A Worthy Opponent

This is a portrait of the Violin as opponent instead of as instrument.

Chess is a metaphor for the progression that practice enables. Throughout the long course of learning to play a musical instrument, one can be winning or losing as measured against a benchmark of performance quality that may be set too high or too low. Chess is a game with similar aspects, as an advanced beginner finds out the first "real" tournament they play in.

One can resign the game, or perservere to the end. One can also experience the stalemate of reaching a plateau, unable to progress further.

The colors of music can be considered warm, saturated and/or barely controlled. The emotive aspects of both music and color are universal.

The focus is often on one single brief note at a time. Hence the decisions on the coloration and the attempt at soft focus in the photos.

The setting of the photo is a table and chess board that lives in the closet. The violin is mine.