Bm@il
TWO WEEKS into September and I find I’m already looking back at the summer with nostalgia.
Last week was a lovely hog roast celebration of a big birthday for one of our councillors, Judy Kelly, and her 40 years involvement with the Compass Theatre. She particularly enjoyed the entertainment provided by her students at the surprise do.
I substituted quiche for hog and had a great time. Luckily it was sunny, after a rainy week. I wish I’d snapped it.
Most of us now use phone cameras. The immediacy is still a novelty, but I do miss the days when we collected the prints from Boots, or they were posted to us.
Oh, the excitement of flipping through them; even the ones with heads missing and the unflattering ones, but no one now shares an image of themselves unless it’s perfect. In the digital age, you can keep taking pics until you’re satisfied.
Mr F and I haven’t quite got the hang of selfies. I like the idea that we can be photographed together without having to ask passers-by to snap us, but the results, so far, have been rubbish.
At a folk festival during bank holiday weekend we looked demented in a selfie I sent it to FJ who texted ‘what on earth were you saying to dad? He looks horrified’. (We were having a heated discussion about how far away to hold the phone!).
When I snapped myself in front of the weird frontage of Birmingham library to send to Mr F, I looked as though I was pressing my face against a window.
I was therefore pleased to hear that sales are up for throwaway cameras. According to a Fujifilm spokesman, young people are buying them to rebel against the trend to create false images.
Reader Pat Foster tells me that someone who presents a pleasing, helpful image is Fatima, who works in the optician’s department of Tesco in Cowley, so she is my Smiley Service winner of the week. Do let me know about people who give friendly personal service – or the opposite.
If I persevere with digital photography I’m told I need a selfie stick, but I’m disinclined to invest in the look-at-me business. Before you know it, I’ll be blurring the wrinkles, cropping my bad bits, and reducing my outline so that I’m barely recognisable.
Actually, that doesn’t sound such a bad idea ... Every week BARBARA FISHER looks at issues that affect us all – the issues that get you talking. You can join in by emailing bmailbarbara@gmail.com