Wow, that was fast. I've barely figured out I should be filling 2011 in the blank on my cheques and it is already time to change.
A year can bring about many changes in the world, the community and in ourselves. I don't think I took as many photographs this past year as I have in recent years, but I have many to look back on.
I have to remind myself as I document the community for the news that I also need digital images of my own children. This month I sifted through tens of thousands of pictures from the past 10 years beginning with a huge box of prints developed in the days before most people had even heard of digital photography.
I found CDs of images taken when I first went digital and was smart enough to back up the files before the computer crashed. I also scanned through files on my computers, portable storage drives and various types of camera cards.
It took longer to flip through the paper photographs without any system of dating or filing but there was something special about how real they felt in my hands. I looked at my own life and at the world in general. The images I stared at on online news sites and in print are still vivid as I recall a year where world leaders fell, the weather showed its power, finances continued to crumble and where people took to the streets for many different reasons including sports rioting and peaceful protests.
There were births and deaths, marriages and break-ups capturing the attention of the world and those closer to our own hearts. I was personally affected by stories from around the world, the country and my own region as I wished I had the power to do more to help.
2012 has been marked as a year when some say the world may end, but I look it as a year when more changes will occur. Every year there are endings, the world as we know it is constantly changing. It is a different world today than it was a year ago and a very different planet than it was when I was a child. I can only do my best to make it a little friendlier for my own children in a home and community I can contribute to.
I can do simple things to make a tiny difference in the world, but I can do great and small things right here to show love to family and neighbours, looking forward with hope there will be many more beautiful images created.
