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Memorable Photos

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed photography since I was a youngster. So my picture taking has spanned more than five decades.

The photos that I take belong to one of two “camps” – snapshots and memorable.

This article is the another in a series I’ve named “About this photo” to draw attention to a few of those memorable photos that may be hiding in a shoebox or on your hard drive.

Some individuals have photographic memories. I instead have memories about certain photographs.

Most of these special photographs were taken long, long ago. They are indelible and remain riveted in my mind. And so, in this “About this photo” series, I’d like to key in on one of these unforgettable photographs to bring me back to the time and circumstances under which it was taken.

Taken late summer 1970, this is a photo of my girlfriend along Lake Michigan. We spent many weekends at this beach that summer.Usually the beach was very crowded, but on this cloudy and windy day, we had the run of the sand and shore to ourselves.

The red lighthouse was a familiar site to anyone who knows this area and remains a key attraction to the beach today. It’s a lucky coincidence that my girlfriend’s jacket was about the same shade of red as the lighthouse.

The reason that this photo is etched in my mind is that I’ve been married to this lovely lady for 50 years now.

Now let’s skip forward some 40+ years.This photo was taken a few summers ago. Here we have two young girls having fun at the same location on Lake Michigan.

You can see the same red lighthouse along the water albeit at a slightly different angle.

These are two of our young grandchildren. As we were walking along the beach I was reminded of the 1970 photograph when we approached the red lighthouse.

I asked the two girls to pose on the bench in the foreground. This photo captures the familiar feelings of warmth and affection that has somehow remained with me for more than 50 years..

Along the way, I’ve taken a huge number of snapshots. However, the number of memorable photos that I’ve taken is far smaller. Yet it’s the memorable ones that have a magical ability to steer emotions, feelings and pleasure into our minds, even years later. Simply amazing.

Written by

Arnie Lee

Some of the Places We’ve Visited

When we travel to a new place whether it be a state, a park or other interesting location, we usually snap a photo of the entrance sign.

Following is a collection of some of those signs.