I've come to realise that when you're doing a PAD, you can't hit it out of the park with every shot. Usually you lack the time to find a spectacular subject in glorious light. Often you lack the opportunity, though it's easier with a micro like the E-P1 along for the ride so that your DSLR doesn't have to be. But more importantly, it's not always the grand visions of saturated sunrises that ultimately matter, though I'm grateful for having had the opportunity of grabbing some of those along the way too.

As I look back over my first year of PADing (and try to ignore the huge gaps), I find that it's probably the more mundane shots that will be more important to me in years to come. The ones that remind me of time and place, and of people who may have passed through my life briefly (some that I wish never had, fewer I wish had stayed around) even though you, the public viewer, will have no idea who they are. But I will.

Recently I came across an Excel file; an attempt that I'd made at a personal budget in 1999/2000. Places that I used to frequent, things that I used to buy, things that were part of the everyday tapestry of life. Then suddenly something changes, and I don't go there / buy those things / see those people any more. The places, the events, the people, slip from memory.

This is part of the Christmas decoration at Rhodes, a place that I (currently) go to quite often. It looks similar to the way it did last year. It may look similar again next year. But if for some reason I'm no longer going there next year, or the year after... this will still remind me of the place I once went to, and the people that I met there.

It's as good a reason to PAD as any other, and to not apologise for the mundane ones.
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Edit August 2024. Mmm, funny I should say that. Though I had no idea at the time, I was exactly one week away from a meeting which would, within a couple of years, rip me permanently out of Sydney's inner west and propel me down the south coast. I probably went back to Rhodes a few times in the first couple of years after moving. However it has become a less and less frequent destination and the number of times I've been in, say, the last 5 years could be counted on if not the fingers of one hand, then certainly without using too many of the second hand.

Regarding the line that "you, the public viewer, will have no idea who they are. But I will"... Yeeessss... I may have been thinking of all the women I dated in 2010 when I wrote that. A number of the photos from the 2010 PAD were taken on those dates but my recollection of the women concerned range from "vague" to "non-existent". I see the photos and I remember bits and pieces about the date, but barely anything about them which is probably more a "me" thing, or more accurately a "my appalling memory and face recognition ability" thing. Or just the fact that while they weren't bad people - most of them - and some were really good people, we ultimately had no impact on each others' lives and memories of a distant date get crowded out over time. I'm sure that hardly any, if any, of them remember me, either.

One final point... you can just make out that the store in the background is a manchester store called "Holy Sheet!". (A rather clever name, if I may add.) Where are they now? The chain still exists, but the Rhodes store is "Permanently Closed", according to Google. I can find no other relevant information about it.