Photography didn't teach me this.

The photography of Brooke Shaden is possibly the most beautiful photography I have ever seen.  She mostly does photographs of women in deep hues on dark landscapes. Her pictures remind me of dreams - ethereal, vivid, part of a story you can almost remember, but never quite. 

And to think I was so proud in 10th grade of cutting and pasting crocuses onto a piece of sky...

I think it might be a fun activity to write quick stories or verses for some of her photographs. I worry, though,  that the image won't translate mediums, and I'll destroy the evanescence... Well, you know what, let's give it a shot. It's a nice little creative writing prompt, n'est pas?

Vibrant Dreams

She spent so long between pages, absorbing worlds through letters. She wandered through forests and cities, speaking to people she'd never meet and tasting food she'd never eat and drinking wine that would never be so sweet to anyone else. Reality bore down on her like a painful yoke and tried to catch her in its final grasp, and so she fled through paper to places that could save her. She found villains to hate and heroes that would fight, for her and the world. And there she was safe.

But even the safest refuge, the greatest paradise, can turn into a prison. And so, the wise books talked among themselves, whispered between their paper mouths and their ink-black lips. They shook their paper-thin heads and looked at her, hiding and dreaming and fearing. The wise books took her by the hands and by the feet and lifted her free of them. Twining about her, they carried her high above the earth, and they showed her the world. They showed her the darkened houses and the crying men and the starving and the sick, and she cried, Why are you showing me this? This is what I was fleeing from!

We've taught you, they said to her. We've taught you everything we know. Now you must use that knowledge. 

What do you want me to do? she asked, fearfully, hesitantly.

We are tools, the books said. We are guidelines and hints and visions. We are points of view. We are knowledge. And knowledge is power. And power, they said, is the ability to change things. 

What do you want me to do? she asked. What can I possibly do with this power?

Simple, the books whispered. We want you to save the world.

Perhaps I'll do more later, if I get to it. Lately there is so much I want to do. Projects to complete. AP Bio notes to hole punch and binder. Physics midterms to study for. Sewing machines to conquer. Chopin to play. I need to stick with only having a few hobbies.