Fathers Day & remembering Dad

Two rods, Newport Beach, June 2017 copyright Douglas Stockdale

This past weekend was Father’s Day, a time to celebrate Dads and for some of us, to remember their Dad’s who are no longer with us. In my case it was the later as my Dad had passed almost thirty years ago. Yesterday in honor of Father’s Day I posted the above photo that I had taken a earlier on the Newport Beach pier as part of my experiment/play process. At the time that I took the photo and then subsequently tweaked it I had not really given much thought to the metaphoric potential. Until I posted it on Instagram and starting spent a little more time thinking about this image.

So what I realized is that these two fishing rods could represent the current state of me and my dad. Both of us like to fish, he much more than I every will, with the fishing rod on the right going out of focus and appearing to become fainter and harder to make out the details. Which I realized is part of my memory process over the last thirty years I have lost many details about our time spent together. Although these details and experiences are becoming harder to recall he still is a presence however faint he has become. Which was why this weekend this photograph became important to me.

Sometimes I do not recognize the serendipity of my creative works until later, but for me better late than never.

I hope you all had a wonderful time with your father’s and dad’s this weekend and if they are still around cherish the time you still have together.

Cheers!