There's a weekly feature over on Instagram that's been going on for a very long time, whereby old family photos are dug out and shared every Thursday, using the hashtag #throwbackthursday. It's an interesting way to catch glimpses of a world long gone, via anonymous vintage snapshots and memories. I've contributed to #throwbackthursday most weeks for at least 4 years now and a number of those shots have also graced these pages at one time or another. As a consequence I've plundered dad's boxes of slides and negatives multiple times, yet every now and then I still unearth one I've missed, today's being a prime example. I don't ever remember seeing this photo before a few weeks ago and I have to say that the ancient, over-exposed image caught me emotionally off-guard when I stumbled upon it.
It was taken in 1961. Dad is holding me on the pillar of the wall in the front garden. He's looking up, smiling. And me? I'm clearly loving the thrill of being up there, at just about the height I'd one day reach. These are roughly the respective perspectives Dad and I would have of each other for most of my adult life, after I'd shot past his 5' 10" at around the age of 15 or 16. It's always nice to see a photo of Dad & I together. There aren't that many in the archives, as he was the family photographer, with Mum & I as the frequent subjects. A quick squint on Google Street View shows me that, remarkably, the front garden wall is still standing, albeit in a refurbished state, 62 years later.
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7 comments:
Lovely photo
The interaction and the look on your face, even from that angle and quality, is priceless.
It also looks like a kind of Escher-like impossible perspective and that you're standing on the bonnet of the car behind!
"A kind of Escher-like impossible perspective" really shows up my "lovely photo" for the low-grade art criticism that it is. I will try harder next time.
Simply a beautiful photograph.
JM
Thanks folks. I hadn't noticed the odd perspective, making it look as if I'm standing on the bonnet of Dad's van until you mentioned it C, but now of course I can't unsee it!
Love these pictures, as always, Swede. Like C, I initially thought you were standing on the car. My dad would have had a fit at the very idea!
Very Cool.
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