Photos – DorritWalsh.com

STILL LIFES

STILL LIFES

I can’t really think of anything better to call this section of photos, except perhaps “Ordinary Things.” Ever since I got my first Kodak Instamatic when I was eight or nine, I’ve been taking photos of things that most people walk past and don’t seem to notice. I like all of these forgotten objects and think they do deserve to be seen.

Photos were taken with my original Nikon digital camera (bought in 1999, I think), a Sony Cybershot DSC-TX10, and most of them were taken with my iPhone. A few of the older shots may have even been taken with a Blackberry. The only photo editing program I’ve ever used is Photoshop.

ANIMALS

ANIMALS

Me when I was two or three, with Googles (left), who lived to be 20 and was a big part of my childhood, and another Siamese who I don’t remember.

Most of these photos will be of pets, mine and other people’s. I grew up with a great love and respect for animals, and this came mostly from my mother. She loved all kinds of animals, and always took me and my brother to feed ducks, petting zoos, and farms – anyplace where we could see and interact with animals. We also always had pets.

As I got older my mother started bringing in strays, which weren’t that common in the suburbs at the time. Usually it took a little while to gain their confidence, but eventually we did it. She also started feeding the raccoons, possums, and the occasional fox who had originally started coming for the food she put out for the stray cats. And she always fed the squirrels and birds. I hope that whoever bought her house loves animals as much as she did, and is keeping this up.

My vision for when I retire is that I’ll have a house with a nice yard and trees, that hopefully also comes with raccoons, possums, and any other wild animals that want to come by and be fed at night. (Breakfast or lunch are okay too.)

MY MOTHER'S HOUSE

MY MOTHER’S HOUSE

I anticipate adding more earlier photos to this section, but it ends in August 2012. That’s when my friend Colin and I drove down to Alexandria to go to my mother’s house after it had been cleaned out and sold. Most people coming to this site know that my mom died in June, 2012.

Even though there were 40+ years of memories there, I could old bring back as much as would fit into a U-Haul van. (And that I had room for in my house in Brooklyn.) Deciding what to keep and what would be thrown out was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I still find myself wishing that I had a particular lamp, or table, or rug.