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"It's lovely, I mean, great. But just one question: Why?" It wasn't quite the response I was expecting from my wife, but it was a fair one. Why would anyone bother to sort through a box-load of old pictures - especially someone else's old pictures - and try to resurrect some of them for the digital age? Getting older means you accrue stuff. Lots of stuff. Often whether you like it or not. It sticks to you like newspapers to De Niro at the end of Brazil. Like it or not, I became the legal guardian of a lifetime of family...

Why do I return to a picture that by any standards and measurement, really isn't very good. Where's the joy in that?

When you go out with your camera looking for a decent picture or two, it's important to look up. We can get so obsessed with actively looking around, that remembering to look at things in a different way is actually what we're trying to do here. 

 The Art Assignment is a PBS Digital Studios online channel on YouTube that’s focused on contemporary art - including a fair chunk of photography. Host Sarah Urist Green (who was a curator of contemporary art for the Indianapolis Museum of Art) aims to demystify the art making process and educate people on contemporary art and how it can be “accessible and social, rather than distant or intimidating”. And friends, it works. This YouTube channel is a treasure trove of great videos - a rabbit hole down which you can get well and truly lost. Like art and photography? Have a day or two you want to...