That danged old Father Time.

I recently worked a party recently as a second photographer. It was a bat mitzvah, a religious coming of age celebration for a young woman. I had a good time, working with kids, taking silly pictures and not worrying too much about doing any of the formal shots because that was someone else's job. In this case, the guy who hired me.

Today, I am going through all the pictures I took, culling out the bad shots. Usually, I remember every picture I took and the circumstances surrounding it. Like a picture I took of a girl with an silly expression, mouth wide open, and the lollipop she had in her mouth about to fall out. She had just been bumped by a boy from behind and she was actually falling foward as I took the picture. She regained her balance but lost the lollipop. It brought a chuckle when I remembered how she turned around and gave him a huge slap to the belly in retaliation.

There is another picture of another young girl that I took a picture of during this party. I remember that right after I took her picture, she turned away, walked three steps away and squealed at the top of her lungs. I had to bite my lip from laughing out loud. I knew at that moment that it was her emotions getting the better of her from trying not to embarrass herself in front of me. I can't say that I knew I had such an effect on anyone.

So it came as a surprise when I came across three pictures that I couldn't even remember taking. I mean the pictures were definitely on my camera. And I never put my camera down the entire night. So I knew I had taken it. Like a picture of a girl wearing shades and a lime green, fuzzy hat. I have no recollection of taking it at all. I was surprised that I was slipping.

Now I can imagine what you're thinking. He can remember each and every shot he took? Not really. It's just that when I look at a picture, the old brain brings the details back to me. Especially since I am entirely focused on taking pictures and looking for situations that will be fun and amusing. Especially for the family to look at after the party is over. When they can show it to the person in the picture and they can share a laugh over what happened.

I can look at a picture I took five years ago at christmas and once glance at a picture reminds me how I left the camera in my car trunk. The condensation created a misty ring around the edge of the lens for the next twenty minutes as I took pictures. And I can remember by looking at the picture that there wasn't snow on the ground that day.

So it was a big surprise to look at a picture and have no idea why I took it or what caused me to take the picture. It shouldn't be something I ought to worry about, since I know people who are my age who can't even remember what they had for lunch earlier in the day. But, it is disturbing. Father Time stealing bits and pieces of me away.