This is the last part of Nightjar’s series on her work with a local theatre company’s most recent play. I’ve enjoyed this series immensely. Nightjar has carefully chosen photographs that bring the play to life even for those of us who were not able to attend and her processing in antique tones lends an authentic feel to the material. I think she’s done an outstanding job helping to bring the script to life and I have no doubt that the troupe will call on her again. Thank you so much for sharing, Nightjar.
In the last part of the series Nightjar has focused in closely on the beautiful details of life that we see, but don’t see, everyday. I’ll let Nightjar explain.
photo 1, ©Nightjar, all rights reserved
For the last part of this series I selected another of my favourite scenes. This may actually be my favourite part of the whole play. The audience is just strolling along one of the main streets in the center of the village when suddenly they hear the sound of a handbell. That makes them stop and notice it’s coming from the door of an old abandoned house. Sure enough, there’s someone in there.
Photo 2, ©Nightjar, all rights reserved
It’s a stonemason, carrying his set of tools. He has questions. What’s a window? Could it be more than just a hole in the wall to let air and light in?
Photo 3, ©Nightjar, all rights reserved
We are a limestone region and stonemasonry is an old tradition. That doorjamb you see in the first photo was sculpted with these tools. There’s a diary in the tool basket, the diary of a stonemason. He picks it up and goes inside the house, leaving the tools near the audience.
Photo 4, ©Nightjar, all rights reserved
The audience’s attention is drawn to the house’s first floor and to its beautifully crafted window. That’s the work of a talented stonemason without a doubt. The man reads a piece of his diary from there. He has a few thoughts to share on what windows mean to him.
A lot of people later admitted to us that they had never looked up to notice that window. And that the answer to the question they started with (see Part 1) was indeed “yes”: this place could still surprise and move them.
And that’s it for now. I enjoyed this exercise in non-nature photography a lot more than I expected.
It’s a beautiful project. I know taking pics in such light is difficult, and you solved the problem like a real master
I love the feel and the colour and tone palette in the pictures. It’s a mixture of history, theatre and naturalism.
This section touched me more than the others. I don’t know if it’s the mood pictures or the theme.
But it’s wonderful sometimes looking up, I know I can still be sometimes surprised by streets I walk or drive through every day -- that one day on public transportation gives you a freedom to look around and discover previously unseen designs and architecture, odd little things that can make you smile.
Thanks everyone!
Giliell, that was by far the biggest challenge for me, shooting in such low light conditions. Long exposures aren’t an option with actors for obvious reasons. I have learned a lot on how to deal with noise in post-processing because a very high ISO is inevitable. I also have a new appreciation for RAW and the post-processing flexibility it offers.
rq, I was looking through all the photos yesterday and I noticed that the photos of this scene in particular were much better than the rest. I think it was in part because this was the one that inspired me the most and I got more creative and spent more time there. I felt a little guilty because I didn’t want my preferences to show like that.