Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-07-26)

12 20 July 2019I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113

Weneedtotakeresponsibilityforour

photographswhilewecan,toavoidthose

left behind having to do all the work

View point

Ailsa McWhinnie

Doyouhavesomethingyou’dliketogetoffyourchest?Sendusyourthoughtsinaround

500 wordstotheaddressonpage 14 andwina year’sdigitalsubscriptiontoAP,worth£79.

O

fallthethingsI expected

to wakeupto on1 January

thisyear,it wasn’tthenews

thatmylategrandparents’

possessionshadgoneupin smoke.At

around7.45pmthenightbefore,a fire

brokeoutat theShurgardstoragefacility

in PurleyWay,southLondon.Bytheearly

hoursof NewYear’sDay,theentire

building– whichhoused1,198rentedunits

• hadbeenrazedto theground.Nothing
  wassalvaged.Wewereluckierthanmany.
  Somelosteverylastbelonging;others
  theirlivelihoods.
  Mygrandfatherdiedin 1995,andmy
  grandmother(or,tobemoreaccurate,
  mystep-grandmother)continuedliving
  in theirflat until2016,whendementia
  meantshehadtomoveintoa nursing
  home.Notlongafterthis,wesoldthe
  property,andmysisterandI were
  taskedwithsortingthroughtwo
  lifetimes’worthof belongings.However,
  despitea longandrespectedcareer
  in politics,mygrandmotherhad
  surprisinglyfewmementosof it. My
  grandfatherhadbeena wonderfulartist.
  Fortunately,overtheyears,a numberof
  hispaintingshadbeendistributedaround
  oursmallfamily.Butit’sthetwoself-
  portraits,whichwerein thestorage unit,
  thatI willmissthemost.

Tacklingtheprints

WhilemysisterandI foundourselves

capableof beingreasonablydispassionate

aboutwhatwouldgointotheShurgard

unitandwhatwouldgotohouse

clearanceoncewe’dpackeduptheflat,

it wasthephotographsthatproved

paralysing.Earlyonin thefirstday,I set

asidea smallbundleof black& white

prints,whichI tookhometoscan.These

formedonlya tinyportionof whatwasto

come.Shortlyafter,weuncoveredboxes

andboxesandboxesof printsthatwe

simplydidn’tknowwhattodowith.

Nottomentionthehundredsof small,

rectangularplasticcontainersthathoused

thousandsof 35mmcolourslides.We

opened one or two of them, but no more.

Overwhelmedbythispoint,weaddedit

alltothepileof itemsfortheremoval

mentotaketothestorageunit.We’d

dealwiththem‘oneday’.

Butit wasn’tourjobtodealwiththem.It

shouldhavebeenuptomygrandparents.

Whyhadn’ttheysortedthroughtheprints

andslides,kepta handfulthatwere

meaningful,putthemin analbumand

ditchedtherest?I wasleftaskingmyself

howmuchthesepictureshadactually

meanttothem.Andif theydidn’tmean

anythingtothem,whyshouldtheymean

anythingtous?It maysoundbrutal,but

living– asmysister,motherandI alldo

• in smallflats,wearen’tin a position
  tokeepstuffsimplybecausethepeople
  thosethingsbelongedtoarenowgone.
  Somymessageis this.If youhave
  decades’worthof disorganised
  photographs,gothroughthem.Keep
  perhaps1%,andchucktherest.Because,
  shouldtheunthinkablehappen,andyour
  offspringenduplosingalmostevery
  oneof thoseunsorted,unlovedprintsin
  deeplyunpleasantcircumstances,you
  mightfindtheirreaction is not one of
  grief,butrelief.

‘Ifyouhavedecades’

worthofdisorganised

photos, go through them’

Ailsa’sgrandfather(centre)in anunnamed

(andsurreal)playfromthe1930s.Oneof

only a few photos that didn’t go into storage

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS COLUMN ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER MAGA ZINE OR TI MEDIA LIMITED

©

ALSA

MCWH

NN

E

AilsaMcWhinniehasworkedin photography

magazinesformorethan 25 years.Sheis oneof

Amateur Photographer’s features editors.

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