Age
I received an email, it read:
Older People Urged to Snap "Having a Good Time" in new photo competition - deadline 29th July 2005.
Such is the shortage of positive images of later life, that Counsel and Care has had to commission its own original photographs for its publications and this website. Elsewhere, in photo archives, billboards and in magazines and newspapers, older people are shown as distressed, unhappy or confused. These negative images of later life must surely contribute to ageism and the devaluing of a time of life that for most people brings shared enjoyments and valuable new experiences.
If you can send us your images illustrating the positive side of later life particularly of older people Having a Good Time, you may be eligible for a top cash prize of £500, and second and third prizes of £100 each. For details on how to enter this photographic competition go to http://www.counselandcare.org.uk/
So I start pondering what image I would seek to capture in relation to 'older people Having a Good Time' (sic)...
Would I go back to the library in town where this morning a most foul old lady responded to me with contempt at my suggesting that the library catalogue 'which covers the whole of the county' could be added to in order to satisfy my literature desire? No, I would not.
Would I pursue a classic 'old person having a good time with the grandchildren' type of image that would also implicitly sell the notion of nuclear family? No, I would not.
Would I turn to my closest old bid' relative and seek to capture her - maternal grandmother Elspeth - 'having a good time'? Ohhhh yuk yuk double-yuk wash my mind out with soap and water and a touch of lavender, no way!
The phone rings.
Shane: Hello.
Voice: Hello, it's your Mam (imagine strong north east accent*)
Shane: Oh hello, how's things?
[...we idly chat for a few minutes...]
Shane: And how's Elspeth?
Ma Wex': Oh she's fine. She was teaching your sister how to swear in French earlier, needless to say she was also very pleased with the result of the Olympics bidding contest. She calls Jacques Chirac 'Jack Shit-Rack'. So yeah - she's fine.
Shane: 'Having a Good Time' you might say?
Ma Wex': Yeah, I s'pose...
[...we chat on.]
Thus, it was decided, my entry for the photo contest will depict grandmother Elspeth having a laugh at the expense of the French president. I will capture the moment at which she beats him at Scrabble. There now comes the not so small matter of luring Jacques to a tiny village in the north east of England. But how? I don't know, but this gives me something to think about this week...
* Minor television celebrity
*****
I love Finnish food. What?
Older People Urged to Snap "Having a Good Time" in new photo competition - deadline 29th July 2005.
Such is the shortage of positive images of later life, that Counsel and Care has had to commission its own original photographs for its publications and this website. Elsewhere, in photo archives, billboards and in magazines and newspapers, older people are shown as distressed, unhappy or confused. These negative images of later life must surely contribute to ageism and the devaluing of a time of life that for most people brings shared enjoyments and valuable new experiences.
If you can send us your images illustrating the positive side of later life particularly of older people Having a Good Time, you may be eligible for a top cash prize of £500, and second and third prizes of £100 each. For details on how to enter this photographic competition go to http://www.counselandcare.org.uk/
So I start pondering what image I would seek to capture in relation to 'older people Having a Good Time' (sic)...
Would I go back to the library in town where this morning a most foul old lady responded to me with contempt at my suggesting that the library catalogue 'which covers the whole of the county' could be added to in order to satisfy my literature desire? No, I would not.
Would I pursue a classic 'old person having a good time with the grandchildren' type of image that would also implicitly sell the notion of nuclear family? No, I would not.
Would I turn to my closest old bid' relative and seek to capture her - maternal grandmother Elspeth - 'having a good time'? Ohhhh yuk yuk double-yuk wash my mind out with soap and water and a touch of lavender, no way!
The phone rings.
Shane: Hello.
Voice: Hello, it's your Mam (imagine strong north east accent*)
Shane: Oh hello, how's things?
[...we idly chat for a few minutes...]
Shane: And how's Elspeth?
Ma Wex': Oh she's fine. She was teaching your sister how to swear in French earlier, needless to say she was also very pleased with the result of the Olympics bidding contest. She calls Jacques Chirac 'Jack Shit-Rack'. So yeah - she's fine.
Shane: 'Having a Good Time' you might say?
Ma Wex': Yeah, I s'pose...
[...we chat on.]
Thus, it was decided, my entry for the photo contest will depict grandmother Elspeth having a laugh at the expense of the French president. I will capture the moment at which she beats him at Scrabble. There now comes the not so small matter of luring Jacques to a tiny village in the north east of England. But how? I don't know, but this gives me something to think about this week...
* Minor television celebrity
*****
I love Finnish food. What?
posted by Shane @ 5:00 pm
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