The camera never lies…….

I’m not sure why I decided to splash out on a camera just before lockdown arrived. Before we’d really understood the significance that Covid was going to have on our lives. But I’m so glad I did as it’s kept me sane, it’s given me a reason to exist each day and it’s opened up a new calmer world when all around has been chaos.

Many sceptical people have questioned my ability to use a camera, simply because I have dementia…well I chose it because I had that make many moons ago and even though they’ve upgraded the design, they’ve kept all the buttons in the same place. I only use the click and zoom. It has many more features, but I’m happy using the two I remember and feel comfortable with.

My first adventure with it thankfully took place just before lockdown when I went to stay with the lovely Philly Hare, my friend  in the Western Isles of Scotland on the Isle of Lewis…I was just getting use to it then but it was an instantaneous joy to have with me.

 I would take, and still do, hundreds of photos on 1 single trundle and only a handful would be in focus, but it’s the handful that count…I don’t care.

Then lockdown came and my world along with everyone else’s changed beyond recognition. It was then my camera came into it’s own. Making it easier and possible to adapt to this strange confinement…in my village…

I think I’ve probably always had an eye for a good photo, but now my brain is slower, I seem to see more of the detail because my eyes linger on a spot for a few moments more…capturing moments of delight that last seconds and blink and they’re gone…

I’ve made many new friends in the village since I started posting them each day on our village Facebook page. Not knowing if people would be interested. But kind comments came and throughout lockdown and beyond I post my village trundles daily. It’s become a comfort to me.

People often ask me, as I pass them in the village:

“Taken any good ones today?”

And I don’t really know. In fact the joy of arriving home and see them magically transfer from camera to phone to ipad, never ceases to amaze me. And then I sit down with a cuppa and each photo revealed is a revelation of where I’ve been that day and more importantly what I’ve seen.

I can stand for ages, pointing my camera at one of the ducks, waiting for it to turn it’s head and get lost in that moment. It’s magical when they do

I was guilty in the passed of rushing around not noticing the beauty of nature around, but when you take a moment to stop…and really look….really look at the detail….so many simple things are beautifully designed by nature. Dementia has given me that gift of seeing the detail, simply because of my slowing brain….

As I caught Teresa the Terrapin surfacing to see if it was a basking day from the depths of the water, I clicked…..

….then turned round and focused on the white duck looking serene by the island, click…

I looked back and Teresa was gone out of sight and back under the water. I turned back to the white duck and she’d also gone. I know I’d seen them in that moment as there they were on the photos. I hadn’t imagined their beauty. So often I see things and am not quite sure if they’re real or a figment of my ailing brain, but one thing is for sure and a great comfort for me……. the camera never lies.