Photo highlights are few and far between for 1999. I used my camera in association with some work for a local school and on another couple of jobs. The school students are all adults now, but it still seems wrong to me to publish photos of school kids without specific permission, so I choose to withhold those images.
Some of those photos were used on the school’s website that I helped to develop. In each case, we sought and received the permission of the parents. This is a continuing issue for anyone who takes photos in a place where children are under the care of the staff of an organisation. Most schools these days have a clear understanding of whose image may be used under what circumstances.
The photo above was taken on our property. I don’t know the time of the year, but obviously the winter rain had filled the dam but it was warm enough for the kids to think a swim was a good idea.
It’s a quirky moment caught on film: A surfboard on a totally flat dam, people in winter clothes, wetsuits or plain bathers. At the time, there would have been nothing strange about this. Probably those in their clothes had already been for a swim and had changed into something warm while the others kept playing. Even the surfboard has an explanation: place it in the water, run down the bank and jump on it, and see how far you can ‘surf’ across the dam standing up.
Photos in isolation can often seem a bit quirky like this, but they might reward some simple enquiry into the back story. During these family years, we occasionally hauled out the slide projector and a screen and sat down for a slide night. Everyone sitting in the glow of the projected image could contribute to telling the story behind the photo. Some wanted the slides to speed up, others wanted to slow down or go back. But everyone heard the stories.
Who is going to tell the stories behind the photos in your life? Probably most of them have lighthearted captions on some social media site. No one needs to remember the story because everyone can read it. Other people’s comments make it a shared story. Win, loss or same-same, do you reckon?