Friday, January 31, 2014

Sepia Saturday 213 : Taking A Suitcase On The Fast Train To Purgatory


I try not to cheat, but I have to confess that sometimes I have been faced with temptation and found it hard work resisting. Imagine the situation : you have to choose a theme image for Sepia Saturday, it can be anything, and you know that whatever you choose will become a central feature in a photographic search for dozens of Sepia Saturday followers in a couple of weeks time. And you will be one of that dozen or so. You try to choose the image impartially, you try to separate the two parts of your being into watertight compartments : you as Sepia Saturday administrator and you as Sepia Saturday participant. But - and here is the confession - just occasionally you can't help thinking to yourself (and the thought is often accompanied by the slightest of self-satisfied smirks), "mmm, I think have something that will fit in with that theme".

Move forward a couple of weeks and you compose the Sepia Saturday Blog post for the theme in question. You recall that little thought that frolicked in the dark recesses of your mind a couple of weeks ago and you write, "Suitcases mean holidays. Holidays mean photographs. Ergo, suitcases mean a good crop of sepia goodies". And then all you have to do is to find the photo you had in mind and your own Sepia Saturday submission is complete. Easy Peasy.

But then Burnett's Law comes into play : "the more convinced that you have an old photograph somewhere that will ideally fit in with the Sepia Saturday theme, the more difficult it becomes to find it". You spend hours looking through albums and boxes. You ignore the wife, abandon the dog, forget to eat; you begin to fade away and queue-up to catch the fast train to purgatory. And all you come up with is a faded suitcase on an old railway platform (which you suspect you might have used before) and a thirty year old photograph of you in happier times before temptation came a-knocking on your door.

Take a lesson from me Ladies and Gentlemen : when temptation comes to call, bolt the door tight.

And with the door firmly closed, pop on over to the Sepia Saturday Blog and follow the links to see what others are up to this week.

26 comments:

  1. The other scenario: when you're positive you have a photo of your father on skis; you spend hours searching for it (for last week's SS posting) and it turns out to be your father standing on a sidewalk with snow in the background. Yikes.

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  2. So glad to know I am not the only one who has gone on a mad search only to discover that the perfect photo will not be found, or cannot be found because it belongs to someone 3,000 miles away, or exists only in the space between my ears, or...

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  3. Definitely a conundrum. Which I don't have. Most of my oldest photos are those I've filed onto computer (external hard drive)...though there are (I just looked over to count them) about 5 old albums that remain to be scanned. Mine aren't usually sepia photos, like you have so many of, but I think being the matriarch of my family, it's my responsibility to create some kind of archive.

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  4. Or you find lots of pictures appropriate for the theme, but forget, until too late, the best ones you should have used instead of some you did! Oh well. Got a major kick out of your confessional tale of woe. :))

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  5. I looked over and over the last couple of weeks for a postcard that I had with a suitcase like makeup kit. I knew there were only about three places it could be unless I had totally lost it. When I finally found it, I decided it would make a boring subject for a post. So it was back to square one. Luckily, I found a travel-related postcard that I hadn't noticed when I first started looking for a card to use for this week's post.

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  6. Oh this is so true. I've spent hours looking for just the right photo that I knew I had somewhere, but then couldn't find. It's so nice to know that we all go through the same thing.
    Nancy
    Ladies of the Grove

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  7. As delighted as I was when I first saw the prompt for the week, Burnetts's ;aw thrived in this house too...as I posted, I could no way find what I intended. I am now happy to be in such good company. And it's not cheating, so much as unintended consequences. Who said that?

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  8. I think I've done this a few times. I've written a post and then gone looking for the photo I had in mind.

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  9. I know the search and search so well. If only I would file all those photos I find along the way so that next week I will be able to find the piano playing picture.

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  10. You haven't lost the creative touch, Alan. As soon as I make my post, I start thinking about the possibilities for the next weekend. Almost all my photos are digitized into computer files for their protection. Almost. There are a few shoe boxes with new acquisitions that get a lot of shuffling to find something for the more difficult challenges. However I think the Sepia Saturday two week advanced preview has made the selection/search process much more civilized.

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  11. I had a suitcase full of old photos, which I foolishly entrusted to my younger daughter. They were left behind at her flat when she absconded after not paying her rent, and the whole lot were thrown out. Sad.

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  12. Anonymous12:36 PM

    I just wish I'd added searchable tags to the photos I've scanned at the time of scanning. It would have been lovely to put in the word suitcase and have it turn up the appropriate photos. Unfortunately that wouldn;t cover all the unscanned photos. I have, A well written and interesting post.

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  13. Like you I had to hunt for suitcase photos this week and they have still eluded me I've been on a few trains to purgatory as well with suitcase in tow (but only more recently have they been on wheels!)

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  14. As part-time admin I have to say when I chose the prompt I would usually wonder whether I could match it, and once or twice I was in a real panic. These are both wonderful images in their different ways. I’m very taken with Isobel’s tights, but what I can’t get out of my head is the strange picture of you ‘fading away’.

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  15. Oh gee I know about temptation and bolting doors, but never when it comes to your photo themes, well, unless it's about war, that is kind of one that well,- but then we can at anytime bring what ever little tidbit we so desire. Another option, and just why I adore Sepia Saturday so much.

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  16. Burnett's Law which activates Burnett's Syndrome/Sepia Saturday Sickness - ignoring everyone and everything until you find the *()*()&**(&%^$photo. I'm hoping that a Brubaker vaccine might come along that would inspire me and others to get everything digitized once and for all and end the confounded shoe box shuffling.

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  17. A great round of comments triggered by your blog Alan!
    I have another SS 'syndrome' - where I see the following week's prompt and like that so much more I am distracted by it so much I hardly get around to writing the current week's!

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  18. I love it. So glad to hear I'm not the only only who can't locate the perfect photo when needed.

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  19. I take hours to find that photo too. Infact this week I didn't find one at all. Sorry. Too involved in my memoirs and scanning slides.

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  20. Haha! Burnett's Law. :) Now we know what to call it!

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  21. Perhaps one week's theme should be "Post that picture you finally found pertaining to SepiaSaturday four or five Saturdays ago".....(maybe by then I will have uncovered a themed picture for this week's prompt, but I am enjoying all the postings this week!!! Everyone, have a great week!

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  22. What an entertaining post! I have been there - I know I have the perfect photo for the theme, taken years ago, but can I find it? And like you the more I can't find it, the more obsessed I get with the search. I am already like that regarding next week's prompt - I am sure there was a photo of me in my teens playing the piano! Still I do like the photo of the happy couple - very smartly dressed for going on a boat? And are those red tights?

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  23. Ah yes the allusive photograph, you tell it so well. The other Burnett law must be the photo will be discovered hours after you post. On the other hand any photo with a steam train on it is a bonus.

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  24. I hate posting the same photo twice, and that, alas, is too often the case, as I am running low on unposted family photos!

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  25. The Mathias Corollary to Burnett's Law is the photo you have in mind for THIS week's prompt will show up NEXT week.

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  26. Nice post; I like your style.

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