MONDAY PROMPT / January 24
This week’s prompt
Your normal point of view: Let’s change it up this week, shall we?
This week dig up a portrait photograph – in your home, computer, or on the web – of someone you know or someone you don’t. The photo cannot be one that you took.
The strategy this week is that the you will imagine the photographer and write about the subject as if from the point of view of the photographer. Try to stay consistent with this imagined photographer’s personality (the photographer can be the real photographer, if you know who that is, or he/she can be fictional — we’re giving you lots of latitude here!).
If you prefer, you can use the perspective of an omniscient author, albeit one with a back-story you created. (Just for giggles, you could try both approaches, and see which brings you a more interesting poem!)
Source ideas:
- Borrow your spouse or significant other’s photo albums. (Go ahead and write about that ex!)
- Go to your local bookstore and browse through the photography aisle.
- Try the Flickr Portrait group.
- Glance at a stock photography group, such as “Fotosearch,” using “famous people” as your search term.
(Remember to post your source photos only if they are in the public domain or if they have a creative commons license that allows for their use. Or if you are married to the photographer.)
Come back starting Friday and tell us your point of view. And give us a new poem to read.
How prompts work under the Big Tent
We post prompts on Mondays, and you have all week to write your poems, based on our fabulous prompt or any other inspiration. Come back on Friday when you will find a “Come One, Come All” post where you can use the comments section to 1) leave a link to your poem or 2) leave the poem in its entirety.
You’ll have all day Friday (and all weekend!) to post your work and read each others’ work. Take your time. Enjoy all the poems that are new to the world.
Some hints
Hint: We’ve set Big Tent Poetry to Central Time.
Hint: An easy way to check on new post comments is with RSS reader, if you use one. Here’s the address: http://bigtentpoetry.org/comments/feed.
Hint: If you are new to our site, your comment(s) will be held for moderation for your first few posts. If you put more than one link in your comment, your comment(s) will be held for moderation. We’re checking the filters often, so don’t despair! That said, if it takes more than a half a day to see it come live on the site, do email us at info (at) bigtentpoetry.org. (But be patient, okay?)
Circus etiquette
We figure you know how to play in the poetry community, but here are the basics:
Be nice. Have fun. Remember we aren’t a critique forum. We want to support each other as we bring more poetry into our lives. Only provide critique if someone specifically asks for it.
Although we love seeing our badge in the sidebar of your blog, we would appreciate it if you would also link back to the site in each of your poem posts. Linking within your post helps people travel back and forth from your site to the Big Tent Poetry site, and it helps perpetuate Big Tent Poetry “findability” in Google searches — and that helps us all.
I love this week’s prompt and I’ll practice with my photographer friends’ works the whole week! See you on Friday! =*
I don’t have an actual photo, just a drawing. But see what the photographer/subject sees in
Rankle
Be sure to come back Friday and post your link at the Come One, Come All post.
Mine is up!
http://umaspoembook.blogspot.com/2011/01/three-friends.html
I am posting this soon..hope its accepted.The photograph is from Magpie.And the poem is Mine :)
(Be sure to come back Friday and repost with a link in the Come One, Come All post.)
Ok..sure
Ohhh, how fun!! I love writing poems from photos AND I have never done it from the Point of View of the Photographer/Artist. I am trusting it is ok to use a work of art, say… from 400 years ago?
I know one leaped into my mind from Francisco Zurburan….
What a fantastic idea! You don’t need permission from us! Have a great time with a great idea!! (Although if the image is copyrighted you should link to it rather than post it in your blog itself.)
[...] latest prompt asks us to dig up a photo portrait taken by someone else and write from the photographer’s point of view. Here’s the limerick I came up [...]
This is one mondo cool prompt! See ya on Friday! ☼
Portrait of a Young Lady
I really enjoyed this prompt and am grateful for this inspiring website. :-)