Every picture is a memory. Every time we press the shutter on the camera we are freezing a moment of history so we can preserve it forever. It sounds monumentous doesn't it, but it's not: Facebook will certainly tell you otherwise. I log on each day to see the myriad of photos that my so-called 'friends' vomit onto my homepage. Not only do people upload a sequence of the same picture - I have two of them so why not use them - but the other people in the picture will also post their versions of it. The result? Monster albums clogging up the internet providing the CIA with plenty of material should anyone need blackmailing in the future...


It is an age-old question, though. How do we make our holiday photos interesting to the general public? How do we step away from the necessity to have 'been there' to really appreciate someone else's pictures? And, while we're at it, how can we remove this insane fashion for de-tagging and portraying this hideously false image on Facebook? There is no hard and fast solution - no tried and tested method to solve this, but I think I may have hit upon a compromise.


May I invite you to read on...

Friday, 10 February 2012

Crossing the Border

You may have read about how much I love the mountains. I've seen the mountains in Italy, France and on this particular family holiday, I saw them in Switzerland. I'd been in Italy for a few months by that stage and I'd seen lots of their furry hills and grassy mountains. There was something comforting about wandering over the plains, but in the distance, like a dragon waiting to be bested, were the Swiss Alps.

It wasn't long before my dad decided that he couldn't wait anymore and we headed to Saas-Fee in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. I suppose it makes sense to draw the border of a country where the landscape changes, but I wasn't quite ready for it when we drove through the eerie no-man's-land and blasted out into the Swiss countryside.

From the soft, furry inviting hillsides, we suddenly found ourselves in an unfriendly landscape with rocky mountains as far as the eye could see. Hostile though it may have seemed, it was hypnotic and all I wanted was a closer look.

So by the end of the day, not only had I jumped higher than I ever had before, but I'd made it into a new country.

Oh, I think I'm about to crash through the roof of the cable car hut...
Saas-Fee, Switzerland, 2009
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Location: Saas-Fee, Switzerland

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