Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Our First Photo


I found this photo last weekend when I was moving some boxes to make way for a spare bed for the In-Laws who are coming to visit us next weekend. Inside the boxes were some of my old albums and in my latest album from 14 years ago was this photo. That's right, I do not have a single physical photo album after 1999 and no, not even for the Kids. The thousands of photos taken over the last 14 years all float precariously in the elusive "cloud", waiting for me to find some time to organise them. Something to look forward to in retirement perhaps?

Anyway, it is the very first photo taken of us. What is eerie is that I looked on the back and found it had been taken exactly 14 years earlier to the day, on the 16th of June 1999.

I had forgotten this photo had even existed until I saw it on the weekend. It's not our best photo. Far from glamorous. We look so young! The ageing process really kicks up a notch once Kids come along don't you think? We had met only 4 weeks earlier on the night of my 22nd Birthday. I obviously thought 4 weeks was long enough to know whether it was serious enough for him to meet my Dad.

The photo was taken on a visit to my Dad at his farm which is a 45 minute drive from where I was studying at University in Canberra. I was showing The Pianoman around the farm on the Quad bike on a freezing cold Braidwood day when Dad came out with his camera, snapped this shot and subsequently mailed it to me.

We look awkward, signs of the early days of the relationship but more because it was the first time meeting the future Father-In-Law and we were fully aware that this photo would probably do the rounds with all the extended family and friends. I was probably hoping my Dad wouldn't embarrass me with a request for more photos and The Pianoman was probably wondering where the most appropriate place to put his hands were. If someone told us then that we would move to Tasmania (3 times), live on a farm and have 5 Kids we probably would have laughed. Funny how things work out.

I've been pondering the broader effects of social media lately. Back then there was no Facebook, Instagram, mobiles phones with built-in cameras or texting. This photo was the first glimpse of the new boyfriend my extended family had, a whole month after we met. Nowadays you see all the young people out at bars taking selfies and posting them on the internet instantaneously. It got me thinking how the dating scene will be when our kids are older. Will I be seeing the new boyfriend/girlfriends for the first time when they come over to visit us for afternoon tea? I doubt it. I'll probably find out on Facebook or some other means first. I imagine I'll just need a name and within seconds, being the nosy Parker I am, I will be able to locate said person on any of the various social media platforms available.  It's a very strange concept. I'm wondering if young people today will be so used to strangers having access to their pictures on the interwebs, that the awkwardness when they meet people for the first time will be lost in the knowledge that they have already been "seen". Is it the end of awkward photos? Will there be no more awkwardness or will there be more because people just won't know how much of their life has been displayed for all to see?

So who took your very first photo as a couple and where were you?

Edit: Apologies this Post was lost for around 24 hours while I was sleeping. Blogger has been messing around again!



14 comments :

  1. Ah Mel. A cute snap! And such an interesting thought. The times are definitely a-changing for us digital immigrants, aren't they? Our digital native children have a lot to teach us, no doubt. J x

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  2. That's wonderful, what a great find! Every so often I think 'I really should go through my photo files and print some off...'. I never do. Otherwise I'm never going to make discoveries like this! My husband and I avoid the camera as much as possible, so I honestly have no idea what the first photo of us was - I'd imagine one of our friends snapped something without telling us at some point!

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  3. You look pretty much the same, Mel! You look very similar to that photo of you taken at Richmond Bridge in a recent post.
    I honestly don't know if my husband and I have a "first photo" floating around anywhere. I am quite photo phobic and avoid having my photo taken at all costs. My daughter is only 3 but I am dreading dealing with social media with her down the track. I'm 37 and I'm very glad we didn't have mobiles/Facebook/Twitter etc when I was growing up!

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  4. I agree with Stella, Mel; you do look the same! I really enjoyed reading this story about the first weeks of your relationship. You've treated this photograph a little like an art historian describing the story behind a painting; it simply makes it come to life.

    Stephanie

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  5. What a sweet photo Mel. You haven't changed at all, still the same pretty face and smile. I too haven't printed out photos in years. It's on the 'to-do' list :) What you've said is really interesting and so true... all the selfies that appear on Facebook etc. I think will be the way we'll see those first snaps of couples more and more down the track. The first photo I have of Paul and I was taken about six weeks after our first date... at my Nanna's 80th birthday... I think my Dad snapped our photo too :)

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  6. Oh look at you two.
    I managed to capture a photo the night my other half asked if i'd like to be his girlfriend, now nearly 6 years ago. Time does fly.
    x

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  7. This photo is so awesome! Love it Mel x

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  8. I love the photo. You both look so young, but then you were. I am trying to think which is the first photo I have of John and I, and I suspect it was taken my one of my uni housemates. I need to dig it out now, if only to laugh at our haircuts! x

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  9. That is lovely Mel, albeit a little awkward ;) I find the whole evolution of photographs incredible too. And I was a particularly late bloomer when it comes to the digital age. As recently as when Angus was born (so 5.5 years ago), I was still using my old Canon camera with film! As for Facebook, late blooming again, I only jumped on that bandwagon when Angus turned 1... interestingly enough, I purchased my first digital camera around the same time. I still find the whole instagramming/facebooking everything 'on the spot' rather unusual, though I am more than happy to 'sticky beak' at those who do it, haha!
    But those old photos are such treasures and so nice to look back on. And yes, becoming a parent ages one exponentially, I have found :/
    Hope all is well with you Mel xoxo

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  10. how did i not see this? LOVE LOVE LOVE you two young lovebirds! how adorable and precious this photo is mel. such sweet memories too. my husband and i met in the summer of 98, just about the same time as you and your love. makes me want to go looking for our first photo too... :)
    xxxxxxxxxxxx lori

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  11. Oh how cute. I have to dig some of our early photos up as well. I know our first photo together was down at the beach but I dont know for the life of me where it is. You are so right though about social media ad about how we will probably first lay eyes on our future son and daughter in laws through Facebook or instagram lol x

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  12. Hubby and I have photos of each other the night we met 7 years ago. We met at a dance party and some how I managed to take quite a few photos that night. It is really funny that we can look back to the very moment we met and we have been together ever since.

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  13. oh Mel, I love this post...and i love the photo. Eeerie to think that we found our husbands within a few weeks of each other! I remember our first date was around the 4th June 1999...our first photo wasn't taken until a few weeks later when he came around to mine to meet the folks...I still have it, we did the awkard pose and yes, we look sooooooo young!!! I do worry about social media and how that impacts on relationships for the young...so much "out there" it's scary to think. I'd like to hope facebook will die a slow but necessary death! x

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  14. This is gorgeous and awkward....the way young love should be!

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