Why do I take pictures?

to capture the beauty / joy of the moment

to create something beautiful and personal to me

so that I have images of those I love at certain points in time

to enhance my awareness of beauty in the world by noticing the little things - textures etc that when focused on are beautiful /striking

to look at familiar things from a different perspective

to keep memories fresh

as an out et for my need to be creative and innovative

Sometimes I take picture for myself, sometimes for others. Below is an example of a tender moment captured at my goddaughter's wedding last summer where her older sister was putting on the garter she had knitted for her - the official photographer was not present at this point, only me with my point and shoot.

This second photo brings back to the memory of a glorious day in June 2006 when I persuaded my family to get up early so that we could go up on Tennyson Down to watch the Round the Island race (Isle of Wight) It was a perfect day, sunny with a clarity that made the view all round completely breathtaking. Unfortunately for the contestants there was also very little wind which resulted in many of them struggling to round the needles - my gain in terms of a photo opportunity though!

My final image illustrates an attempt to look at familiar things from a different perspective and is a photo I took yesterday of the view through the skylight in my bedroom - I really don't notice that tree most of the time!