civilized ku # 2015 ~ breakfast memories

Saturday morning newspaper ~ Auberge du Vieux-Port - Old Montreal, CA • click to embiggenDuring our recent visit to Montreal, the wife suggested that I should make a picture book comprised of pictures from our numerous trips to that city. My first thought was, "duh, why didn't I think of that idea?" - a really good question to self.

I mean, I make picture books on a fairly regular basis but come to think of it, with 3 exceptions, all of those books have been comprised of my "art" pictures. FYI, the 3 exceptions are my Tuscany book and my 2-volume Shore Light books. Not that I don't consider the pictures in those books to be art, but...

...in addition to the art aspect of the pictures, the one quality that is integral to those 3 books (and not all of my other books) is the notion of memories and the sensations associated with them. And while virtually all of the pictures in those 3 books are of my memories and sensations, they depict people/places/things/events which easily are capable of evoking, in many others, memories / sensations connected to those specific places.

That said, the pictures in those books can be viewed / perceived by others without memories of those specific places for the picture's art qualities. However, that said, the pictures infer / connote enough "universal" information, independent of their referent(ial) specificity, to evoke memories / sensations in those same viewers who have had experiences similar to the people/places/things/events depicted therein.

All of that said, IMO, the idea of memories and their associated sensations is the primary reason most people wielding cameras make pictures. Perhaps, without consciously knowing it, those same people intuitively understand Bertrand Russell when he stated:

Memory demands an image. ~ from The Analysis of Mind

IMO, Russell, in so stating, did not necessarily imply that one must have an actual physical picture/print to accompany one's mental memories. I'm fairly certain he was stating that the mind always manages to produce a mental image that is inseparable from any memory which being contemplated.

I know that I, for one, when asked, "do you remember ...", always search my mental picture archive for the associated picture. Often, if I can't find a picture, I can't find the memory. Memory and image are inexorably linked in my mind. But, truth be told, I do think in pictures.

In any event, how about you? Do you make pictures which are inexorably linked to memories? Can you experience your memories as result of seeing pictures made by others? How important to you is making pictures which preserve / enhance memories?