"A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away." Eudora Welty
To celebrate World Photography Day tomorrow (August 19) Lynda Monk of the IAJW (International Association for Journal Writing) suggests finding an old family photo and writing a journal entry, capturing the memories it brings.
I found this one on my computer from around 1963 when I was about seven or eight. I don't know who took the photo, maybe my sister, but it shows me with my parents who were in their mid to late 30s (roughly the same age as my own children now).
It was taken in the garden of a cottage where we used to stay in Glasshouses, near Pateley Bridge. I'm obviously the height of 1960s fashion in my brown, nylon 'trews' with stirrups (!) and a cardigan knitted by my mum. It looks like she ran out of wool half way through and had to use a different colour to finish it. My hair is scraped back into a long, straggly ponytail.
Mum and Dad are dressed for country living: plaid kilt, Hush Puppies and French pleat for her and the obligatory sports jacket, trousers (with turn-ups), shirt and tie and Brylcreemed quiff for him. Of course my dad is clutching a book, probably one containing local walks.
The photo conjures up happy memories of long, hot summer days spent roaming free with my friend Heather, from the local farm, exploring the nearby woods, learning about wild flowers, trees and birds and paddling in the ice-cold, 'secret' tarn.
Writing Prompt:
- Find an old family photo, as Lynda Monk suggests, and write about the memories it brings.
- Do you remember a place you used to enjoy visiting as a child? Use all your senses to write about it - the sights, the sounds, the smells.
- What sort of clothes did you wear as a child? Write about an outfit, or an item of clothing that you particularly remember.
- Do you have family photographs? If so, are they important to you? Where do you keep them? How often do you look at them? How do they make you feel? Explore the answers to these questions in your writing.
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