A funny place to start, but Ernest Hemingway, the great writer, once said of his craft, “Write all the story, take out the good bits, and see if it still makes works.” His crafted stories are strong, alive and engaging.
It has been said by those who know about writing critique, that his stories always left a little unanswered question or two. The magic that allowed the reader to participate.
When I was but a young lad, the world of Television was more a mystical dream, than a reality. Rather we’d gather round the radio with Serials, Entertainment, Humour, Dramas, and short fillers of all sorts of interesting topics.
The blog is too short to mention them, but my Mum waited to the mid afternoon for “Blue Hills”, after dinner it was “Dad and Dave”, the kids were enthralled by “Biggles” and all the spin offs.
The one thing, that I learned so much later in life was that as a listener, I became involved in the show, because I needed to add, “Imagination”. The theatre of the mind.
Any two people listening to the voices and story would conjure up quite different settings for the action. Such is the wonderful power of imagination.
Photographs, and by guilt-by-association, photographers, can often be simple records of the moment, and little involvement either by the maker, or the viewer.
Other times, the Hemingway moment is there and all the ‘good bits’ have been removed, either at the camera stage or in post, and what remains ‘still works’.
Magic that sings and dances a story into our brain, straight into the ‘theatre of the mind’. We see, feel, experience and add to the photo at an emotional level.
Sometimes a photo is a bit like a present. All wrapped up. And the excitement is as much in the unwrapping as it is in the beholding. Not knowing what is beneath.
It’s about not telling all, but rather letting the viewer decide.
The art of saying More with Less.
Keep takin’ Photos. We do.
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER - --doesn't mean I'm LOST 
Totally off-topic for birds and photography, but your mention of radio serials brings back memories of the strongest contenders: Hop Harrigan Sea Hound and Tarzan. My age is definitely showing 😉
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Ha! I was going to mention Hop Harrigan, but wondered if it was to localised for the readership. Today’s kids might have Nintendo and facebook, but we had imagination. Not something I am sorry about. I still see horsies and duckies in the clouds.
🙂
This is Hop Harrigan coming in!
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A wonderfully minimalist image David – grey branch, grey bird, blue sky. Beautiful!
I was a devotee of the Children’s Hour on the ABC and of course was an Argonaut. It was such a great thing for kids in terms of imagination, creativity, learning. But of course television killed it pretty quickly.
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Hi Eleanor, I had to look it up, as it seemed something I should know, but the early “Muddle-headed Wombat” was voice overed by none other then Leonard Teale. 🙂
Come out to play. 🙂
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Saying more with less is a wonderful approach, something we should all aspire to. I love your comparison to ‘the wireless’ – it is indeed theatre of the mind, and allows the listener to create the setting wonderfully. Most of the serials had stopped broadcasting by the time I cottoned on to radio but I have listened to a few over the years.
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Hello David, if I was ever to do a thesis, it would indeed be on the concept of “The Theatre of the Mind”. So much stage play, so many product launches, so many corporate events, but today, all overwhelmed with loud music that is only co-incidental to the task at hand, but expected because the ‘audience’ needs to be entertained, rather than challenged.
But I’m teaching my grandmother to knit socks ah!
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So true David as it was for radio and books, the imagination had such an important part to play in our appreciation. I remember an old friend telling me how Saturday nights after working hard week pulling a plough he and several mates would walk several miles to a friends place where they sit huddled around a crackly crystal radio listening to the cricket matches with Bradman playing in England. When our first TV arrived when I was a youngster in my formative years, it changed the life and culture of our family forever, as it did for many. We no longer had to imagine as it was pictorially presented. Funny enough, I still find myself saying their are parts missing from movies that I thought were there when I viewed them again years later, but I later realised were additions of my imagination. Like all true art, we see differing perspectives and aspects of appreciation from one another which may be reflected from our individuality and personal past experiences in life.
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Hi Ashley, it was a simple post, but has bought out some wondeful memories and recolletions of a bygone era.
I didn’t even understand cricket, or the rules, but listening to the description of Bill Lawry walking out on to “Lords” (What ever that was) under the blankets was an adventure all its own.
Interesting about the parts we put into movies.
I once staged an event, complete with sound track (which included seagull noises) and slides, (wide screen 9 projector rig), of a trip along the Great Ocean Road
Afterwards one of the audience came up and thanked me, because he said, they were, “Some of the best Seagull photos, I’ve ever seen)> Not a single seagull photo in the whole 12 mintues 🙂
I was going to go on about our individual experience of an image, and what we each bring to it, thus making it important for more than just itself, but I decided enough was enough. It’s Saturday night after all. 🙂
Thanks for the insights as it all helps to see how we all interact with this amazing world.
Good luck
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