Last week Shelly announced our new series: The Six Image Narrative. A new series? More like a new challenge! And a whole new process to come to grips with!
With Shelly’s announcement fresh in my mind I spent last weekend thinking and planning. I took her advice and looked back through past images, searching for the illusive “unconscious thread”. This search, together with Jennifer’s post about revisiting old images, surprisingly unearthed a series of photos that I’d completely forgotten about; photos taken before the move from iPhone, that told a story, that deserved reworking.
I like speculative fiction: dark narratives
Of the future that looms. Of our impending doom.
Propagandhi – Things I Like
Hello darkness my old friend
Around June of 2014, I took a series of photos of a LEGO IG-88 when I was experimenting with my first living diorama. I’ve always loved the IG-series assassin droid. I remember Santa bringing me a Kenner sixth-scale Iggy when I was a kid in the early 80s. Oh, if I’d only known back then what I know now, that lovely bugger would still be with me!
I’ve always found something sad about this assassin. There’s something Tin Man-esque about his stature, a forlorn figure, a melancholy mechanical man. The LEGO version of Iggy seems to accentuate the sorrow, with a heavy head and a posture that doesn’t topple when hunched over.
![six image narrative: [sa]Droid](http://toyphotographers.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/iggy-3-1024x384.jpg)
[sa]Droid
![six image narrative: [sa]Droid](http://toyphotographers.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/iggy-1-1024x576.jpg)
[sa]Droid
![six image narrative: [resurrecte]Droid](http://toyphotographers.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/iggy-2-1024x576.jpg)
[resurrecte]Droid
I got a six pack and nothing to do
I got a six pack and I don’t need you
Black Flag –Six Pack
So, bolstered by Jennifer’s wonderful reworking of old photos, motivated by the challenge of portraying a narrative in six images, and excited by the latest version in the new LEGO Bounty Hunter Speeder Bike Battle Pack, Iggy will again take centre stage for six. Who knows, maybe a Kenner Iggy might join in too, just not my childhood sixth-scale one?
For those of you, like me, that are struggling to think of a narrative for the Six Image Narrative, I encourage you to look back through your images as Shelly suggested. Who knows, you might just discover something you didn’t know was there? And you might also get the chance to rework something that you never knew you wanted to!
– Brett
Have you started thinking about your Six Image Narrative? Did you scroll back through your past to look for a pre-existing thread?
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Great post Brett! I can just tell the finished narratives this challenge is going to produce are going to be awesome! I’ve begun planning mine; I’m going to shoot it on Thursday…
Thanks mate. I’m enjoying the process of thinking of a series rather than a single shot. And yeah, I think we’ll be treated to some wonderful stories from this series too!
Fantastic, evocative images Brett. Thanks for enriching the challenge!!
Thanks Doug. Hopefully I can replicate the origin mood in the reworkings for the Six Image Narrative?!
I read this post and I was practically jumping up and down! I was screaming (in my head) see! see! This is what happens when we stop and look at our work rather than rushing for the next image to post to social. You are my poster child for stopping and looking back at your work. These are fabulous images and I cant wait to see what you come up with for your first Six Image Narrative! Im so impressed!! xo
I’ve never been on a poster before? Well, maybe a wanted poster! I actually enjoyed looking back. I cringed at times. But those cringes might be a chance to take a leaf out of Jennifer’s book and rework the cringe out!
Now, if I can just shake this cold and find some “Brett” time, I’ll get my Iggy on, times six! x
What wonderful advice. I’m glad you rediscovered these old images. They’re gorgeous, and I look forward to your new Iggy images.
Thanks mate! I’ve got you and Shelly to thank for my trip down memory lane. I did like the Iggy shots when I took them, and I enjoyed seeing them again. Hopefully I can do this lovable rogue justice again when he gets the six treatment this time around.
Exciting! I am sure this challenge will be a blast for all of us – and a great success for your blog!
Talking about reviewing old pictures: I am just trying to figure out how to tell a new story with old(ish) pictures, ideally charging them with a different meaning from what you originally intended. Some kind of applied semiotics… like a word’s meaning can change depending on the context.
I sure is an exciting challenge. And a challenging one! I like your idea that the meaning of a photo can change depending on the context. I’m sure this is what Shelly had in mind when introducing the challenge. It reminds me of a short silent film we watched at art college, with differing soundtracks played over the clip the entire feeling of the short film was polar opposites! Looking forward to seeing how your Six Image Narrative turns out!