Photos
What do you do when you’ve got
writers block?
When Gena asked “Why
have I got writers block?” all that happened was that she
sat drumming her fingers on the table. When she
asked what if… something happened.
“What if I went out and took some
photos?”
“What if I had nothing to lose?”
“What if at the very least I had
some fun and it shifted the energy?”
“What if I was creative in one
area of my life it would affect another area
of my life?”
“What if I see something that
might inspire me?”
These pictures were taken in the summer of 2006
and ended up forming the chapters that have the
main five questions in them. They were taken
at random on a ‘throw away’ camera.
Coincidentally all of the photos seemed to have
some sort of connection to the story, which was
noticed when the photos were viewed with shapes,
shades and representations within the images
in mind. All the pictures are posted here, although
not all of them are mentioned in the book, they
can all take credit for inspiring the five questions
and a different way of thinking about what is
unseen, what is unknown and what is unbelievable.
The title of the book was decided on before the
five questions were discovered. When these photos
were taken, the only question Gena knew for certain
was the first question, ask what if instead of
why. Going on a photo journey around London seemed
to be a most unbelievable route to finding the
essential nature of the other four questions.
2+2=5 it’s the unbelievable equation and
coincidentally five was the perfect number of
questions to solve the puzzle. It was pertinent
that the other questions were discovered through
asking what if. The what if question held the
key to a bigger picture and answers to the puzzle.
Asking what if took her train of thought on
a journey, an unbelievable journey as it turned
out. The writers block had come from asking the
question why and that had kept her train of thought
in a station, waiting for something to happen.
Why did I see five, when I had no logical explanation?
Why did I know the book should be called the
five questions?
Why did I have an unbelievably strong
gut feeling about five?
Drum. Drum. Drum. It was only by taking an action,
actually going out and trying out the one idea
that had come to her, taking photos, even though
she couldn’t see how and didn’t know
how it would help, that something unbelievable
happened… They could have been viewed
as a series of mundane photos and her view perhaps
is not obvious in another person’s train
of thought. It was only by making a connection
to what was going on in Gena’s life at
the time and her choice to draw comparisons and
link together meanings by looking at the smallest
detail and from a different angle, that she noticed
the unbelievable. Her answer was hidden in the
clouds. A cloud is a word which we all understand
but a cloud has different shapes and shades and
tells us a story about what weather to expect.
We can also use the word cloud to express a lack
of clarity. The expression of words in association
with a picture seems crucial. When it rains,
the nature of the hydrological cycle means that
water goes around, changes its shape or appearance
and comes around again. Perhaps we should take
more notice of nature and learn from an aspect
of the world that isn’t controlled by man.
Something came to Gena, the clouds seemed to
have faces hidden in them, a reflection of her
world, hidden aspects, only observed by looking
past the obvious. The whole puzzle she was facing
was in the nature of good and evil and the clouds
seemed to draw a line clearly, black and white.
It was the unbelievable train of thought, one
where all judgments were thrown out of the window
and all the doors were open to possibilities.
The unbelievable result was the five questions.
Click on an image: Look closely at what you
see in the shapes and patterns in the photos,
particularly in the clouds. Let your imagination
wonder, maybe you’ll see more than the
obvious.
© Gena Dry 2006 All rights
reserved
1st roll of film
All rights reserved photos
may not be reproduced without permission of
Gena Dry © 2007
