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Wasn't sure whether the NSFW tag applied with 'wounds' but I added it anyway.
So 6 weeks ago, I fumbled a Stanley knife and it fell on my foot, severing the EHL tendon and that vein that runs down the top of your foot. I'm still hobbling about & not driving yet, but getting there slowly. The bonus is that my big toe now moves.
It was my first GA and quite a scary time. I was used to taking my wife to a private hospital for her long standing hip issues and private rooms are standard. This was an NHS trauma case, and very different! That said, the NHS were brilliant - and once I had a bed, I was in and done.
Recovering at home was a struggle. My wife is on 2 crutches (has been for 4 years now) and so I've done a lot of the heavy lifting. With both of us off our feet - everything became a challenge. Basics - like food shopping, cooking, showering... Being non-weight bearing on one leg meant hopping everywhere. Even a brew has to be drunk in the place you made it (yay for thermos cups!). Needless to say, the whole thing has been a bit of an exercise in understanding powerlessness.
So staring at the window, I made a decision to try and document the 'event' with my iPhone, and this week, put everything together into a single A3 print which is going on the coal hole door as a reminder. Dropping something sharp can be very dangerous - not just in terms of the actual event, but the recovery and impact on daily living for a long time afterwards.
A Finished Project by Ian, on Flickr
(Click through for a bigger version on Flickr)
All-in-all I took about 60 photos and had to narrow it down to about 12 4 inch squares. The test of whether it "worked" was my wife who had a good laugh, and asked me to explain the reasons for my choice. In giving this explanation, I found that maybe a couple of pictures aren't perfect, but as I can't go back in time, that's how it is. Each image was taken pretty carefully, with what I'd consider to be 'thought' going into framing and exposure, but I discovered that it would have been better if I'd kept a mental track of what I'd taken, as many of the images were very similar - taken days apart. Also - I lost count of the amount of times I wanted a shot but didn't have my phone with me. Going back to get it was too exhausting, so that's another lesson learned.
I've had a few projects 'ongoing' over the years, and the brief for this one was to actually start and finish within the time it took for me to get my pot off. The outcome was to be a single print.
Keeping the project very small and concise was actually a really good idea as it kept me focussed on what I was trying to do. For me - the best part was that I could actually finish something. And with it on the wall - hopefully I'll be a bit more careful next time.
So 6 weeks ago, I fumbled a Stanley knife and it fell on my foot, severing the EHL tendon and that vein that runs down the top of your foot. I'm still hobbling about & not driving yet, but getting there slowly. The bonus is that my big toe now moves.
It was my first GA and quite a scary time. I was used to taking my wife to a private hospital for her long standing hip issues and private rooms are standard. This was an NHS trauma case, and very different! That said, the NHS were brilliant - and once I had a bed, I was in and done.
Recovering at home was a struggle. My wife is on 2 crutches (has been for 4 years now) and so I've done a lot of the heavy lifting. With both of us off our feet - everything became a challenge. Basics - like food shopping, cooking, showering... Being non-weight bearing on one leg meant hopping everywhere. Even a brew has to be drunk in the place you made it (yay for thermos cups!). Needless to say, the whole thing has been a bit of an exercise in understanding powerlessness.
So staring at the window, I made a decision to try and document the 'event' with my iPhone, and this week, put everything together into a single A3 print which is going on the coal hole door as a reminder. Dropping something sharp can be very dangerous - not just in terms of the actual event, but the recovery and impact on daily living for a long time afterwards.
A Finished Project by Ian, on Flickr
(Click through for a bigger version on Flickr)
All-in-all I took about 60 photos and had to narrow it down to about 12 4 inch squares. The test of whether it "worked" was my wife who had a good laugh, and asked me to explain the reasons for my choice. In giving this explanation, I found that maybe a couple of pictures aren't perfect, but as I can't go back in time, that's how it is. Each image was taken pretty carefully, with what I'd consider to be 'thought' going into framing and exposure, but I discovered that it would have been better if I'd kept a mental track of what I'd taken, as many of the images were very similar - taken days apart. Also - I lost count of the amount of times I wanted a shot but didn't have my phone with me. Going back to get it was too exhausting, so that's another lesson learned.
I've had a few projects 'ongoing' over the years, and the brief for this one was to actually start and finish within the time it took for me to get my pot off. The outcome was to be a single print.
Keeping the project very small and concise was actually a really good idea as it kept me focussed on what I was trying to do. For me - the best part was that I could actually finish something. And with it on the wall - hopefully I'll be a bit more careful next time.
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