Still Life With Murphy’s

Still Life With Murphy's How vain to post a picture of myself, but I love the composition of Tim’s portrait. I am reading my guidebook over chowder and stout in Dingle. He lay with his cheek on the bar to figure out an angle. Then he propped the little Olympus Stylus Epic point-and-shoot up on beermats and set the timer. (A Yashica T4 viewfinder would make this easier, but it doesn’t quite fit in a shirt pocket.) I am slouching and laughing at him, off-camera, because I don’t think this shot can possibly work. But it does, in natural light, with the glass of Murphy’s posing in front of the Murphy’s sign, the curtain behind looking like a creamy head of stout, and the whole scene reflected in the diagonal sweep of the polished counter.

Tim gets stuff with a basic point-and-shoot that guys with thousand-dollar lenses never see. I wish I had his naturalist’s eye.

7 thoughts on “Still Life With Murphy’s”

  1. Yah, he’s got a good eye. And I like seeing an occasional picture of you, vain or not… reminds me who writes this blog!

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  2. You have several omissions in your description of Tim’s excellent composition: the tone of a natural, untinted, fair complexion; your engaging smile and that wonderfully infecious, smiling twinkle in your eye.

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  7. Wow! Tim should sell this to the Murphy’s people.
    They could move gazillions of barrels of their brew with your wonderful visage.

    Thanks for sharing it. It’s so great to see your face. If I’m ever in your vicinity, btw, I will happily offer to treat you to as much stout as you care to consume at one sitting.

    Thanks also, for your Orkut comments. After receiving my invitation, I was left scratching my head and declined the offer. I was afraid that it might have been a matter of my being too old to “get it.” Your post reassures that I may not have lost it quite yet.

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