January – 2013 – George Torode

Monthly Archives: January 2013

If it’s waning it’s waning

January 31, 2013 – 10:21 am

I was inspired to create a piece using last weekends full moon. Unfortunately it was cloudy so I shot it the day after it was full. I’m not sure if you can tell of its waning but it is. This photograph is an examination of what we perceive to be real. Its easy to scrutinise the elements of this image and conclude that it is not “real” – its not even a full moon. But does it matter? Most of what we perceive to be real is just our brain filling in the gaps between what its thinks it has registered anyway. Accept the illusion and free your mind.

waning, 2013

Inspiring Armitage and Heaney

January 29, 2013 – 1:03 pm

On Sunday night I was covering an event at the Tricycle theatre where the two poets Seamus Heaney and Simon Armitage selected 10 pieces of writing – verse or prose – that had inspired them. They were on stage introducing each piece which were then delivered by the actors Charles Dance and Jenny Jules. The event was a one off fund raser for English PEN, called Inspirations, and was sold out weeks ago.

It was a tricky gig for me as, unlike production photography, this was covering a live performance (instead of the dress rehearsal): subtlety was the order of the day although that is easier said than done. I was keen to get a least one charismatic image of Seamus Heaney – a veteran poet whose works I admire. Its always tricky to photograph live performance and actually enjoy the work but I did get a kick out of the extract of the Beckett play, Waiting for Godot. Just a few lines reinforces the fact that life is tragically futile yet the gentle simplicity of the writing somehow suggests that reason is restored.