Ghost Images
February 8, 2010 * * * * * Posted by: guest blogger 
Ghost images, I'm haunted by them, they are the photographs I captured in my head, but not the lens. When I look at this shot, I see what is to me the most beautiful beach in the world, its the bay at Laig on the isle of Eigg, a small island just 10 miles off the west coast of Scotland, I've danced till dawn on this beach, on the evening of the longest day (the party didn't stop through the shortest night, and darkness never fell).
But the image also reminds me of a walk to this magical place; when I missed 'one of those shots' the never to be seen again snapshots that only develop in your minds eye.
Walking down the track ahead of me was a young girl, probably aged about 11 she was carrying a fiddle case, swinging it in time to her pace, before I could rummage in the rucksack for the camera (this image is from 2007, before I'd embraced my digital SLR) she'd peeled off into one of the cottages, the moment was gone. With the bay to her left, the cliffs to rising up to her right and a slender ribbon of crofts and cottages ahead of her, the young girl with the fiddle, captured the beauty of this landscape and the heritage of its music, in a frame. The two are inseparable.
What are your ghost images?
Reader Comments (13)
Oh, I have too many ghost images to count - I can so relate to what you've written here, Uhdd. I think that's why I carry my camera with me wherever I go, but still it doesn't always come out of my backpack as quickly as I'd like. I love your image here - you don't expect to see cows on the beach. :)
Mine happened as we were speeding along the freeway on our way to something important. So important I can't remember what it was...
We left late and my husband was grumpy, so when we saw this sight I should have made him stop anyway, but I didn't want to rock the already rocking boat.
The sight was a beautiful thick fog below us with a windmill sticking out above the fluffy whiteness. I'll remember it every time I drive past that blasted windmill! :)
For me, UHDD, it's every time I'm on the train here in Europe and can't tell the conductor to please stop the train and back up a bit so I can take that picture! Then there are the times when I do NOT take my camera on purpose, because it's very cumbersome, and THAT'S when I see the shot I would have taken. Ghosts. They're all ghosts because they're the illusive moments that get away and you keep hitting yourself over the head! Sigh. Is this an occupational hazzard? :)
Ghost images. They happen all the time. That very perfect moment I wish I'd captured..but I couldn't..or didn't..or whatever. With or without your ghost memory of the girl and her swinging fiddle - the picture you've painted about this beautiful place at the edge of the world is exquisite. Love how we're seeing the world thru each other's eyes!!! Thank-you for this peek into yours!!
I didn't realize there was a name for ALL of those missed opportunities. :) I think about images all of the time, every where I go. I see them in my mind's eye. *sigh* but don't always record them...
I'm with Toni. What's with the cows on the beach? Sounds like a story that could be told.
The fog rising against a bank of trees. The camera was at home. And the darn photo just gets better and better in my mind's eye!
I am so glad you talked about this today.
A reminder to throw the camera in the bag.
You can't leave home without a camera, that is for sure.
lovely picture. a new place on my wanting-to-visit-list.
everyone learns this lesson eventually. don't leave home without it. i have ghost images regularly, some stay with me and some i forget immediately. all of them would have been worth capturing.
I think my most memorable one, was the most amazing sunset on Portland Bill. We were just about to be dropped off at the hotel when the suddenly the driver thought it would be really good to show us the sights. When we got back 15 minutes later the opportunity had been missed!
Well, this is where I show my other side. LOL! I have no ghost images. If I have a missed a photo opportunity, I've always known it was because I was enjoying the moment. And no regrets for that. That said, the cows on the beach are marvelous, and I think really, you missed nothing. You still have that picture in your head. :)
Here is my ghost image...
http://lifesignatures.org/wordpress/2009/06/june-28-inhale/
When I passed this guy at the airport, he reminded me of the living dead.
i love your words about ghost images and i can 'see' the girl with the fiddle in your shot. i have many that i remember...one of those 'ones that got away' - watching four huge elephant bulls with massive tusks, walking in line across an open savanna with a huge blue sky above them. they were slow and stately, quite the biggest elephants i'd ever seen. the shot was amazing. guess what...no camera. but i still remember the scene vividly.
Looks like a wonderful place!