World Photography Day – August 2021

Wendy Mitchell was diagnosed with young onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2014 aged 58.

Before her dementia diagnosis, Wendy was as guilty as most people are in the art of wishing lives away – wishing for the weekend, wishing for the next holiday, wishing for the summer to arrive. However, dementia has taught her how precious each moment is. Living in the moment is key to surviving each day. The memories of yesterday are gone, tomorrow is an unknown and the future inevitable.

Photography allows her to capture special moments. To capture these special moments, moments that may be missed as we speed through our lives. A robin singing to its mate, a sunflower parcel waiting for the sun to reveal its wondrous petals, a squirrel peeking out of a hole in a tree for just a second. You have to stop and look so that you don’t miss all these miracles of nature.

A professional camera is not needed, even phones take amazing photographs nowadays. The important thing to remember is to relax and take a moment to simply look around. It’s also great fun seeing the outcome. Even to take 200 photos in a day and only six come out right, but it’s that six that matter. Digital photography allows us to practice without any cost as you can  simply delete the photographs you don’t like. Give it a try!