William Blake Month: “A Poison Tree”

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe;
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I water’d it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with my smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole
When the night had veil’d the pole:
In the morning, glad I see
My foe outstretch’d beneath the tree.

(William Blake, “A Poison Tree.”)

(I was concerned that the photo credits would break up the rhythm and impact of the poem, so I’m putting them down here.)

top: Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin, Don Juan ou Si Don Juan était une femme…, aka Female Don Juan, aka If Don Juan Was A Woman (Roger Vadim, 1973).

second from top: Jacqueline Sassard and Stéphane Audran, Les Biches (Claude Chabrol, 1968). Spoiler: one is about to stab the other in the back. Interpret freely and watch for yourself.

third: “Grand Apple Face” by patron saint Sam Haskins. In-camera photo montage before the age of photoshop. Amazing. RIP.

last: “Poisoned with love” by miss- alienation on the d.a.

Sam Haskins Month, Day 10: Pioneer of in-camera montage techniques, now fallen by the wayside

One of the things Sam Haskins is known for is his in-camera montages, which made him highly sought after for advertisement and design layouts. “Big Apple Face,” directly below, is an example from his official site.

Haskins achieved amazing effects well before the advent of the computer software used today to digitally reach the same look. He explains the composition of another famous piece, which shows a model seemingly embedded in rose fabric, in one of his blog entries:

Here is a 1970’s reminder of a pre-Photoshop montage world. This image is to be included in my new book. Its a single exposure with the model viewed through optical glass at 45º and the fabric positioned to the side.

Lindy Mirrored Roses

At the time there was zero retouching after the event. Now of course I have the luxury of scanning the transparency to clean and refine the image in Photoshop – God bless its digital socks. (Sam’s blog.)

“God bless its digital socks.” He’s so funny. Was. That’s depressing. This whole suicide thing really shocks me. It just didn’t jive with what I’d always read and heard about him, and his high-humored sense of fun. But his son said his stroke changed his personality. I guess it was very frustrating to him and he considered it very limiting. I just don’t know how I feel about the whole thing.