Why....

....do you take all these photos? my mum said the other day. She was sitting with her great great grandchild in her lap. I was clicking away. The old and the young. I wanted to preserve the image.

Or was that it? The preservation? Is that why I?m in love with photography?

Today my eldest son (father of baby, husband of Mrs. Patience) was visiting. I tried to be casual when I approached him with my mega mega mega lens. He didn?t find me casual at all.

-Is she never getting tired of this? he asked his father.
-You?ve just got to relax, was the answer. Just ignore her, and get on with whatever you are doing.

So he tried. Very hard. But he wasn?t thrilled.

So why do I take all these pictures?

Looking at today?s photos I think I know parts of the answer.
I want to make visible the invisible. I want to capture some essence, something hidden. The soul, perhaps. The personality. The heart. If that is ever possible......

Looking through the photos of him, and trying to pick one out, there were others more posed, more still, more contained, more smiley......

But here he is, Alex. Still the cheeky chap he was when he was two. Still the curious one. Still the one with laughter right under his skin. Still the dreamer. The realist. The one who gets so involved in his projects he moves the world a little forward. His own, as well as that of those around him.

Here he is, telling me to put that camera away at the same time as allowing me to continue if I really really really want to....

This is why I photograph. To capture that IT that I only get when I point the lens at someone and ask them please, please, please.....