dog grooming

previously published by me elsewhere:

I spent another evening at our local black box theater's performance of "Dog Sees God", as it shuffled into its last three shows. I was there to film for a second time, having spent the last filming occasion merely capturing some wide shots, which were an obvious replication of the stage experience. Tonight it got fun!

I've worked for the assistant director/co-producer of the show on previous film shoots. She strives for perfection from herself and demands nothing less of those around her. She comes bearing a lot of enthusiasm and passion, but sometimes fails to clearly communicate her goals with those who can help her fulfill them.

Fortunately, for my part, tonight she was able to communicate in clear terms what she wanted. I was merely the technical entity that would bring her grocery list of shots that filled 75% of a Mead memo pad to fruition.

I've never been particularly technically savvy. This is due not to a lack of interest, but to a larger leaning toward expressing my visual sense of composition and framing to others who are more technical. I'm just not usually the person to move it from that point to a finished project, unless you qualify all of my years behind a still camera.

Still photography has always been a passion of mine, to the point that there was a long mourning period between the loss of my cherished 35mm camera and this great digital camera I've now had for nine months. I know it's cheesy, but it was like a companion who saw things how I did. Using a different camera felt like cheating.

So, tonight I was the proverbial furniture mover putting the couch wherever the nagging housewife desired. It was a very specific paint-by-numbers type gig, but there's a lot of great energy to doing this during a live event. You have to remain loose, open, and ready to change it up.

That's precisely what I did, as moments came along. I'm not sure how "I had to improvise every now and then" was interpreted by her, when I made mention after the show. Oh, well. When you see a better shot, you've got to be spontaneous and not lose it, right?

The audience was far quieter than the last outing, but they still laughed and cried appropriately. I did hear this lovely monologue during intermission from a man sitting nearby to where I was noticeably planted with the camera.

He looked like the average person who would be quite unlikely to make an appearance at our local art house cinema, much less the theater, so I guess it shouldn't have surprised me when he said to his date:

"These things are okay, but they're boring. I'm sure this is the end of my theater experiences for the decade. The only thing that keeps me awake is that they keep turning on the lights."

It's fascinating to be able to be six or eight feet from someone, looking in the same general direction, and see a completely different thing.

Such is art, I suppose.