Saturday, June 30, 2018

Changing the Viewer's Perception

Here I am again, what a handsome red-headed devil. Only this time I'm at a photo shoot. Actually two separate photo shoots. I find it amazing that in 1962 they were still taking professional photos in black and white. Of course in the B&W picture you'd have no idea how red my hair really was. That black and white photo is the focus of this story. My mother told me it was time to go get my picture taken, but I was busy playing. I didn't want to go. She said, "Alright, that's fine but I'm getting my picture taken and you must come with me." So, that was that and I went with her. She put my tie in her purse just in case. When we got to the studio we had to wait because a couple of little girls were getting their pictures taken before us. Mother noticed that I was paying the girls attention. (...or maybe they were paying me attention and I played along?) She said, "Those girls got their pictures taken don't you think they would like it of you got yours taken too?" I put on the tie and got in front of the camera, but I couldn't take my eyes of the girls. Mother struck up a conversation with the girls mother (probably to keep her around until my photo session was over.) The girls were giggling and waving at me. That's why I'm not looking at the camera. Mother loves telling that story. It's not really a special one. There isn't any real excitement, but it's one of her favorites. Now to my observation... It is about my hair. In the B&W picture my hair looks dark... but it's really quite bright. The camera changes the viewer's perception of what he/she were seeing. The writer is in control of what the reader sees... through the whole book the reader may be seeing the story in black and white until the end when the writer pulls out the color camera and shows us that what we thought was right was not. It is the twist that makes the reader hang on. Ernest Hemmingway was a writer who didn't resort to explosions and gun battles to keep his readers interested. His characters were deep and seemed real. They had real life problems and hunted for real life solutions to those problems. It was real life that grabbed the reader. Life comes with twists. It's the twists that keep it exciting. If you haven't read one of my books then you simply must. "Spies Lie & Spies Die" and "The Secret King & Poetry of Praise" are available at Amazon and Goodreads.