oooh, I've been tagged

Well, this is the first time I've ever been tagged for anything.. shocking eh?

The lovely Diney over at Older mums are fun - unless they forget to take their HRT!! tagged me in a photo meme. I've been reading a few blogs and this photo meme seems to be doing the rounds, but I'm not well known enough in the blogisphere to get tagged, or so I thought ;)

Unfortunately, I didn't get a photograph of the airbourne gerbil.. how cool would that have been? LOL, so I've had to think about the billion and one photographs I own, digitally or printed.

Imagine asking a photographer to choose ONE photograph. How on earth can I whittle it down to one? Well I can't. So I'm going to cheat a little bit and choose one photograph that is very special to me, that I didn't take, and one photograph that I love that I did take myself.

Ok, Oh god this is so hard. Going to put the kettle on while I search for this photograph....

Ok, Photograph found. (and a nice hot coffee to go with it)

This photograph was taken in 1968/9 and it's My beloved Dad holding me. I must have been about 6 months old or so. This is the only photograph I have on display in the house from my childhood. The rest are in photo albums or in the bottomless pit that is full of photographs too numerous to count.

I've posted about my Dad before, but for those that haven't read that far back, my dad passed away in June 2004 aged 66 and I was devastated. Although time does in fact heal so that I don't think about him constantly anymore, the pain comes straight back every time I do think about him.. like now. I can't put into words the devastation I still feel. I won't go on and on, but I am going to post the poem I wrote for him the day after he died, and was read out at his funeral and reduced the whole congregation to tears after an almost farcical funeral his wife (not my mum) had requested. Then after the poem, I'll post my second photograph, my favourite one that I have taken.

For my Dad

Sometimes words are left unsaid,
You know what you mean, but they stay in your head
But there comes a time when you should say
and let all them out, not keep them locked away.

You go through life just doing your thing
whether it's quietly living, or whether you dance and sing
There are people that matter all the way through life
there for good times, and there for the strife

You are one of those people Dad, though I've not often said
you've always been there, nice thoughts in my head.
Good times to remember of when I was small
happy smiling memories for when I want to recall

As I grew older you took a step to the side
to let me learn, and to gain my own pride

Life is a journey down a one way track
is it one way, or can we come back?
Where did it start? where does it go?
But someone that matters, has watched me grow

It doesn't really matter which road you take
With it's up's and down's and choices to make
Maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong
But whatever the choice, the road is long
And to have someone there to help guide the way
Is better than waking up to a sunny day.

So this is to say, for all the times I should have said,
spoken the words out, not kept them in my head.

I see myself when I look at you
The way you think, the things you do
You have made me who I am, I've taken the best of a lovely man

I'll miss your smile, your laughing eyes,
but I'll think of you when I look to the skies.
I love you Dad that much is true
And one day in the future, I hope I'm just like you.

Moving swiftly on...

It is so hard to choose just one photograph from the hundreds I've taken, but there is one that always makes me smile every time I see it, I just can't help but giggle at it.

It's my wooly coo! If you click on the image you can view it full size.

It might seem like a bit of an odd choice from all the photographs I've taken, but there is just something about this shot that is so 'in-your-face' literally. Technically it's good (so I've been told) and it just has something that will always make me smile. It also won me first place in one of our camera club competitions, and the judge actually said at the time, had it been in the Advanced category, it would have won that too. (big grin)

If you want to take a look at my other photographs I've taken, please have a wander over to Ann-Marie Metcalfe Photography and you can check out what else floats my boat photographically. I know there are a lot of bikes and cars on there, but there are also loads of flowers and insects and my quite popular little people.

Ok, so now I get to tag someone don't I? Well, I have to tag my lovely friend The Compulsive Worrier. She often forgets how good she is photographically. She has a different style to me and seems to have a very good eye for an unusual angle or something a bit different. She does fantastic architectural shots which I just don't seem to be able to see to photograph.  Her wedding photography is also stunning and I really don't know how she does it.. I'd fall apart if I had to shoot a wedding.

I'll also tag The Bearded One over on Ramblings of The Bearded One  an excellent photographer and blogger. He has just recently posted his favourite 12 photographs, one from each month last year, but Kim, can you choose just one photograph of all time?

If anyone else who reads this and hasn't yet been tagged, consider yourself tagged and post your favourite photograph too.