Insomnia and Letters to the Past.

Dear Blog,

It's currently 1:50AM Australian time and I can't fall asleep so I thought I'd drop you a line while I'm awake.

As you already know I like taking photographs and participating in photography based activities (well I enjoy any creative activity really but if I'm going to be biased photography is my favourite). A photography related site I follow posted a link to this group called "Dear Photograph" which was developed by a man named Taylor Jones. The terms for participating in this group are very simple:

1) Find an old picture in your family album (the older the better)
2) Visit the location where the original image was taken. Bring the photo and a camera with you
3) Hold the photograph up so it alines with the current state of the location and take a photo
4) Go home, upload the image and write a brief letter in regards to the photograph

Okay, it's now 2:17AM and I'm starting to feel sleepy (as I should) so the description I just gave may sound a bit off but that's basically what Dear Photograph is all about. It's a public photo album put together by strangers sharing the memories and emotions that are attached with their pictures. Some of the letters are quite moving. Both good and the bad I think all of the memories a photograph can produce are important.
If you like photography or just enjoy flipping through your photo album, or just want something that will put a smile on your face, I highly recommend checking this website out and giving it a go for yourself. Even if you don't post your picture on the page it's still a great excuse to flip through the ol' dusty albums, and it's a lot of fun too. :)

Here's my rendition. I haven't posted any of these but I think I might give it a go at a more reasonable hour.

Good night/morning/whatever you call this time of day

Dear Photograph,

It was the first day of high school and I was just a gangle 12 year old excited to walk through the school doors...

Annabelle

Dear Photograph,

The best part about doing the dishes was making foam towers with the soapsuds.

Annabelle

Dear Photograph,
Back in the day when I couldn't take a picture without getting my fingers in the shot. Twelve years on and I'm still snapping away.
Annabelle

Dear Blog,

I thought I should introduce myself to you just to give a brief over view of myself to bridge the gap from "being strangers" to "being strange people who've never met personally".  My name is Annabelle. Hi,  how are you blog? There, now that's been exchanged we're a little more familiar with one another.

I like photography, apples and animated films. My main purpose of beginning this blog I suppose would be to gain more confidence in myself. I've never been great at public speaking, I always choke on words and then imagine the whole audience is falling asleep because I'm that dull to watch. When meeting new people I'm usually quite shy and reserved and wont say too much at the risk sounding silly.

So this is where you come in blog.

I hoped that maybe if I expressed myself in some form and began taking pride in my interests that maybe I would gain more confidence and become a  little less socially awkward then what I currently am. Yes I understand blog, if it's people skills that I'm looking for then maybe I should go out into the world and start talking to 'actual people' instead of relating to you my woes like the shy couch potato that I am, and you're right. But I'm hoping maybe if I also blog to you somewhere out there another couch potato who is also a little shy and needs coaxing out of their comfort zone will see this blog and write back to me. And then maybe other shy, interesting, weird, couch potatoes may join our clan and we'll all travel over the hill side, creating havoc and collecting other couch potatoes, kind of like a strange Piped Piper scenario... I'm sorry I think the point I was trying to make ran away over that hill so now I'm stuck here writing continuous nonsense.

I guess  I'd better go but hopefully this bizarre relationship (or whatever you'd like to call it blog) will progress and and build into something I can look back on and smile about.

Bye