Bruce Gordon 18th July 2017
I’m passionate about photography and especially portrait photography it’s my thing, it’s what drives me as a person, it’s what gets me out of bed in the morning.
I also have a need to document my own family, so I thought I’d share this image of Bruce who is also my dad.
I’ve known bruce for 55 years he was a man mountain when I was a child, he is still that man mountain in persona, he has just turned 91.
Every year I visit him on his birthday and he allows me to take a portrait of him.
Each year we think, well this could be the last one… no one knows what life is going to give you or when it may end.
I only get to see dad a couple of times a year but I speak to him each evening, in some ways our relationship is closer now than it has ever been.
He has been in a nursing home for a couple of years, a simple fall on some slippery tiles almost took him out and ultimately put him in is new home.
He’s philosophical about his new home, things could have been much worse.
He and we are lucky that he still has his mind, he can still have a decent chat and keeps the nurses on their toes.
He still gets out to the club to have his fish and chips with his life partner Heather who sits with him every day.
Dad has always been a willing collaborator when I point my camera at him, he’s happy to to have his photo taken.
When looking at dad I cannot help to think where I might be 36 short years, hopefully still enjoying life with as much verve as dad
Why am I sharing this with the world?
For me as a portrait photographer it really puts my life and everybody’s lives into perspective, it’s easy to get caught up with the everyday stuff that life throws at us. Life is finite, live and enjoy each day as it comes.
Sounds simple hey, we all know that it isn’t that easy and I’m not going to deliver any sermons.
As a close friend says
“Mahalo to you and your friends and family”
Daryl Gordon