldn’t it be great if you started producing your next “crop” sooner rather than later?
ttfn
McGillicuddy
Ps. For those who are interested in the outcome of the film? Well, in the last scene… …no, as much as the “Bad Dog” in me wants to tell, I just couldn’t do it to those that I love :o)
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