Mr D asks: Of all the photos you've taken, Gert, which one gives you most pleasure to look at again and again?
It's a difficult one! What are photos for ? Are they bring back memories? To document an event? Artistic expression?
And memories! If you want to remember a person is it better to have a portrait shot of them or a photo of somewhere you went together and contains pleasant memories?
Two of my favourite photos I do not possess in hard form, only on a video tape that my brother-in-law spent hours compiling of childhood photos, which was a brilliant thing to do. I'm still waiting for him to repeat the exercise with scanner and PC...
One is of a sailing dinghy off Aberystwyth in 1974, the first 'proper' photo I actually took, when, although I did not know the language, I knew it was important to frame the shot correctly. I even rested the camera on the wall because it was too heavy for my six-year-old hands.
Another photo dates from 1977 and is a shot of Lincoln Cathedral taken from the castle. My father took it, but under strict and precise instructions from me - I think he was concerned I might drop the camera over the parapet. Me? Little brother, possibly, camera never!
My back room, where I sit now, is full of photos of people. Dominating are photos of No 1 Nephew and Favourite Niece. Lack of photos of Younger Nephew must be remedied forthwith, but are an unintended consequence of him being a product of the 21st Century. In the 1990s people used to post photos through the Royal Mail. This just doesn't happen nowadays. Photos are sent more frequently, but digitally, and there isn't the imperative to print them off, because they are stored for all eternity on PC.
There is also a photo I took of my father at Christmas 1987, not long before he died, and it's a photo I especially like. Very personal reasons, of course.
Throughout my adult life I have taken all sorts of photos of all sorts of people and places. I particularly like half a dozen or so of the fifty plus I shot on film of Niagara Falls (imagine if I went there with a digi camera!). I do like looking back at pictures of people, although it always intrigues me that so many of us - and this has been the case for a century and a half - only take pictures of the good times, the smiles, the jolliness, so we and posterity remember people like that. We don't record the misery, the pain, the anger. Which, perhaps, is no bad thing, but does not give an accurate portrayal of life.
One of my most favourite pictures taken on film does not come out well when scanned
The simple answer is I don't really know. Just looking at my photoblog, which only covers photos taken since March 2001, there are photos I like because of the memories of a holiday. There are photos I like because I made the mundane interesting. There are photos I like because I got lucky.
I can't really answer, which is why I'm going through slowly and highlighting a selection of favourites. As it happens, this photo below has particularly appealed to me recently, and it's chronologically due to be highlighted. This was taken on the footferry between Harwich and Shotley.
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