Thanks to Moira for coming up with the name “Inspiration”. Helen and I have occasionally “challenged” each other to submit something based on the same theme and the word "challenge" crept in, although I dislike the competitive aspect – especially when Helen wipes the floor with my stuff.

Incidentally, Moira, I’d love to take you to dinner somewhere romantic in Greece. You see, your name in Greek, ΜοΞ―ρα, means ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’, and I’d love to have a Date with Destiny…

But seriously, folks: writing was this Tuesday’s theme and is one dear to my heart. I was the last person in my class to learn to read and write at the age of eight, although some would claim (correctly) that there is still much to do.

This was partly because I’m a lazy sod, but mostly because I ended up in a reactionary school that frowned upon left-handed people and then beat them. And I am obstinate.

Years of scrawling notes and learning to type very early have made my writing illegible to everyone – including myself; my shopping lists are an exercise for advanced cryptologists.

But writing is also how I earn my living, which explains the keyboard shot. As a freelance translator, I spend far too much time in front of one of these, but I suppose anyone working in an office can say the same. The text shot is from Fowler’s Modern English Usage, one of the funniest books ever written. It’s an anti-writing picture.

Because there are various forms of writing and I have only Roman and Greek alphabets to hand, I included music as one of the many. Helen gets bonus points for telling me what this is (clue: not a Motorhead release, I believe).

On a technical note, the pen and the stylus images are composite shots using a technique well-known to macro photographers as “focus stacking”. Macro lenses have an extremely narrow depth of field. If you want to show an entire small object in clear focus throughout, you have to take several shots (using a tripod, obviously) with different DOFs and stack them. PS requires two operations (auto-align layers and blend layers) and there are dedicated applications. I include the stylus image and second pen shot because they failed; you can see what appear to be hairline cracks where the layer alignment didn’t work and strangely blurred sections of my handwriting behind the pen. When doing this, you should use mirror lock-up, a cable release and a rock-solid tripod.

Below is a list of the other people who may or may not be inspired by the ‘writing’ theme this week. I suspect I am the first to post on this theme. The links may send you to their previous posts, so look for 26 January.

CathyB

Heather

Helen

Moira, even though she turned me down.

If you feel like posting something to do with the theme of writing, contact me and I’ll add a link to your post. I rather like the idea of comparing and contrasting different contributions inspired by the same idea.
But please remember, this isn’t a competition – especially if your images are better than mine…

You're images are always great Stefan! They say left handed people are more intelligent, looks like that's the case with you. This is brilliant! ArtBee · 2010-01-25: 11:55

Right... that's €50 I owe ArtBee. Who's next? revenant · 2010-01-25: 12:32

I know you hate conventional adjectives, Stefan but this is a charming post. The art of writing with green ink and a fountain pen is sadly lost in this modern world- itwas 1 of my favourite colours to write with but often green felt tip for me. Moira by the way is my sort of sister in law- I'm not married but she's my other half's sister and lives in Italy and her name is actually Mary, she's just always been called Moira. Lynda · 2010-01-25: 12:34

Oh that is a nice compliment you gave me Stefan, coming from an experienced writer like yourself That invite to Greece has turned back my memories to my first ( apart from a school trip to Belgium) holiday abroad on my own an overland van trek to Thassos Island. Yes I know my name in Greek Moire = the three fates means past , present and future as my daughter studied Greek may I add, as I left school very early. I love green ink too these are delightful photos even the ones that didn't quite work for your judgement. Will have a look at the others now. MoMac · 2010-01-25: 13:42

I also write over-handed lefty! Am I more intelligent too!? ;) smbunation · 2010-01-25: 13:59

Lovely post and very nice shots! Well to me anyway, whatever you may think of them :-)) Writing, pffff, i never did like it, and guess i'll never will either, but i dare to admit that i'm envious of all those who do love it, and write superb poems, stories, and so on, and of those with a lovely handwriting, as mine is just a mess, but i'm not left-handed. Just every so often i dare to scribble down a small poem sort of thing, (even did a short thingamajig 'a la' Tolkien for someone once) but all depending on how i feel, not that they are great or anything, just simple things (like my shots) that suddenly need to get out of my head...before i forget them again five minutes later ;-)) Oops, looks like i need to catch up on a lot here, so sorry if i spam your blog,...........well not really, but i guess it's polite to say i am ;-))) eternity65 · 2010-01-25: 15:09

I'd like to receive a letter written in green ink. burbulz · 2010-01-25: 15:36

What does it mean if I can read your writing? Excellent set and I quite like your last "failure". thebronzebow · 2010-01-25: 16:10

