And this is how you know that the MEMPHIS tour is being housed in the suburbs and not in the middle of a city. While we are performing in Washington DC, we are staying in Falls Church, Virginia at a very nice apartment complex, but unfortunately it is a bit of a hike from anywhere, especially on foot. With that being said, another self portrait, again taken in my apartment, and thanks to a HUGE mirror on the bottom of my murphy-bed, this time it was taken of myself and my camera on a tripod and my 30″ gridded softbox lighting me, showing everything, and expressing a bit of frustration. In the last few days I have FAILED at truly creating. The three days in which it takes us to move MEMPHIS and get it packed up from one theatre and installed in a new theatre tends to drain me completely. We pack it up on Sunday, generally after two shows, and travel early on Mondays only to set it back up again Monday night and all day Tuesday before performing again for an audience in a completely different city on Tuesday night. It’s a lot of work, and a lot of time where my head is dealing more with my ‘day job’ and less with anything truly creative in the sense of photography. This frustration was expressed on the wall with bits of torn, twisted and folded white gaffers tape on the brown wall of my apartment. Formed into a thought bubble, I realized after a few letters that in fact, I had to write backwards… as the mirror was about to flip my image completely. After all is said and done, I avoided a moment of catastrophe as I tripped over a leg of my tripod next to me to catch a tipping lightstand (see photo below). At the end of the day, I managed to come up with a somewhat creative solution to the frustrations of not having time or energy to be truly creative… and I got a photo of the day out of it at the last minute.
more soon.
—D
[originally posted 6/15/12 3:24pm]