I am very forgetful. I think this might be one of the reasons why I take so many photographs, they act like a visual diary, providing me with reminders of my life and the things I’ve spotted along the way.

It often takes me several attempts to leave the house. I’ll get to the door or even out of the door and halfway down the road before I realise that I’ve forgotten something; a spare battery or film for the camera, my phone, the shopping list, my trousers. Any combination of the above.

I’m constantly having to go back, searching for what I’ve forgotten and then leaving again. But what does this mean photographically? Is my tardiness a hindrance? Or is it actually helping me out? If I’d left earlier or on time, would the things I see be better or worse? Or just different?

I am not the sort of photographer who hangs around, ‘fishers’ I think they’re called? I like to walk and just see what turns up but, if I’m always late, then how does that impact upon what I witness?

This thing I saw that day while walking down Oxford Street, it couldn’t have lasted more than ten or twenty seconds at most. The girl sitting up on her father’s or grandfather’s shoulders just suddenly limboed backwards and I took this shot but what if I’d remembered my phone that morning? Then I wouldn’t have been late, I might have got in to town sooner. I would have been ahead of myself.

Maybe I would have been in front of them and not behind?
The girl would have fallen backwards and, most likely, I would never have known.
I would not even have got the reverse angle of this,
of a man just holding on to a pair of feet hooked over his shoulders.
As if he had come out for the day
and forgotten to bring the whole child.