Rosa 'Mrs. Oakley Fisher' 28 September 2025

As a portrait photographer who has taken loads of family pictures for many years I am obsessively aware that when I shoot a photograph I never think about a future time when I will think back on that moment.

This Pugwash, Nova Scotia Seagull frame is on my dining room credenza. Rebecca is now 28. It is obvious how ultra violet light has deteriorated the colour of her portrait to a strong magenta/blue. Every time I see the single tea rose Rosa ‘Mrs. Oakley Fisher’ which my Rosemary and I considered to be our favourite because of a photograph I took of Rebecca with the bloom in her hair, I feel melancholic. Those moments will never return. Rosemary is gone and Rebecca, like many who have been raised and live in this century, is not interested in her grandfather. I am simply an old man.

At the very least scanning these combinations of flower and frame with my Epson scanner is fun. I wonder what will happen to the frame and my potted rose when I meet my forthcoming oblivion.