Seeing Red

The ongoing dilemma - what to do with the shoe boxes full of pre-digital photographs that I never got round to arranging in albums.  My daughters are shining examples of this sort of efficiency and good organisation but they certainly didn't inherit these excellent traits from me.  I kept up with the albums until the the grandchildren arrived in the first daughter's case and in the case of the second daughter, I'm ashamed to admit, around the mid-twenties mark.

There seemed to be a strong case for doing something with as many images as I could and I decided to make a collage from the many pictures which featured red as the focal point.

The pictures in this collage were taken for an assignment on a photographic course I attended prior to owning even a compact digital camera.  One of students on the course, who worked in the media world, used a digital camera, something new to all of us, and would bring her laptop to classes to show her assignment.  I couldn't imagine then ever making the change from film to digital.  Thousands of images later, with several hard drives filled with pictures, I love the fact that I have an ongoing record of our family, especially in the case of the older daughter and the grandchildren who now live in Australia.  It's interesting too, to follow one's progress as a photographer and to realise how practice really does improve, if not perfect, technique.  Now, what's more,  I've discovered the joy of having my photographs professionally printed and bound into albums, so things have really come full circle.

Following the red theme,  this is a picture I took at the weekend of the Old Clock Tower at the entrance to the Waterfront Harbour, complete with circling seagulls.

This is one of the pointed windows at the base of the tower where it was so hot and bright that I had to take the picture, holding the camera with one hand and my rucksack up in the air with the other hand, to block out the sunlight, hence the somewhat wonky reflection.

I had to wait some time until the children's car rides were empty. This little boy decided to stay put even though his parents had decided that enough money had been spent on rides.

The National Sea Rescue Institute boat in its glass shed, poised for swift launching.

And lastly,  red umbrellas scintillate against the hot blue sky.  Tinkling, frost-beaded glasses, the sound of live music, laughter and chatter floating over the gleaming sea water.  Another perfect Cape Town afternoon.