I've been working with the set of photos I'm intending to contribute to either the Toronto Public Archives or the Toronto Public Library, following in the footsteps of Ted Chirnside and James V. Salmon, and I've realized just how valuable this blog has been to identifying dates for some of the photos that, back when I took them, I wasn't so careful to even make sure the camera knew what day it was. I have shots taken in the mid-2000s that the camera dates to the year 2000, simply because I let the battery run out. This blog's been instrumental in pinning down the day for several hundred photos so far.
I used to post on City In the Trees pretty much weekly—almost daily, for a while. I've really gotten away from that. It's not so much that I really believe there are people reading this thing... maybe a half-dozen friends who swing by from time to time. But no, it's more a sort of diary... something that's fireproof and won't (or shouldn't) get lost. A way for me to look back and keep accounts of my life; time ever more fleeting as it goes. Sometimes I look back at this and I'm really surprised; I don't remember things the way I recorded them here. But what am I going to say; I was wrong then when it happened, but I'm right now?
Ultimately what I mean is I should get more serious about recording my little comings and goings here. Again, not so much because I believe they're fascinating to mankind, no... just that they might be of passing interest to others, and they're of vital importance to me in remembering where I've been and what I've seen, and when.
2 comments:
I bumped into your past on the street the other day, and it snickered as it told me it likes messing with you. :-)
For what it's worth, I don't know you, and I enjoy your writing. If you think you don't have an audience -- well, you do.
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