Danny, my next door neighbor, is almost gone[1. I won’t go into specifics because I’m not sure his wife would want that.]. We’ve been neighbors for at least 10 years. In all this time, I’ve only taken one photo of him. Actually, I invited him to grandparents’ day from when I was in high school[2. All my grandparents passed away before 5th grade.], so we had our photo taken then, but those are hidden somewhere in the clutter.
I have a fondness for portraits, especially capturing people in their normal, everyday life. They deserve memories with photos.
The problem is that we remember the bad stuff more than the good – I hate that. Don’t ignore the bad. Try to see the awesome in people. “Check out this photo – those were some great times!”
What does that have to do with Danny? Well, seeing this photo just floods my mind with great memories of him. I can see visions from the past, not just a glob of text. I could probably spend an entire post about him.
I’m sure you can go to your archives or photo albums, pick a photo, and just watch the memories come back.
I guess I love creating memory floods. I carry my camera everywhere for that purpose. When you see me with camera in hands, please don’t shy away. Talk to me, smile, wave, do something wacky, or keep doing whatever you’re doing – they’re all the right answer.
All Narfed Up 