Tags
fiction, life, ocean, photography, picture it & write, poetry, writing
A special thank you to Scriptor Obscura for suggesting this photograph to be used this week for Picture it & write. Note: Neither Ermilia nor Scriptor Obscura created the image nor claim ownership of it. It belongs to: Ryan Cardone.
I urge people to join in, comment with your paragraph of fiction to accompany the image. It doesn’t have to follow my story or reflect the same themes. It can be a poem or in a different language (provide a translation please :)). Anyone who wants to join in, is welcome. This photograph has been reblogged under Ermisenda on tumblr.
My hand broke the surface. Cool air fed on my wet fingers, sending cold shivers down my hand. I retracted my hand. I peered through my mask at the underworld. The moving black shapes, the slimy creatures and the colorful speckles swayed in my vision to the beat of the ocean. I wondered what it would be like to never break the surface again. What would it be like to be one of these underworld creatures? I yearned to escape in this world. I hated my world of plastic people and robotic possessions. The ocean pulsed with life. I knew my oxygen tank was empty and I didn’t care. I swam deeper. I took off my mask and was engulfed by life.
– Ermisenda Alvarez
Everyone is welcome to use the button, just link them back to the Picture it & write category or Ermiliablog! 🙂 Share your love for Picture it & write on your blog with the image below. Be proud, and stylish 😉 !
Ermilia 
Eliabeth: How long have I been down here? My arm is getting tired, outstretched, just waiting for the “magician” to come walk across the water. I have plenty of air, that’s not the problem. In this dark abyss, deprived of my visual and auditory stimuli I’m bored. Bored. Bored-bored, boredboredbored. Has he fallen in? Would I have heard it? Desperate to be doing something, I stick my hand out of the water and immediately I realize it’s a mistake. I’ve shattered the illusion.
Ermisenda – I like the complete abandon to the ocean, especially having been there once. “engulfed by life.”
Eliabeth – I like the suggestion of magic; I feel it in this picture. And also the pounding of the word bored like water torture!
I traced the copyright on this image to Ryan Cardone/Tidalstock. There’s a license fee for publishing it on your personal web page. I’m sure how that applies to a blog. I’m going to include his copyright.
So many people have posted this image onto so many different blogs and websites that paying any license fee would be foolish and virtually invalidated by this fact. While it is important to give people proper credit for their work where credit is due, the fact that this image has now been spread and posted onto so many different blogs and websites virtually and almost completely nullifies and renders meaningless any so-called “license fee”.
I am all for giving proper credit for images where credit is due, but the internet in this day and age makes the spreading of images and materials so easy that anyone can just right-click copy and paste without bothering to pay any license fee. If the author of this image was smart he would know that people would be copying his image right and left after he posted it on the internet. People are copying all kinds of content off of any and all websites every minute of every day, and by posting his image on the internet, the author of this image should have expected as well as anticipated this.
The only true way to protect and ensure the copyright of your images is to put a watermark on them in a prominent place where it cannot be so easily removed by any would-be copyright thieves who would want to pass it off as their own. Let me state again for the record that I did not copy this image from the author and I in no way support internet piracy and the copying of someone else’s copyrighted content and images, but please, come on, this is the internet, what do you expect? You have to be a little more relaxed here, and expect that people are going to copy your work, and there is nothing that you can do that will one hundred percent prevent anyone from doing so. If people are determined they will find a way, and there is nothing that can be done about it unfortunately.
There are some measures that can be taken to help prevent the copying and the sharing of your copyrighted work, such as filing a DMCA protection notice against those who have copied and reposted your content as their own. You can get copyright protection banners and buttons to post on your websites, DMCA and Copyscape provide some good ones, and you can have copyright notices prominently displayed all over your websites and in each and every one of your postings, but in the end there is nothing that you can really do to 100% completely prevent the copying and sharing and reposting of copyrighted images and writings all over the internet, and the sharing of material.
I mean, practically 100% of the images and the content on Tumblr websites is copyrighted material and images that have been reposted without credit to the author, if any author can even be traced or found at all! Tumblr especially and just about all blogs in general are mediums and vehicles for the sharing and reposting of copyrighted images that most of the time are uncredited to their original authors, where an author is known at all.
And probably every single image could eventually be traced back to its original author on the internet, but in most cases this would be totally and completely pointless since the image has been shared and reposted all over the internet, blogs, websites, magazies, etc, so much.
Thank you for your concern, though, and again, I want to state that I had absolutely no part in copying and reposting this image from its original author, and I do not support the copying and reposting of images from their original authors without their permission.
I should have proofread my comment. I meant “I’m not sure…” sorry. I didn’t mean to hit a nerve or anything, I was just sharing the copyright info so others could too.
Love both Eliabeth’s and Ermisenda’s take on this one. Give me a day and I will concoct something 🙂 It may even have a little bit of my childhood in the words.
We’ll be waiting! 😉
Pingback: My Decent – This Week’s Picture It & Write « What about God?
