My Life in Five Photos

Can you show your life in five photos? I’m not sure if I can, but I’m going to try.

I have taken this idea from a Facebook friend who participated in a “five photos of me, over five days” challenge. But true to my usual self, I decided to give it a little twist.

The original rule of this Challenge was to post “5 five photos, 1 per day, on Facebook that were photos of yourself that are more than 15 years old.” I have ignored the 15 years old bit, and have decided for “My Life in Five Photos”, that they can be “of me, or showing something about me” and I’ve decided to do them all as a single post.

And obviously it’s not going to show you “ALL” of my life, but rather just a few different aspects of it. I haven’t called this a geneameme, but I would love for others to take up the idea, and share a few photos of their life.

1. Apple Orchard – 1975
My grandpa had an apple orchard in the Adelaide Hills, and as my mum worked there, the orchard was my playground prior to starting primary school at age 5. So getting completely dirty was just part of my daily routine. And yes, that is dirt all over me and my clothes!

Alona in the apple orchard - March 1975 edited

 

2. Broken Arm and Cemetery – 1976
I love this photo for various reasons. Firstly because I was getting my photo taken (hence the big grin), secondly it’s the only photo I have of me when I had a broken arm, and thirdly (and favourite reason) is that this photo was taken on the front lawn of my family’s house at Cudlee Creek, showing the Cudlee Creek cemetery in the background. I was a an unofficial groundskeeper for this cemetery, so my love affair with cemeteries started young. I used to pick flowers from mum’s garden and put on those graves, and pick up the flower jars that had fallen over and so on. It was only later that I found out half of those buried there are actually my relis!

Alona Phillips, 1976 with broken arm edited

 

3. Ash Wednesday – 1983
I think anyone that has been though any major disaster has it etched in their mind, and it will something that they NEVER ever forget. That is what Ash Wednesday is like for me. This is a photo of my family’s house on Ash Wednesday. While it doesn’t actually have me in it, it does have my mum and brother there, but I was there (even though I didn’t want to be). And yes, the sky really was that colour, the air was full of smoke, and the sun was blood red.

Ash Wednesday 1

 

4. Genealogy Expo – 2010
As part of my job at Gould Genealogy & History, we have organised a number of genealogy events including History & Genealogy Expo’s. Apart from organising them, we also exhibit there … and usually have stand for both our Gould Genealogy & History and Unlock the Past companies. The photo below was taken at the History & Genealogy Expo that we organised in Sydney 2010, with my mum and I manning the stand.

UTP Expo October 2010 - Alona & Anthea

 

5. Lamorran Cemetery – 2014
Cemetery walking, that’s what I call it, though some call it cemetery traipsing, either way, visiting the cemeteries of your ancestors is something that I was able to do on a trip to England in July 2014. The rain wasn’t going to stop me checking out the cemetery at Lamorran, in Devon looking for my ancestors. Afterall cemeteries are the places that genealogist would prefer to go, rather that the standard tourist attractions, right?

Lamorran Cemetery, Devon - July 2014

 

Now I know I missed a heap of things, including my school years and my wedding, and a hundred others things. But limiting this post to just five photos was hard. REALLY REALLY HARD! And I will admit that I was very tempted to make it “My Life in Ten Photos”, but I resisted, and have left it at the five.

So there you go. There’s my life in five photos, or more specifically five moments of my life in five photos! So now who else is interested in sharing theirs?

13 Responses to “My Life in Five Photos”

  1. Alex Daw says:

    Love it. Well done you!

  2. Crissouli says:

    A great concept which you handled very well…

  3. David Coombe says:

    This is a great exercise for us who inhabit a world of hundreds if not thousands of digital photos of us. If we are fortunate enough to have a photo of an ancestor, it is quite often just one.

    • Alona says:

      Yes, it really was fun, though a challenge to choose just five. But it would also be a great exercise to do with photos of ancestors too.

  4. Pauleen says:

    Great idea! Great delivery! You did indeed start young 🙂

  5. Jill Ball says:

    Beaut pictures.
    What a beaut idea for a blog post. Hoping that other geneabloggers follow your lead.

  6. Celia Lewis says:

    Looks wonderful, Alona! And Ash Wednesday was a very scary photo!!

    Think I’ll try this “Life in 5 Photos” idea later this week. Great notion.

  7. Love your idea, and I must take up your challenge.

  8. fran says:

    Alona, I really enjoyed your selection. I have added your challenge to my “to do” list. One day. Fran

  9. Kristin says:

    I wish it was 10 photos! This is going to be really difficult for me, but I will take the challenge. You are so cute and dirty in that first photo.

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