Weekly photo challenge – Inside

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The theme for this week’s WordPress Daily Post photo challenge is Inside.  Rather than an image of the inside of an object, I think the aim is to get us thinking about the relationships involved, that is the relationship between the thing that is inside and the thing it is inside.

I haven’t got anything in stock that fits that criteria.  It was time to give some thought to producing an image for the challenge.

Inside is often associated with warmth, security, protection – “safe inside”.

It is also associated with restriction – “stuck inside”.

The “inside running” involves an advantage, similar to but more legal than “insider trading”.

The “inside leg” brings up images from that old British comedy, “Are You Being Served”, and the delicacy required when measuring from ankle to groin, thereby ensuring correctly fitting trousers.

Inside can also be linked to the distinction between public and private.  Our public persona is not necessarily the same as our private or inside self.  Who we are at work may not be the same as who we are at home.

At this point in my writing process, I looked around and absent-mindedly picked up a notebook.  It has a magnetised latch keeping it closed.  As I moved the latch aside and opened its pages, many still blank, I remembered another inside – the inside of a book, the world beyond its cover.  It’s an inside we can easily overlook in this computer age.  How many of you thought of a small laptop when you read “notebook”?!

The notebook represents the private world of journaling, the ultimate inside when compared to the blogosphere where we can now make public that which was once shrouded in taboo.

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The Set Up

I sat the notebook on my desk and pulled the desk lamp across so it shone directly down.  The camera was hand-held, because I couldn’t be bothered to get the tripod out.  I eventually settled on a F-stop of 3.5, after starting at 1.4 and finding it too tight.  As it is, I don’t mind the out-of-focus red ribbon at the back.  If it had been too sharp, the image would be too flat.  I tried the White Balance on both the auto and indoor light settings.  I opted for the warmer feel of the auto setting.

The bit of blue in the background that acts as a contrast for the yellow of the desk?  That was pure accident.

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