Can you hear my call, oh darling
My hands reach for the sky
Drowning in my circumstances
Watching happiness float on by
Grab my hand and fuel my hope now
Teach me what it means to breathe
Lead by example in your life
So that I may believe
I really like the imagery of happiness floating by. Nice 🙂
Me too, and drowning in my circumstance.
I really like the message you communicated in this poem. Showing by example so that people can believe. Deep. 😀 The image of hapiness floating by was fantastic, a strong choice. When I read it I felt like the poem was meant to be sung… maybe because of the ‘Oh darling’. Great poem! Thanks for contributing, mjray! 🙂
beatutiful.
http://masochisticqueen.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/beneath-the-surface/
I loved that you embraced the image at it’s fullest Eliza. I like how you described guilt as the anchor, the waves as swords and the ocean of his “past sorrows”. Very poetic and romantic. A lovely contribution, well done!
Wow very powerful story! 🙂
Mine:
Beauty can be used as a weapon. The mermaids that were clinging to my ankles as I struggled to swim towards the surface of the sea were indeed very beautiful. Too beautiful.
They were now horrible creatures of the dark waters that invited me to join them…
To death.
The thought of life kept me kicking forward. I could not die. Not because I was too young, but because the cause would be one of my stupidest mistakes. Why did I follow a stranger in the middle of the night? Because it was a woman? Stupider me!
I kicked and finally fought my way up. I budged three inches and my left hand could feel the breeze of a warm morning at last.
A whole body left to go.
I gave you the Candle lighter award! 😀 congrats: http://evilnymphstuff.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/candle-lighter-award/
Wow! I didn’t see this coming. Mermaids. Great idea! I love the idea of pride being his concept to old onto, he didn’t want to die over such a stupid act – following a strange, beautiful woman in the night. The image you left us with was great, I could just see him trying to kick free from the mermaids and break the surface.
Thank you so much for giving us the Candle Lighter award! You’re so lovely, evilnymphstuff. We’ll try and pass it on when we’re not so busy with the upcoming Blind Sight blog tour. You’re awesome!
I love mermaids! A nice dark slice of evil nymph stuff. 🙂
Going back to where I once came from.
Shouldn’t I feel more alive?
Life is all around me, and inside of me,
If only someone could see
me reaching out for the sun.
I want to go back to where it once all begun.
Hey Otheus! I liked the contrast of water – cool to the sun – warmth. We begin in water and yet, the persona in the poem, wants to go beyond that, to the sun. A lovely, short poem. Thanks for contributing, we’ll see you next week! 🙂
I really love this! The rhyme is very subtle and clever. I especially like the line, “Life is all around me, and inside of me”
[echoes]
I really love the picture this week! Here’s my interpretation http://rosikifish.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/an-unknown-world/
There are some really brilliant ones here!
Yay another story to read! This was a delightful read Rosikifish. This was stunning ‘I can already feel the cold air gnawing at my fingertips, weaving ice through my veins.’ I also thought finishing the story with this sentence made the ocean ominous ‘But everyday I would take one last longing glance up at the barrier than restrains me from this unknown world and swim back towards the dark belly of the ocean.’ Great work. I hope to read more of your work in future Picture it & write posts!
http://febuary2011.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/nationals/
As always, I seem to have completely off topic :]
I really liked how full your story was. I felt like it was complete and it ended on the right tone for the atmosphere created. I loved this line ‘It feels like there’s a nest of eels squirming in my belly.’ It was not only a great way to describe the horrid feeling of being nervous but also reflected the theme of the story. Awesome work, Tanitha. It was a pleasure to read. 🙂
http://joewilliams95.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/picture-it-write-first-real-attempt-at-this/#respond
I didn’t intend on it being quite so long, but found it too much fun to stop once I had started.
That’s a good feeling, isn’t it? When a story is just working for you and you keep writing. Your story had so much action! It was fantastic. I loved the cruel irony when they were thrown from the boat, the incident that ended his life. The final image to the story, how it echoes the photograph, was perfect. Well done! I hope to see you next week again.
Sorry it took me so long this week. Here’s The Wonder in the Water.
Oooo, I like the sounds of that Aquati man. I was waiting for Annie (am I wrong to assume Annie?) to wake up but she didn’t, the story followed through to the end. I liked the mystery you created in this paragraph ‘It was as if somehow the water density changed in several places at once and made the light bend differently to produce an outline…’ Don’t be sorry for taking your time, especially since you’re work is always so delicious!
No, you’re right, it’s Annie. Jeff nicknamed her Pockets in one of the stories that’s still mired in my drafts and I decided to wear it for a while. 🙂
Pingback: Picture and write: Empty « Joe2stories
Here is my own humble offering. I hope you enjoy http://joe2stories.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/picture-and-write-empty/
Joe
Wow… that was so depressing. But in a good way, you communicated the ache of loneliness really well. These stories are varying so much, as per usual, just the way I like it! 😀 Thanks for sharing your story with us Joe, well done.
Out in open seas, the guys who were pitching chum saw activity up ahead.
“Over there!” one of them yelled.
They slowly pulled up to a hand bobbing and jumping. The two brothers looked at one another. “Bait fish!” they said in unison.
