Words of Wisdom

Youth is wasted on the young.

Friday 18 June 2010

Team Up Thursday: Speed


In stark contrast to our theme, JoLyn and I have been anything but speedy getting this diptych to you! We had planned to do it last week but life caught up with both of us.

JoLyn took this sensational picture of the wheels of a 4WD as it speeds down the highway. I personally LOVE this shot. When I first thought about 'speed' I saw, in my mindseye, the blur of motion but wondered how to balance that with clarity of subject? Well, JoLyn has absolutely nailed it as far as I am concerned. That soft focus that gives you the sense of motion suspended in time, coupled with the diagonal lines of the road, suggest speed perfectly in my humble opinion.

My shot, on the right, is an ancient one; pre-digital in fact. It actually came straight to mind when we chose 'Speed' but I had wanted to try and capture something different. I took my camera to work last week to try and shoot some of the action on the indoor soccer courts but in typical fashion, I had left the memory card in the computer at home:-( It was a darn shame too as I had a phalanx of willing 'models' :-D

So it was back to the ancient pre-digi shot.

Taken in 1989, it's a shot of one of my pupils at the local Sports Day. She was a complete natural. Notice how she's running in bare feet? I think she went on to run at a State level once she'd gone to boarding school in the city. I'm not sure if you can tell but she's in mid-stride, about 6" off the ground!

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Report Mountain is retreating in the rear view mirror and Exam Canyon is fast approaching. I always query the value of end of semester exams for the lower ability pupils. I know it is supposed to prepare them for exams in the future but really, it just takes 3 weeks out of my teaching time. There is the pressure to 'revise' and so lessons are spent doing 'revision booklets' which most of my kids don't bother doing properly or do hastily with no attempt to retain anything. If I try and do it differently the kids are resistant, accusing me of 'not preparing them properly', and yes, I do mean accuse! It's a real bugbear of mine.

Still, no point complaining, no one listens. :-)

For your weekly diet of diptychs, click over to Team Up Thursday and perhaps contribute something yourself?

3 comments:

Amy Jo said...

Funny, because one of our photos was from a long time ago, too! That's amazing that you caught that moment when both of her feet were off of the ground.Nice work!

Megan said...

love these two -- really the essence of speed in both! i like that the angles in the photos are so different, too. makes for a great dip!

Unknown said...

This is fantastic! What a great dipy...spot on on both accounts! Now speed off to end of term exams and report markings. I hope they go smoothly for you.