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Lady Bluebeard's Despair (Bluebeard, 1812)
Lady Bluebeard's Despair (Bluebeard, 1812)
krnodil


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: The Brothers Grimm (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Canon EOS-5D
Lens: Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
Location: Virginia, US
Date: Oct 5, 2008
Aperture: f/2.2
ISO: 50
Shutter: 2s
Galleries: Emotive, Blur
Date Uploaded: Oct 5, 2008

 Shot a perfectly acceptable in-focus photo, but ended up liking the happy accident for its emotional punch.

I read Bluebeard as a child and have always had the image in mind of Bluebeard's wife frantically trying to scrub the tell-tale blood off the key to the forbidden room. I think this blurry mess of a shot captures the frenzy quite well.

A Team Sucker who kindly gave me feedback on this shot before entering commented that the slashes of metal looked like blades or swords (to my question of whether the key could be recognized in all that blur) - it's ok if that's what you see, in fact I think it's fitting, given that the fate of Bluebeard's wife was to have her head cut off.

The tale of Bluebeard is credited originally to Charles Perrault (1600's), and was included in the Grimm's first edition of 1812. Apparently the Brothers Grimm removed the tale in later editions, as it resembled two other stories that they kept - The Robber Bridegroom and Fitcher's Birds.

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"...when she looked at the little key of that awful little room at the end of the long gallery on the first floor, she saw that it was stained with blood. She wiped the key and wiped it, but the blood would not come off. She washed it, and scrubbed it with sand and freestone and brick dust, but the blood would not come off; or, if she did succeed in cleaning one side and turned the key over, there was blood on the other side, for it was a magic key which a fairy friend of Bluebeard's had given him."

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outtake:

Statistics
Place: 71 out of 82
Avg (all users): 4.7053
Avg (commenters): 5.8750
Avg (participants): 4.4444
Avg (non-participants): 4.7662
Views since voting: 1160
Views during voting: 396
Votes: 190
Comments: 14
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
Canon EOS-5D Mark IV
Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM
 10/13/2008 08:21:38 PM
Gave this a 10 during voting. LOVE it. a BIG CONGRATS for your Posthumous blue!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-D60
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 10/13/2008 08:22:20 AM
Ha! I told you you'd end up with a posthumous for this! And the blue no less! Congrats!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-40D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
 10/13/2008 08:15:30 AM
ha! I thought the water was sand through an hourglass, i.e., her time running out. I love that you traded a 6+ photo for this. :D
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-20D
 10/13/2008 05:38:44 AM
fantastic
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-10D
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro
 10/13/2008 01:01:06 AM
Great, creative work Karen, congratulations on the Blue!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-6D
Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens
 10/13/2008 12:10:57 AM
big congrats on the p-blue, neighbor ;-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Nikon Z8
Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-120 f/4 S
 10/12/2008 07:08:34 PM
very cool abstract shot - the keys were a bit hard to pick out but i love the motion and the dramatic diagonal lines
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Pentax K5II
Pentax DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6ED AL [IF] WR DC
 10/12/2008 06:40:39 PM
Intriguing abstract shot in a challenge with very strong contenders.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Sony DSLR-A700
Sony 50mm f/1.4
 10/09/2008 05:53:06 PM
Very abstract to my eye, but very catching at the same time. Quite an intriguing photo.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-40D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
 10/08/2008 09:13:18 PM
She fumbles with the keys as they reveal her time is running out. A commanding photo that easily wins the Posthumous Blue Ribbon.

  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS
 10/07/2008 09:04:54 PM
Very abstract in this story line...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D3
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
 10/07/2008 04:00:41 AM
Huh?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS
 10/06/2008 07:04:51 PM
I like the abstractness. Nice flow of lines.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-1100D
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II
 10/06/2008 03:14:28 PM
I love the vivid red and the flurry of motion but I can't quite make out what's going on. It makes me think of when Lady Bluebeard was trying to wipe the blood clean from the key but also of the scene where she is saved and Bluebeard himself is slaughtered. Either way, pretty awesome abstract.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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