Quiet

“I told you about the fool on the hill. I tell you he’s living there still.”

Well, that’s not what the picture is about. That’s a lyric from “Glass Onion.” From The Beatles “White Album.” The newly released 50 year anniversary version. Remixed. With a lot of other versions of songs with I which I grew up. I working my way through it right now. I haven’t gotten to the demo versions which are stripped down and, I’m told, are very good.

I’m listening to the remixed songs that I know by heart. It’s strange. The remix changes a lot of things. Guitars pop out in front on some songs. Vocals are brighter. The drums are moved around. Bass notes are up front in some cases. Buried in others.

It’s kind of off-putting. After listening to songs played one way for fifty years, and hearing them this way is often confusing. I would have been very happy with a remix that just emphasized the differences in technology. Oh well.

That brings me to pictures.

I’m forever remixing older work. I take the master image, which I may have made ten years ago, and rework it using newer, better technology, and what I’ve learned over that time. I hope that I’ve made the picture a little better. Maybe a little cleaner. Sometimes, I go too far. I make a mess. An example of that is this picture.

As you see it now, it is elegant and very clean. For me, it’s artistic. But, last night I started playing around with it. I went too far. I went further still. And, beyond that. It turned ugly. It turned dystopian. I’m sure you are wonder how this picture could end up looking like something from a terrible future. Suffice it to say, I did it. And, you aren’t going to see it anytime soon.

Sometimes you have to know when to just hide a thing away. Not every picture deserves an audience.