Some very nice shots. I'm intrigued by this macro staking business - I think I'll have to try that. Cheers for the inspiration. Jarvo · 2010-01-25: 19:34

Interesting post...love #6. Hate to admit it but I can't STAND to write out anything by hand...and yes, my shopping list is sometimes unreadable even by me. If the world blows up and we don't have computers anymore I'm up a creek. lookagain · 2010-01-25: 19:59

You've defiantly made me have to put my thinking cap on :) I like your concept of the different types of writing or non writing as it were. I enjoy writing given the subject interests me. I recently wrote a letter to someone and they said..."wow..did you really hand write this?" matteahmb · 2010-01-25: 22:00

Writing is nice, but sadly seems so distance these days. Prolific writer in my school days, even my school notes were being xeroxed and studied by whole class, until i stopped writing them altogether. Btw I am practising writing lefty also ( I am a righty) then we'll see who is more intelligent! ;) soubhagya · 2010-01-26: 00:42

bravo ????? · 2010-01-26: 02:20

I like #1 The DOF is spot on slowpete · 2010-01-26: 03:50

The electronic stuff sneaking in almost every non-macro shot is very much suggestive. =) I like your small 'D'-s. Finally, I have to admit I needed some help to recognize the score. Bit of a shame, since I sung once the children's choir part of it. Nellinka · 2010-01-26: 06:07

I find it hard to believe that someone would beat a student for being left handed! How cruel!! This is an excellent post. I don't know anything about macro stacking, but I love the last shot, even if it is a failure! jennye · 2010-01-26: 07:19

j'aime beaucoup les photos du stylo! tomie · 2010-01-26: 10:11

Some of my kids are lefties, and wore t-shirts saying "If the right part of the brain controls the left part of the body, then only lefties are in their right minds!" I like 1 and 6. ????? · 2010-01-26: 10:33

I think No 1 is a good attempt and a lovely picture to boot; but I don't think anything can quite convey the yawning chasm that is a blank sheet of paper with no idea what to write on it. dealdog · 2010-01-26: 11:46

Nice shots excellent work. ????? · 2010-01-26: 13:27

This is a beautiful set Stefan - you definitely out-did me this time! We were evidently thinking along similar lines regarding hand-written versus computer-written text. I think the music is a Bach Chorale - it looks suspiciously like it from experience of all the ones I had to reharmonise at college! Am I right? Incidentally, did you know that Sir Mansfield Cumming, the first chief of MI6, always wrote with green ink?! Perhaps you have a second career that you're not at liberty to tell us about... ;-) girafferacing · 2010-01-26: 14:57

Excellent shots.good job. farideh · 2010-01-26: 15:14

This was an interesting theme and a very well done set. Thank you. We had some similarities in thinking ... the musical notes and computer versus hand writing; however, we certainly represented it differently. You even supplied some hand writing ... I left that implied. Once again, your photos have piqued my interest and I have learned something ... maybe several things ... the macro stacking for one ... and that there is beauty in simplicity. I have a tendency to over think, over analyze and over process. My mother is left handed. The nuns used to hit her with a ruler when she used that had to write. Terrible how some just want people to conform to what they believe is the norm. Thanks for the invite. ????? · 2010-01-26: 18:31

j'aime beaucoup la photo no2 !! ????? · 2010-01-27: 03:47

Very interesting. Beautiful warm colours. La première image me fait penser au générique de la guerre des étoiles. La dernière ressemble à une provocation du stylo. noptek · 2010-01-28: 03:31

Matthew's passion? We sang it with choir a few times :/ pianoboe · 2010-01-28: 12:30

Beautiful serie! I like the macros! miclaud · 2010-01-29: 08:25

Brilliant, thought provoking post Stefan....I feel your pain being left-handed as well....although intelligence and my name have never been used in the same sentence. Wonderful images that brought me back for a second to the past...thank you!! :) Nukee · 2010-01-29: 11:49

Agreed! Brilliant. ????? · 2010-01-30: 13:50

Loved to read your words. And I love the macros of the Pelikan - pen! justgood · 2010-01-30: 15:07

I love this set of photos! TWOZEES · 2010-01-30: 21:18

An exceptional set of photos! I love each and every one of them! Very creative! SusieG · 2010-02-01: 15:11

may be you see the last one as a failure for me it is the most inspiring one in this set. The pen really jumps at you and force you to write something GKorts · 2010-02-03: 12:56

Tagged: inspiration writing tuesday