Back on Track

KAKA had a bit of a holiday but is now back ontrack.

I started production of KAKA Firetruck last evening. The artwork is a little more technical than KAKA Down the Bend, so I thought it was better not to delay beginning this, as it will need time.

From my dummy book, I was able to view that I could potentially shoot three images, basically from one scene. With only a short time late on a Sunday evening, I really had to really push myself to keep going.

The house was quiet but I was on night duty care of my daughter. Being ‘on-call’ is like I am in this kind of waiting room. Ready to react when needed but not always easy to focus on other things. I took my chance and had to make the most of it.

The second image took a little more work than I anticipated, and it was tempting to leave out the smallest details for the sake of the deadline and my own energy levels. Duty called and I became distracted. On coming back I added one small piece to the image and was happy with the result. I am shooting on our lounge room in a make shift studio under a bookshelf I made myself. It is far from ideal, but it is ideal.

I still needed to tidy up all the mess so that Monday morning could begin as usual. It was late but still I had one more image to produce. I just wanted to turn in for the evening. My daughter hasn’t had a great week of health, so I knew it was going to be a long night. But I knew also that it would be such a hassle to get the materials out again just for this one scene.

With a sigh, I started the tidy up. It came to breaking down the small scene above, held together by duct tape and the camera tripod. It is a delicate balance. Like Kaka who ‘saw the light’, I needed to finish, so next shoot I could move onto the artwork for the next scene. Another duty call to attend to, and with a few small adjustments, the third image and shoot was completed.

It feels great to have started! I feel I lived my values with this shoot. Although I am still in the process of establishing a purpose of my work, I am just pleased I started this adventure of book publishing. I can still push my storytelling boundaries from home on a Sunday night whilst providing care.

The night was indeed long, but today is a new day.