Monday, August 10, 2026

Resurrecting the Fiddle

Sue had another post for brown week that also called for hands. She chose to use my old fiddle for the brown part of the prompt along with my very own personal hands. Once again, these are her photos but my edits. I present this one first because it didn't work out as well as I had hoped.

I thought to render the photo b&w except for the violin, but I don't think that it worked for the hands. Oh well, we move on to try other edits with other photos.

For the next photo I made sure to darken the background a lot but keep the relevant part colourized. I am content with this image.

It was difficult to just get my hands and the fiddle both in the photo while eliminating distractions, so Sue had me hold the instrument differently and not as if I were playing it.


I think Sue used the last photo for her group, but her edit would different than mine. I post that conclusion pretty safely, even without having compared the two results.

The story with the violin or fiddle is that it has sat unused for a decade. When we first moved here, seeing as this is an area with a fiddling tradition, I did take some lessons and even showed up at a jam or two. Finger and back issues kept me from practising as much as I should before causing me to shut it down entirely. I did have quite a bit of enjoyment with the instrument for about five years although an old guy who couldn't practise as much as necessary never became very proficient.

My body, being what it is, and the instrument requiring a tuning and perhaps replacement of strings, I did not attempt to play a single note on the day of this photoshoot.

By the way, for those who don't know, a fiddle and a violin are exactly the same instrument, and so I used both words in this post. Fiddling is a certain style of music.



16 comments:

  1. These are some beautiful photo compositions (no music pun intended).

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  2. I like the second one best. Good on you for even attempting to play. It looks really difficult.

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  3. I like the second photograph best, too. I love the shape of stringed instruments, from the smallest to the largest.

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  4. In the first photo, I thought you were wearing gloves!

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  5. I do like the last two the best. I've never been musical no matter how hard people have tried to help me! I can't read a note or music or carry a tune. I can sing and dance to an audience of dogs because they don't care and just wag their tails.

    Instruments are a fascination for me!

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  6. Very nice hands/violin compositions. I'm in great awe of people who have perfect pitch, able to tune instruments correctly. I depended on the strings in pianos upon which to play any music, with paper notations to know how tunes should go. My ability to memorize was pretty lame.

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  7. I love all of these, but maybe the second the most!

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  8. That first photo made me think of Death playing the fiddle.

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  9. I like the last one best.

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  10. I used to play the violin and still probably can (a bit) although I don't know where any of the notes are. I like the last one best.

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  11. Wow! These are stunning photos. She managed to capture the hands, the violin, and keep the dark of the brown. Brilliant.

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  12. Very cool! I am not proficient in ANY stringed instrument….. and I wish I was. Depending on your definition, though, some folks consider the piano a stringed instrument and some consider it a percussion. I am “ok” on piano. I tend to be better on wind instruments, so I guess I am just a big old bag of air. 😂

    I think it would be cool for you to try to get back into playing the fiddle/violin!!! I hope you will give it a go!!!!

    PipeTobacco

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  13. I like your second photo the best. My oldest plays the violin and stopped for two years as she graduated and attended college. I thought the stop was for good but this spring she took her violin to college and now plays in the college orchestra. We attended their final spring performance and it was quite nice to see her up on stage bowing once again.

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  14. The second picture is my favorite. I do think the pictures came out well though.

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  15. I played the violin in school.

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  16. I like the photos. I am a big fan of the strings. They make the most wonderful, soulful music and the foot taping, get up and dance hoedown music!

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