I think the value of a photograph can only properly be measured after a significant passage of time.
A couple of weeks ago I had the emotionally difficult job of clearing my mum’s house out, following her death on October 3rd.
She did not have a lot of stuff compared with most people, but it was still helluva job sorting through it all, and in fact I’ve still got boxes of things lying around my house.
Mandy/mum died of cancer. She’d been diagnosed four years previously, but her health deteriorated quickly over the course of a couple of months, long enough to talk about life, the universe, and everything, and to say our goodbyes.
Predictably, this involved looking through a couple of the old family albums and reminiscing on times gone past.
It struck me that there were a handful of photos that really stood out, ones that brought back not only the memories of when the photo was taken, but also of all the stories that had been told and repeated over the years relating to the photo.
A lot of the photos that mean the most are actually of me, because these are the ones that mum treasured the most, and would most often talk about.
For example, this one was taken in a pub in London when I was four years old by a family friend, known as ‘Nina in London’.
I don’t remember the time at which it was taken, but it does bring back a lot of memories of mum talking about how much she loved it, and, I guess, by proxy, how much she loved me.
This was also taken by Nina, from her window as she watched mum arrive by bike, with me on the back, I think.
This is one that I stumbled upon, not sure where we’re off to, but perhaps visiting relatives on the other side of London. The baby is my brother Liam.
This was given to my mum as a birthday card for her 33rd birthday and is of me and Gethi, somewhere around Bangor I think, can’t quite figure it out. This was one of mum’s favourite photos.
And so was this one, of my brother and me in our Ysgol Llanllechid school photo, not long before they introduced school uniform.
This one was the first time I beat mum at tennis, at the courts in Caernarfon, which have since been turned into a skate park.
These photos have personal significance for me, and I think everyone probably has their own handful of photographs that stand out from the hundreds taken over the years.
I would like to think my experience of which photographs have lasting appeal to me is useful with regards how I approach photographing weddings.
Yes, there is a place for posed shots and group shots, but what I really want to capture is the emotion and experience of the day, and this usually requires a candid/documentary style.
Comments appreciated.
