Natural Light - an Ode to Cinematography

NATURAL LIGHT
- for Joe DeSalvo

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Like some imagined waterfall
seen only in paintings and dreams,
strands cascade and settle
downwind of the girl
with the beautiful hair.

You would like to stop,
admire the effect,
adjust each strand just so;
invent the story
that brought her here
for this perfect moment
as an excuse to press the button.

But because, for you,
light is as much enemy as friend,
this instant of her hair made spectacular
is washed away with the passing of a four-by cloud.

_____
Four tiny films made with Richard Dooley:

1. Hair with clothespins
2. Hair with sunglasses
3. Hair with shadow
4. Hair with light

[NB: The "four-by" is a technical term commonly used in the film industry that refers to a four-foot by four-foot light amending device. There are variously sized flags, which are photographically black light cutters, silks and opals in various strengths used to reduce and soften the amount of light on the subject. The precise light cutting instrument is indicated by reference to its size (four-by, twelve-by, twenty-by) and its constituent material (silk, flag, opal). ]