I’m still trying to work out whether an attic is a curse or a blessing. the great thing with an attic is that it is easy to get rid of the Christmas decorations for 11 months without having them fall out of really useful storage spaces. The bad news is that when unsure whether to throw an item out, it is far too easy to simply fire the item up into the loft and forget about it. More often than not it will simply collect dust.

In purchasing new electrical items the box will typically be thrown in the loft, as many retailers seem particular in requiring any returned goods to be in their original boxes. I am sure I have boxes in the loft for items that have long since been put in for recycling down the dump.

One thing the loft has done is allow me to retain old photographs, although yes I know the conditions are not ideal. In going through an old case I turned up the nostalgia with the discovery of a handful of old images. No idea where the negatives are, but in this post I include the scans of four images (each of which was a standard 7×5). I’m surprised how well the scanner combined with the removal of obvious marks in photoshop have made these images, particularly bearing in mind the size of the originals.

Fading Light in Istanbul

This first image was taken in Istanbul way back in the early 1990’s, on a Ricoh KR-10. For a good while the image was placed in a simple clip frame and hung on the wall, natural light causing the colours to fade.

One of the things that hits me when thinking of Istanbul is how the senses were thrown into overload in entering this bustling city, situated in both the East and the West. The smells, cacophony of sounds, non-stop motion and jaw dropping sights was a lot to try and take in at once. What a beguiling city.

The Simple Life – Nidri

While most of the time in Nidri (Greece) involved either dinghy sailing or windsurfing, one of the days I chose to roam the island for a bit of a change and came across this delightful cottage.

I’m not sure what it is, but I am still drawn into this image of simplicity. The obvious draw is the window with one bright blue shutter closed and the other open. However, I like the different lines in the composition and the inclusion of the plastic table and chair under the shade of the tree.

La Foux D’Allos

I am pretty sure the next image was taken in the late 1980’s. One thing for sure is that it was taken in France in a place called La Foux D’Allos. A whole gang of us went and we made sure that the resort had snow canons as we were going fairly early in the season.

Snow canons are all well and good, provided temperatures are low enough. Sadly on this occasion the temperatures were not obliging and we had to make do with a very limited and pretty bare pistes. Still, it’s amazing how much fun can be had on limited slopes.

Sailing on the Solent

The final image discovered in the case is closer to home and comes from the waters of the Solent from aboard a yacht.

Judging by the colour, this must have been taken towards the end of the sailing week. It also looks as if the shirt was used while on galley duty, but hey it was good fun.

These images were all taken before the days of digital and hence the discovery of the images in the case was a nice bit of surprise nostalgia. I dare say the discovery of a memory stick might not have caught my imagination in quite the same way.

I hope you all enjoyed this trip back in time.