It would have been my dad’s 98th birthday today. It dawned on me with this colorful Kodak snap of my dad and me in Los Angeles, that I am now older than he was in this picture.
Moving images have a way of keeping their subject in the present and photography freezes time but get the right picture, like this one of my smiling dad with me surrounded by the blood red hues of the carpet and the glorious blues in the towel and bed spread, and somehow an image like this -at least for me- is present and full of wonder. It’s as if I could fall back into that moment after the picture was taken and my dad would stand up and carry me in his arms.
My family album collection of Kodak snaps taken in Los Angeles in the 1960s is what Roland Barthes describes as a punctum moment. These images prick me, fill me with emotion and take me back in time.
Ginger Liu is an American British photographer, filmmaker and writer. As the founder of Ginger Media & Entertainment, she has promoted international arts and entertainment, business and tech clients from Los Angeles to London and has produced digital and social content for more than a decade. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Photography and film and her work has featured in Portrait of Britain and Women Cinemakers and screened and exhibited around the globe.
