Water

Since the unifying theme I used last week was The Shining, I thought it would be fun to try Stephen King’s IT this time around. Stephen King’s IT is a coming-of-age story about conquering childhood fear and trauma. One of my favorite aspects of a great King novel is his ability to capture the experience of growing up. There is a major location in the story known as ‘The Barrens’ and it is a wooded area by a stream that functions as a meeting place and sanctuary for the Losers Club. 

I found an area not too far away from the actual “Barrens” my own club of losers used to frequent. 

Minus the trauma and scary clowns, of course.

The location is Tidal Marsh Trail in North Haven. It is right behind Target. I’m not so sure I was as successful in this experiment. I am very afraid of heights, and many of my photos had to be taken with zoom, because everything was below me. I kept getting nervous whenever I got close to the edge. 

I attempted to incorporate the look and feel of the television and film adaptations of IT, as I am quite fond of both of them. The tv miniseries had a washed-out look to it that made the whole movie feel like it was shot on an oppressively miserable and rainy day. The big-screen adaptation that came out recently has a very filthy and rough look to it. No surface looks clean or smooth. Everything in the film looks like it can give you a serious infection by touching it. There is a great deal of sliminess to it as well. 

Another dominant theme in the story is the dark side of suburbia. I like seeing the “cracks” in seemingly “perfect” communities. I tried to communicate that element by including various litter and man-made debris. I thought it was an interesting angle to show nice, remote locations that seem perfect, except for a very serious flaw. 

Photos taken on an iPhone X and edited with Adobe Lightroom.