Photos and Facts of Life

Porter, Rollin, Ed (my father) Standifer

Victoria Peake Standifer (my mother)

Me & brother Bobby

Since the advent of photography we have the opportunity to see ourselves and acquaintances grow from childhood to adulthood.  As children we can see our parents as children and youth.  Sometimes when viewing old photographs, I feel like an animal that sees itself in a mirror and can’t quite figure out what it all means.  It means one thing for sure—change is a constant in our lives.  As I get older, viewing photographs taken in years gone by brings on a wistfulness that is revisionist in nature.  I image it is a feeling many felt in the South following the Civil War—a feeling that the past is irretrievable yet somehow to be preferred over the present.  The main thing, I guess, is that we were all younger then.  We had a relatively clean slate not yet mussed up and written upon with many strikethroughs and corrections.  It’s funny; I seldom feel a photo just taken of me is a good shot.  But just give it some time; it will look better as the years go by.  It is said that aging is not for sissies.  Old photographs can provide us with yet another reproach.


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