DocAndersen
Today is wandering some of the scans of my father’s pictures. A few of them are pictures of family events and his grandchildren. A few of them are of signs. Signs are the topic today for my wander. I love taking pictures of signs. My grandfather and his son, my father, loved taking pictures of signs as well. You’ll see two distinct sign pictures in today’s presentation. My other favorite activity is taking pictures of people taking pictures, but I am afraid that one is my issue. The sign thing I can blame on my grandfather and father. Genetics is hard to combat. I suspect I should spend some time and justify why to take pictures of signs. It comes from a concept my father often talked about.
When taking pictures, you take them not for yourself, but for the person that will see them later. In my father’s case, he was a perfectionist. Based on that he would never share the pictures he took. He never thought any of them were good enough for other people to see. I knew that about my father long before I realized that about my father. The difference understanding the desire for perfection is something most of us master early in life. You know, you live with, and you are friends with perfectionists. You know to let them finish. To let them have things the way they believe they should be. The pursuit of perfection is important to them as human beings.
The other side of that is the reality of what wasn’t shared. My father took some of the most amazing pictures of some of the most amazing places on earth. He would come home, develop the pictures or slides and share the best ones with us. But they were best ones he chooses. That transition for me occurred when I received the gift of his pictures and slides. I assumed, based on years of having seen them (the pictures and slides) I would be scanning the ones I knew about. My father was far more prolific than that. So, out of that realization was born the family history project. I share every picture. Each one may simply a millisecond later than the one before. But each one deserves a chance to sing! “Pictures of signs,” my father said many times “make it easier to remember where you took the picture!”
Wow, your father was an amazing man Doc.
great picture and great idea to take picture