Words & Pictures

     a documentary fumetti *              


I was over at Quack's the other night.  

 

 

I usually just get coffee, but I needed to get to  sleep later, so I got this strawberry Italian soda. 

 

I'd been working flat out for days. I was pretty zoned.

 

 

There was a woman there, talking with her friend.
 

 

 

 

A lady with a camera came over and asked if it would be ok to take pictures. It was for some documentary photography class. The lady said the light was good.

 

 

 

  

 

She didn't mind. 

She was just wrapped up in the conversation she was having with her friend.

 

 

 

  

 

 

They talked for a long time, about a lot of stuff.  

 

 

df















 

 

 

 
I didn't hear everything her friend was saying, but I could hear every word she said.  

She didn't seem to mind.  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





 

  

 

 

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The photographer was all wrapped up in taking pictures and fussing with her camera settings, I bet she didn't even realize she was missing the real story. 

It was like a script in one of those radio plays where it's all just a conversation,  but you only hear the one person talking. I remember everything she said. I really should write it down. I could probably give it to you word for word.

  

I don't remember now exactly what she looked like. 

 

  



The photos in the fumetti above are mostly true.  The story is mostly false. 

 

* Fumetti are a genre of comics illustrated with photographs rather than drawings. Particularly popular in Italy in the 1940s, the usual themes are adventure and horror, but my favorite so far is the hilarious tragic romance starring Barbie and Monty Python's John Cleese. The story line is usually written first, and then actors pose for the photographs. I started with some photos that I took for a documentary photography class (taught by the wonderful Todd Williams), but then wrote the short story for them later.

 

Photos taken at Quack's coffee shop, Austin, Texas, June 2007.

The author/photographer wishes to thank the actors/models for their permission. 

Created with a Sony Cybershot DSC-F828, iPhoto, Photoshop Elements 3, and Google Page Creator.


Creative Commons license, 2007, by Irene Tobis.  See also my photoblog - comments welcomed there. Thanks!