“Shouldn’t we…?”
“I’m hooking a live one.” The younger one moved fast. He cast and made contact with something huge.
He reeled, he fought with the thing. It almost pulled him overboard but his brother caught him by the waist.
The animal couldn’t get away. The big frantic tuna died on the back of the boat. Death and money. The brothers high-fived one another.
The ocean went quiet. On the horizon a thunderhead was taking shape. The brothers pulled up anchor and gunned the boat towards home. The clouds reached for them. Lightning bolts sizzled, stormed the hungry waves. The boat tossed and capsized. The brothers tried to hold on but both went under, once, twice…
The dead tuna sank slowly. The light from the world faded. The bait fish waited.
Hey there Columbibueno! Thanks for contributing to Picture it & wite this week. I like how the tuna’s death was mirrored by the brother’s death. The tuna on the boat – suffocating with the lack of water, and the brothers – drowning in the ocean. Great idea! I hope to see you next week. 🙂
Each roll over of the arm is another stroke towards the end of the pool. 50 metres? No way, it feels like 500! First one arm backwards then the next. Must reach the end of the pool, must complete a lap, first lap I will ever complete. Much easier this way than freestyle. At least in backstroke my face is out of the water.
One more. Ouch! Wall!
🙂
Not the best but this was how I felt swimming my first lap of the pool age ten or eleven. It was long and I wasn’t very a strong swimmer. In fact, to join the club in Karratha, I had to swim a lap of the pool when I couldn’t swim. Nearly drowned after jumping in the deep end. Was going down for the second time when I was hauled out. Anyway, I swam the length of the pool about three weeks after the sinking attempt and later won medals in club events.
I like it. It’s non-fiction. You were the only one who wrote a backstroke. And you told a before and after. Get rid of “Not the best but” and it’s perfect! 🙂
Yay for non-fiction! I loved the ending with ‘One more. Ouch! Wall!’ I remember doing that one too many times, even in freestyle when I closed my eyes. I really liked the conversational/lighthearted tone of the mini story with phrases like ’50 Metres? No way, it feels like 500!’ Hehe, good sense of humour. Awesome work as always, Lee-Anne!
Here is my own entry for this one:
http://scriptorwrites.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/ertrinken-in-der-nun-drowning-in-the-now/
I did not use the picture in my post, but I did write my post based on the feelings and images that this image evoked in my mind. For me what came through with this image the most was drowning, drowning in the world, drowning in life itself. So that is what I wrote about in my post here. The title of my post was also inspired by the image for this week here. I guess I am allowed a little liberty in not using the exact image in my post, but in just being inspired by what the image brought out in me. Thank you so much for this wonderful Picture it and Write Challenge, I have really been so inspired to write a lot lately…Thanks again. I really love your blog and your Tumblr website, both are so good and so chock-full of inspirational images and words!
I look forward to next week’s Picture it and Write Challenge! 😀
You have such a unique way of storytelling. I love it. It feels 3-dimensional, with the accompanying videos/songs/pictures, let alone the story itself. The agony, the sense of drowning in anguish soaked your story. I can see how the image fits your story and it does, beautifully. I am not sure of your nationality but I love how you explore so many cultures and nationalities in your stories (I have only read two but they have crossed at least 4 cultures/nationalities). It’s brave and you execute it flawlessly (in my opinion, of what I’ve read).
Thank you for suggesting this fantastic image for Picture it & write this week. I hope it continues to inspire you, we are warriors against writer’s block; Picture it & write is one of our weapons. 😀 *Blushes* I do love my tumblr… there are so many great images to be reblogged. I look forward to your next Picture it & write contribution, Scriptor Obscura!
Thank you so much for the wonderful compliments about my writing! I am truly pleased, proud, and really honored that you should think so highly of my writing. Thank you so much for your lovely comments, your blog is a pleasure and I am so glad that I have found it and that I have subscribed to you. You are very welcome for the photo suggestion, and I am really looking forward to see which image you choose for the next week’s Picture it and Write Challenge!
My nationality is American, but I have Venezuelan, Polish, and Hungarian heritage and ancestry. I can speak, read, and write Spanish, and I am very interested in learning other languages as well, especially German, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Arabic…I love languages very much, and learning new words. I find other cultures so interesting, and I am really drawn to other cultures, belief systems, and ideas.
Thank you so much for a wonderful blog, and keep up the excellent work! 😀
Pingback: Savior « authormercedes
http://authormercedes.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=353&action=edit&message=6&postpost=v2
Hey, authormercedes! I can’t open the link, it says that there is an error. Would you mind sending the link again?
I just clicked the pingback, and that worked. ^^ Nevermind!
Thanks for contributing to this particular week’s picture. I’m glad our previous photographs are still inspiring writers! I loved these two parts from your story ‘The minuscule waves lapsed over my palm, silky and smooth like spit from its tongue.’ and ‘A pink star exploded around her pupil, its dust drifting around her iris.’ Great work on the vivid descriptions! I can’t wait to read more of your contributions to Picture it & write. 🙂