RED DUST (1932)

Directed by Victor Flemming

Starring Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Mary Astor & Gene Raymond 

"That's a... a very polished little speech for a... barbarian."

     I love looking at how they 'compose' and light old movies. I think I may make a couple of these posts with movie stills as I am contemplating doing a photo project based on the style...nothing like Cindy Sherman but movie stills. I especially love how old movies reflect the society of the time....I can't imagine anything I do will consciously do that but, I don't know. 

     This particular movie movie made me appreciate Mary Astor's face...a lot and, as always, Clark Gable makes me wish I was born 100 years ago. This one actually wasn't too bad as far as lighting goes, some of those old movies have the most crazy, unnatural shadows. They only occurred in a couple of scenes in this movie. 

     Today, I changed the blog title to Something Made of Fire & Music. It is from a scene in All About Eve in which the veterans of the stage are speaking of the new, refreshing youth of Eve and her performance. Margo speaks mockingly of how highly they regard her performance and repeats it, referring to Eve as "Princess Music and Fire." I can't completely explain why I love this scene so much, nor why I chose it to be my title seeing as it is said only once without any irony. They talk about Eve with such fervor - how, through her youth, she was able to bring something new to the work. Photography is all appropriation, I want to bring my own music and fire to it and in that I guess I am poking fun myself, like, "Who do you think you are,  music and fire?" I guess, in a way, I hope that, one day, some one will actually speak of my work as being full of music and fire. It would be quite a feat to receive such snide a reaction from my own Margo. 

     I am just obsessed with All About Eve and Bette Davis and Margo Channing. 

     It really is, if nothing else, a satirical title. 

51.

      These were for a design project last semester. I, with my morbid fascinations, made a story about how Ava had a twin sister who died she has made up what her sister would be and kept that made up entity with her at all times. It's very Next to Normal. In some images, she's like another part of her and some times she's a whole new entity, a friends.

     These are from the last day at my house. I was just bored. I thought the Jesus stuff around my house was interesting.

49.

     I took these after going to see Beauty and the Beast with Irene.  I like the light at night and it started snowing while I was in the movie theater - I like it here when there is a small about of snow on the ground and all the light reflects off it.
    They're so grainy. It's disappointing, I need a new camera - I need to make money first.

48.

     These are images that I took for my second semester project last year, Backstage. I was granted access backstage to a play called Perfect Crime. It is actually the longest running play on or off Broadway and taking these was a lot of fun. I haven't posted these anywhere yet, which is weird, but here the are.
     Always having had an interest in theater, yet never blessed with any theatrical talent, I became interested in how a production is made. In a show running as long as this one, it's smoother than butter - it's like clockwork, better - they should change the saying to "it's like perfect crime." None the less, watching the actors and the one stage manager run around, changing costumes and interacting in and out of character was a fun experience for me.