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Ana Carloto O'Shea | all galleries >> OLD WORK >> Random Stories >> This and that > Smoke...
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09-OCT-2005 Ana Carloto

Smoke...

Sony DSC-H1
1/30s f/3.5 at 17.5mm iso80 full exif

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Rob Rosetti07-Mar-2006 19:49
Simply I must quit smoking.. Nice shot..

roberto
Chris Sofopoulos17-Jan-2006 08:22
Stunning image and composition.
One big vote.
Bernd Koenemann17-Dec-2005 15:36
As others said before, the diagonals and the harsh reality of the message are striking.
Guest 09-Dec-2005 12:01
Very eye catching photo. Oddly enough, I have never seen this brand of cigarette in America.
fotabug30-Oct-2005 05:35
For some reason I really like this image, I am trying to figure out why. I guess it is the diagonal, the contrasts, etc. Good job.
Luís Pereira18-Oct-2005 21:32
Fantástica, Ana.
A mensagem e a photo.
Chris18-Oct-2005 01:37
Fine clarity and color palette. Well done.
Marc Demoulin17-Oct-2005 18:54
Tobacco puts me in dark jail with cold and black bars...
Kal Khogali17-Oct-2005 14:01
Love the symbolism of the dark bars.Ironically, depending on your view of smoking, that pack either belongs here or on the other side. Great colour light and exposure.
Guest 17-Oct-2005 07:15
I am in my second attempt to quit....
Let's hope it will work this time...

alem
Stu16-Oct-2005 22:01
Pois... E' verdade. Uma imagem impressionante.
Guest 16-Oct-2005 19:46
Dear Ana,I don't know why I'm telling you these silly things.Surely you will think that I am nothing but a foolish school girl.My day has been horrible.Max is out on the balcony pacing and meowing for his lost friend.You remember Maxine? My adorable angora that purrs in the morning sun.While Chirp the sparrow would land in her water dish.And splash his feathers clean.It is a crazy thing,yes.But I have raised Max and Peter the parakeet together since birth.Now that Pete has passed away,Max has taken Chirp under her wing.Chirp has not been around for days.And Max is going out of her mind.

You know me.That is not all of the story.Oh Ana, I am so upset.I am really a miserable old witch.I thought a little fresh air today would be good,to clear my cluttered mind.Maybe brighten my broken heart.I put on a fresh morning dress.The one with the lace stitched paisley petals that you like so much.Then I walked down to the front gate.

There was no mistake.Carlos had been here.The freshly unwrapped cigarette package was empty.My hands strangled the rails.Rattling them as a prisoner abandoned to solitary confinement.My frame shaking more than the bars.I missed him more than life itself.

We had met at the concert hall some months ago.The show was over. Everyone had left.Except for a fading buzz in the lingering shadows among straggling musicians.By flickering candle atop the piano I could barely view the hunched figure swaying over the ivories.It did not concern either of us if we could see.For I was sure that he knew the piece,as if his fingers had only to hover in the air.And the piano would generously release it's profound voice.

He played me the same way.Those long graceful digits.Not fatty and calloused like a pig's.More as,tawny autumn lake reeds.Sensitive to the slightest breath.The way he wove them through and around my melting body.Almost catching the hair on the back of my neck.Like wings in flight,moving the air,as phantom caresses,quivering the uppermost leaves edging into rare atmosphere.My ears were wishing wells.Into which he cast the most stirring promises.Poetry rivering through me like fire.Dizzy.Nearly fainting it was so moving.

Most men are roosters.Only after...,you know.They start with a peck upon the cheek.Crow great impressionable things.With that...expectation,sooner than later.Carlos was different.He was my sparrow to sing my soul to heaven.I wanted him to kiss me desperately.I'm sure that I would perish if he would not.My begging eyes starving into his.But he witheld "In time".

It was more of an intercourse of our depths.The tender,hidden, seldom shared secret places.There are not enough words,Ana.But I find it difficult to speak of these things.It is so different and remarkable.He would call upon me as his Chat.And I loved him as my Oiseau.A special friendship like Chirp and Max.

Sometimes we would sneak into the concert hall at a deathly hour.When all the other ears of the village were dreaming.He would escort me to the piano.And we perched upon the bench together."For your heart only my darling.Only for you."Carlos began to play a freshly composed masterpiece.Lasting an hour.Maybe more.Through a tapestry of complex movements.I could feel it as a conversation of most intimate quality.Then just as quickly he would stop.Abruptly.My tears embracing his cheek with passion.No sane soul could hold back.And then Carlos,like a madman ripped the sacred music parchment into a thousand meaningless shreds.I was absolutely wild with fury.

He held me tight.Tighter.As if I was the only,the only that meant and lived for him."I am sorry,mon Chat,I really am.But don't you see? It is the making of music,the making of life with you that only matters.Once the word is played we must move on,together"

I never really understood.Until last month.When I was on my way through the market.And saw, at a corner cafe table,my oiseau sharing hands with another.

My morning filled basket,my fate,toppled like garbage onto the cobblestones,speechless.Running and crying so hard to escape.Never look back.Never.The telephone rang every night for weeks.Never answer back.Never.

I stepped outside,Ana.Pulverizing that cigarette package with my twisted heel.Goring it unrecognizable into the filthy mute stone until nothing remained.

- the unspoken is always dangerously potent,and rarely seen V!-
Guest 16-Oct-2005 17:56
Fantástica...
Pepe Zyman16-Oct-2005 16:57
What a powerful image!
scott clarke16-Oct-2005 16:38
One of your best so far Ana.
Guest 16-Oct-2005 14:31
Excellent composition! Great colors
Boa mensagem...
Guest 16-Oct-2005 14:12
Well done Ana, I also love the dark black lines and the colours of the ground and the subject.
Adalberto Tiburzi16-Oct-2005 08:42
Love the thick dark black lines.
Guest 16-Oct-2005 06:45
Great shot Ana, thw diagonal placement of the subject is superb, Bravo
Iannis
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