Who Were The Other Photographers?

Prompted by Facebook comments from Becky and from Jackie, I began the day by adding a postscript to yesterday’s post. Becky had noticed a fascinating aspect of Murphy’s signature, and Jackie pointed out a detail from her memorabilia side of the fridge. Her copies of those two school photos are far less besmirched than mine. I knew I’d seen them somewhere. It’s amazing how, when things become part of the wallpaper you stop noticing them.Fridge magnets

Clustered around much cleaner copies of two of the school photos are pictures of Flo and a family thank you card from Easter.

Oak apples

Something else that has also escaped my notice is a profusion of oak apples in a scrawny tree on the verge just outside our back drive. I could have saved myself a search in the hedgerow, for there they were, all the time, right above my very nose.

The work of scanning and replacing the prints that Elizabeth has returned to me continues. Today’s selection spanned 1974 to 1981. Some have appeared in previous posts and need no repetition here, except perhaps for the 1974 portrait of Jessica that appears in my post entitled Chamberlayne Road.

Derrick, Jessica & Carole 1.3.80

I don’t know who took the photograph of Jessica and me, Carole, and the top of Becky’s head, on the steps of Marylebone Registry Office where we married on 1st March 1980. It may have been Matthew.

Jessica and Sam 6.80

Similarly unknown is the person who focussed on Jessica and a very floppy Sam that June;

Derrick 1981

or this one of me from 1981. I don’t even know where it was. What I do recognise, however, is the woollen tie Helen gave me sometime in the 1960s. I wore it on and off for years, and was sad when I found that I had lost it in one of my moves after 2008. Now, of course, no-one much wears ties. I wonder if ‘Flog It’, the T.V. programme for antiques punters, would be interested in my collection?

Sam 1981

I do know who took this one of Sam reaching for an Indian brass incense burner in front of a bookshelf, in Gracedale Road that same year;

Becky and Sam 1981

and this of Becky and Sam frolicking in the Drapers’ pool at Meldreth. It was me.

The Dore’s London was a present from Jessica’s sister Sue. As usual, iPhoto asked me when I entered that photo, ‘Is This Orlaith?‘.

Cottage pie meal

This evening we dined on Jackie’s scrumptious cottage pie; piquant cauliflower cheese; Juicy carrots, onions, and garlic bake; and tender spring greens. The cook drank Hoegaarden, whilst I imbibed Heritage de Calvet Cotes du Rhone Villages 2014.

24 comments

  1. I’m beginning to think I should have a gander back through my photo albums! But perhaps it can wait. I did look up oak apples, so now I’m better informed…

  2. What a job – good on you for doing it. Memories captured in photographs – would we remember them otherwise? Of course if I have a cook and a head gardener I might find time to do such things. You lucky man.

  3. I usually wonder who the photographers are for many pictures, but these are your life treasures. You haven’t lost the tie as long as you have this photo!

  4. Enjoyed all the pictures here. I like the third picture very much. The angle, your appearance, and the way others are looking down. I like it as a whole 🙂

  5. Sometimes it isn’t the photographer I’ve forgotten; it’s the person in the photo. I do recognize my family. These are nice photos of you and yours. Always sad to lose a favored item.

  6. Great photos of a lovely lady, nice to dip in at times and have memories ignited xx

  7. Great photo’s. Looking at those pictures it isn’t hard to see who Sam and Louisa take after..

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