Finally, a photo of me and my girls

One day, all your children will have is pictures of you.

Make sure you are in them!

No matter what your hair looks like, your make-up, or your body,

They won't care about any of that

They'll just want to see you.

I love being behind the camera. Because I HATE being in front if it. Throughout my teenage years and adult life, I cringed each and every time I realised that I was in the vicinity of a camera. Usually, I was able to blend into the background, and almost disappear. Almost. 

And that is why there are so very few photos of me to be found anywhere today. There are an odd few online, a very few in old newspapers, and absolutely none in my house. Not even a wedding photo. Or a photo of me with my kids. Its almost as if I don't exist. 

Almost as if I don't exist.

A realisation has slowly swept over me...If I were to depart this planet tomorrow, how would my wife remember me? How would my young daughters remember their daddy? How would they tell their kids in years to come about their grandda? Would they even tell them? Would they remember anything about me? And who I was? 

How could they? Why would they? They might as well be telling their kids about Father Christmas, because he will be just as real to my grand kids as me? Probably more real because we have photos every year of the girls sitting on Father Christmas's knee. Not one of the girls sitting on MY knee. I have photos on my sideboard of my daughters sitting on the knee of a complete stranger, dressed up as a character who isn't real. And none of them on my knee. 

And so, I am making a commitment right now, as I write this. I will embrace every photo opportunity that comes my way. I will be at the front of group photos, I will be the clown in photos with my daughters, I will be in photos with my wife, and no longer run from photos with my friend and colleagues. 

And my photos will not remain hidden on a hard drive or displayed only on my FaceBook wall. I will print them all. I will have huge photo albums, stuffed full of photos of me, my wife, my kids, my friends, and of all my journeys and endeavours. I will have these photos to look back on when my memories start to fade. Remembering friends and loved one already departed. And my loved ones will have them after I am gone. Printed, enlarged, dog-eared and creased from many, many years of reviews, tears and remembering. 

And I encourage everyone to do the same. Make sure YOU are in photos.