Ghost of Christmas Past 1

This particular Christmas was many years in the past. I had recently bought my first “real” camera. A Minolta XG7. Yep, a 35mm FILM camera (- which I still have).  I was fortunate because around this time I also got a part time job in a camera shop and made fast friends with the Minolta rep. Before too long I had quite an assortment of lenses, gadgets and filters.

I thought that these toys were the best, and that they were all I needed to take great photos – but on this particular Christmas, I received a gift that topped everything.

The family Christmas tradition went something like this…Xmas Eve, dinner at the neighbor’s, late late late. Fine dining and many bottles of wine later, we’d walk back to my parent’s house for midnight, when we’d open the prezzies. The whole troupe – which at the time included my family+, and the neighbor family – usually minus their kid who was not really into his family at that time. We’d pour some liqueurs and some strong coffee, eat Morden’s Mints and delight in the giving and receiving…

This time was no different.  And then, I opened my present. It was small, compared to the rest under the tree, and it didn’t rattle or make noise.  I guessed it was a book. But it turned out to be a transformative experience. Yes as I unwrapped it – it was definitely a book. A photography book by Freeman Paterson. “The Art of Seeing.”

It changed the way I looked at the world and changed the way I used my camera and my brain. It changed everything. The art of seeing is photography.

Photography and the Art of Seeing: A Visual Perception Workshop for Film and Digital Photography

Freeman Paterson’s book, that literally opened my eyes and my brain. “The Art of Seeing.”

Without a doubt this turned out to be the best photography book I ever read. And for lots of other reasons too, it was one of my best Christmases.

What was your best Christmas? What made it so memorable?