The past couple of days, I have been going through my old cell phone photos. These photos go back to September 2004, when I got my first cell phone with a camera. I uploaded the ones I put on my old Textamerica account, plus a few others I thought were interesting. These "newer" cell phone photos include ones of the Ten Commandments monument when it was in Savannah. The above collage is an image map, so clicking on the photos takes you to each individual page.

Going throughout the photos was labor intensive. It took me about 8 hours total between 2 days to get the date, time, description, and location up for each photo. I think it was worth the time. I didn't realize how much those cell phone photos meant to me. I found photos of Lucky and Misty I forgot about it. I found a picture of my mother from the time we went to the zoo in Columbia, SC. I found a photo that wasn't too flattering of my mother, but it was still a photo of her living life. In this case, she was sleeping. Still, they were snap shots of a time gone by.

Some of these photos were taken when I was depressed. I know I was. My mother saw the nights I would come home from school and just cry. But, at the same time, I had a happiness in me. It's funny how we can be so happy and so sad at the same time. Just like I feel at the moment.

This topic about going through photos brings me up to the death of Heath Ledger. Nicki and I were home together, for once, and the news broke yesterday as I was cleaning the cat box. I screamed the news to Nicki. He's one of her favorite actors. We were both shocked. He's our age. We're not meant to die at this age. We still don't know what the cause is at the moment I type this. However, I heard he had pneumonia. I could see that being a contributing factor. I had a mild case when I was 12. It was horrible. And last month, when I saw Joey's stepfather, I was worried about the man. I found out he had pneumonia the last time I saw Joey. Maybe Heath's body, along with other factors, just led to his body giving out. No matter the cause of death, it is still sad for his family.

One of my first thoughts about his death was about his poor daughter. She's 2, so she won't have a full understanding of what happened until she gets older. But, that's going to hurt. I was an adult when my mother died, and I still long for her photos. That little girl is going to want them when she's older. It will be her way of connecting to her father. While I hate how the paparazzi stalk anyone with a whiff of celebrity attached to his or her name, their greedy actions may have some good. While there have been photos of Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams giving the paparazzi their due, most paparazzi photos I saw of them were of them loving and caring for baby Matilda. I hope that little girl, as she grows, gets copies of those photos and any videos of her father playing with her that may have been filmed as part of those "The Making Of…" documentaries that they make as companion pieces. No matter the quality of the work, she should get a copy. Even the grainiest and worst photo is better than no photo at all.

[♪ Listening to: "One Good Woman" - Peter Cetera]

Posted by Shawn at January 23, 2008 9:57 AM in Flickr Photos, General.