After missing a couple of weeks, I’m back to entering the DPS weekly assignment, where the theme this week is sadness. My first thought was to get a black and white shot of a cemetery, but judging from the early entries, this was also a lot of other people’s first thought as well.
So I spent a bit more time thinking, and finally came up with the idea of being laid off. It’s not exactly in the same category with death, but it is still pretty sad, it is something a lot of people can relate to (especially these days), and it lends itself to single frame story telling. Happily I have not actually experienced this myself, but I did witness it a few times during my tenure at Broadcom. And I can tell you it was the cause of some sadness.
So I dressed myself up in a tie (which I never actually wore even when I did have a regular day job, but it does help tell the story), filled a box with items as if I had just packed up my office, and put on my best sad face. Sitting in front of the white board in my home office, with a little visual aid drawn on it, completes the picture.
One thing I did make a point to do was to have my eye-line aiming at the crossed out box in the org chart. Of course, the board is actually well behind me, and I could not really see it, but I think it helps to direct the viewer’s gaze, giving you a little hint where to look, and keeping you in the frame.