This must be how it starts. The tumble into geezerdom. The slippery slope of cognitive decline.
How else to explain that I haven’t a clue what this is a photo of?
I developed and scanned it just tonight. I know exactly when I shot it — it was only a few days ago. I know where I was when I shot it — I recognize the photos I took both before and after it. I know what camera and lens I used — an Olympus OM3Ti with an 85mm f/2. I know I’m the one who shot it, because I was alone the entire time. I know it’s not an accidental exposure because it’s framed with the same careful attention to composition I always employ (even if it doesn’t look like it to the uninitiated).
So what is it? And just as importantly, which way is “up?”
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened — though I can probably count the incidents with the fingers of a single hand. I usually have pretty good recall of every photo I take — even all the murky, blurry, abstract ones. The last time something similar happened was a half-dozen years ago. In that case, I could remember taking the photo, and I knew what the photo was… but I couldn’t remember where I took it. I obsessed over it for months until one day I happened to stroll past the object. “Oh! That’s right!” I thought — pleased to have repaired the missing brain cell.
But this situation is actually the opposite of that one. In the case of this photo, I know roughly WHERE I took it (even though I don’t remember taking it), but I don’t know what it’s a photo OF. I have no doubt it’s going to drive me nuts until I waste an afternoon to go looking for the answer.
Is this what old age is gonna be like?
©2026 grEGORy simpson
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