Born and raised in Liverpool (mostly in Wallasey), England and now living in Wellington, New Zealand.

 

I have taken photographs since I was 5, almost always as a sort of diary rather than an artistic endeavour. Putting them on flickr was an attempt at a memoir, aimed primarily at my family. I have become enthusiastic about the other aspects of Flickr, but I feel I'm rather a charlatan in the company of everyone else.

 

The significance of a life-recording photostream has become sharp in my mind since the death of Felicity.

 

Here is a poem I wrote about that.

 

A PHOTOGRAPH FROM MY COLLECTION

 

Sometimes we would stop at this one -

there is something special about it.

 

Sun sparkled wine in a

dappled courtyard;

Le Pont Valentre beyond

Eyes laughing into one another.

 

"Do you remember...?" we would say.

 

Do you remember the cheerful waitress

who took it?

 

The Honeysuckle?

The gentle river's flow?

 

Do you remember the old man on the bridge?

Do you remember dinner that evening?

 

The harmony of that day, those times?

 

Now she is dead the remembering remains in me, but

 

'Do you remember?' is forever gone.

 

Do You Remember?

 

do you remember

 

do you

 

When I die all remembering will vanish

all that intricate richness, that interplay of

 

sensations, experiences, that shared delight.

 

The photograph will remain

 

a dessicated fragment.

 

And it may be that in some distant time

 

out of curiosity

 

someone will stop at this one and ask

 

'They look so happy. I wonder why?'

    

Try this link to see a random selection from my photostream, courtesy of GustavoG.

 

link

 

For a really great collection of Vanuatu pics - including remote corners that tourists rarely see - go to my son's family site at

  

www.flickr.com/photos/johncarolinesam/

   

Countries visited.

 

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United States states visited.

 

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