Sunday, April 18, 2010

What's In a Name




By the time you get to the bottom of this image (HA!  I'm just following the V&V guidelines), I'm sure you've guessed it's from Venice---a trip in 2007.  (If you want to see it fast and in one swell foop, click here.)

Astrid and I just returned a week ago from our honeymoon to England, where we saw Stoke on Trent, Chester, Chatsworth, Stratford and Liverpool...as well as The Three Stooges, our third Musketeer, and 13 others of our blogging friends.  I was supposed to turn right around and fly back to Atlanta this past Saturday (sans wife) to visit my children, grandson and friends for 10 days.  Because of the volcanic ash, my flight has been re-scheduled for Wednesday...if the skies clear.

Venice.  Astrid.  England.  Stoke on Trent.  Chester.  Chatsworth.  Stratford.  Liverpool.  Three Stooges.  Musketeers.  Atlanta.  Wife.  Children.  Grandson.  Friends.  Bloggers.  Volcanic ash.

What's in a name?!  For those of us at our Shutterchance photoblog (SC)
this past week, we've had a chance to put a face with a name.  A face with a label, like Blackdog, Tiff, Mully, and Picturit.  Why are 3 of our SC gents called the Three Stooges...and 3 of us ladies The Three Musketeers?  Does it feel different to call me Virginia instead of Ginnie (though I'm both)?  And what do you immediately think of when you see the name Marcie or Toni or the rest of us V&Vers?

Think of what would happen if Venice and Tanzania suddenly switched names.  We're flying to Tanzania this weekend and can hardly wait to ride a gondola!  Wait.  What's a gondola?  And if you've ever riden in one, what memories does it conjure up for you?

Have you ever experienced meeting someone in real life whom you've known virtually for awhile...but you suddenly have to go back and try to remember what it is you already know about this new person?  The one standing in front of you somehow is different from the other one, the blogger.  It's like he/she should have a new name.

What's in a name, indeed.  A place.  A person.  A memory.  A taste.  A color.  A smell.  A feeling.  A sorrow.  A joy.  Somehow everything comes down to what we name things.  And if we have an image to accompany it, the name takes on new meaning.  The face connects to a name. The meaning connects to a word.  The memory connects to a place.  Sometimes the face is the memory.  Sometimes the place is the meaning.  Or a word is the name.

See what happens with photography!  You get to think up all kinds of stories and ask so many questions...especially if your image doesn't quite turn out the way you expected!   But it does look like Venice, right?  Because the image and name really are connected!  (Did someone say Vision and Verb?) 




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