Remembering, in one of the older ways

I have been delving back into my past today by looking at old photos that I've taken out of the big bag of unsorted prints and negatives which have been lying unattended to for too long. I didn't start with a plan, but ended up finding some of various good friends who I thought would like to see them 'after all these years', to quote the wonderful T-Bone Burnett song of that name.

I scanned and processed about fifty in all and enjoyed the many and varied memories. My journeys to Mexico, asia, Europe, Australia and particularly southern France. People, places, animals, birds, lovers, family, work and also some playing with a camera for the sake of it. It ended when Woodpeckers called me to say her salmon and parmesan souffle was ready to eat, accompanied by wine and a surprise film called Julie/Julia which Woodpeckers had earmarked to watch. I was pleasantly surprised as it was all about the love of food and having projects.

Woodpeckers noticed i hadn't blipped today and she is keen that I follow her as we both approach blip milestones in the near future. So I had yo rush up stairs at 10pm to photograph something before we go out soon to the local pub to see in the NewYear's Eve.

I gathered a few of the images which I hadn't scanned, all of which are very personally important for various reasons. There is the first picture I felt excited to have taken as it came out like I wanted it to, of our family dog Bruce running to greet me in the filed of our house in Surrey when I was about nineteen. I was interested in reflections even then and took the self-portrait in the house window that same afternoon. Two school friends are here too. John C. is posing with my girlfriend Isabelle by the beach in south of France. Below him is Patrick , with whom he hitched for six months around Africa in 1969 before university, with his sister Merrily. Their mother Alicia was am absolute star to not only her family but also their friends. Paul Weller was also from Woking where, the first picture was taken, and here I was working filming a commercial for his new band the Style Council. At about that time I had an encounter with this statue which shared my space for a short while, while I looked after it for the friend who had received it for his cinematography.

I've enjoyed this change of emphasis with my photography, and it bodes well for the start of a new year in about 45 minutes! I hope the same applies to you and the rest fo dwellers on planet earth.

Happy New Year and thanks for visiting.