Last week, I found a beautifully massive picture frame in someone's trash that would fit perfectly on our living room wall. No picture.
Well, I take pictures. Been doing it for a long time. Certainly, there's a picture in 40+ years of archives that wife JB would agree belongs in that frame.
It would be only my second photo hanging in the house, the other is an old Christmas card of a white cat named Angel. The qualifications that this photo must have-- 1) must have lots of green. 2) must be very wide and skinny. The frame is 27" by 72". Massive.
So we spent Sunday afternoon scanning 40 years of photos. JB was the final judge. She wants no bugs. No people. No scary four, six or eight-legged creatures.
Amazing the photos that I've forgotten. But as we came to the last image, it was obvious she wasn't happy with the photo finalists.
"Just go out and take one," she said. She threw it out like I was making pancakes. Just toss the ingredients together and do it.
Like any artist, I just rolled my eyes, giggled and arrogantly flipped "Oh, do you think it's that easy?" I could have gone on for hours about the art, the preparation, the 'moment'. Good grief. Rookies. Amateurs.
So as she sat on the front porch during a break, dining on a ham and cheese lunch, she looked and said "That might work." Oh yeah, I mumbled. In my front yard, you found something that 40 years of sweat, education and work can't beat? I've driven over most of the U.S. and Canada and you expect me to find exactly what you want 15 feet from my lunch?
Just to humor her, I stooped to see what she found. Well, slap me silly, this is perfectly what you want!
Now, the photo above isn't National Geographic, and it looks pretty lame as a small photo but enlarge that monster, and it's says Living Room Wall.
Of course, I couldn't let JB know it was that easy. I spent hours shooting this. Dug holes, crunched hosta plants, had her hold a paper to shield some of the light. Waited three days for the 'right light'. I'm kidding.
After all, it was in my front yard. It's NOT that easy.
Amateurs.
Love the photo and the way you told the story behind it! :)
I've seen many frames like yours. Usually they hold a WWI or WWII army platoon, an entire 1920-something+/- high school student body or all the employees in a company. An excellent source of old frames are the auctions where I've bought many very nice ones dirt cheap. Sometimes there wiil be one or two I like but have to buy a whole box lot to get them.
I love the photo, too -- the perspective makes me feel like a Lilliputian! :)
Great perspective and spring green colors! The Lily of the Valley is a nice touch, too. A WOW photo.
Wow! The story behind that photo really makes you stop to think about the things we walk by everyday and never stop to really "see." I'll bet the photo looks great at 6 feet wide. Reminds me of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids."