Joanne Sisco

J = Joanne

 

That’s right.  Today it’s all about me.

I was totally baffled as to what to do with the letter *J* and was prepared to simply let this day go by as a pass.  Instead, I’m shamelessly stealing the idea for today’s theme from Michael at Mick’s Cogs.

J= Joanne
1983 – Barbados

I know in my theme reveal back in March, I said I wouldn’t burden you with generic-type travel photos of me in front of some tourist-y landmark.

J= Joanne2
2001 – Cozumel, Mexico

I lied.  Desperate times call for desperate measures and now I’ve been reduced to stealing AND lying.

J= Joanne4
2008 – Salzburg, Austria

“In the beginning”, Gilles was the photographer, and as a result our travel photos are full of images of me … usually looking increasingly bored and sometimes outright annoyed, waiting for Gilles to take his shot.

J= Joanne6
2005 – Grenoble, France

Eventually he discovered the joys of video cameras and more recently, the GoPro, and now  I have virtually disappeared from the stills.

Ironically, it is now Gilles who is normally waiting for me to take my planned photos – or better yet, we grab a selfie together.

J= Joanne8
2014 – Krakow, Poland

J

 

 

99 comments

  1. I liked your younger 1983 photograph, Joanne. You are still as pretty now as you were then. . .
    I know this sounds funny but the post title made me think of my youngest daughter who my oldest daughter thought was rather “spoiled.” One day, using the same tone of voice from The Brady Bunch the oldest Carrie exclaimed, “It’s always Felicia, Felicia, Felicia!” (It was Marcia, Marcia, Marcia” on the old TV show.) 😀

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    • Thanks Jean … yes, we made a very deliberate decision almost 20 years ago that we wanted to have a lifetime of doing stuff rather than collecting stuff. As a result, we’ve managed to see a lot of the world – most of it on a shoestring budget, but every minute of it an adventure 🙂

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    • awww – that’s really nice 🙂 It’s always appreciated to get compliments 🙂
      I agree that a spontaneous photo looks much more normal than posed ones where you’ve been waiting with a smile getting progressively more forced :/

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  5. I knew you would come up with something creative! The issue of who’s taking photos is telling – as the key photographer of our grandchildren I have very few with me in them.

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    • I’ve started to address this problem by taking out the tripod when we are all together.
      Not only do I get group photos out of it, but we have a lot of laughs in the process 🙂

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  10. Great photos of your travels. I’ve invited you to share some of your nature shots in the Seven Day Nature Challenge. No pressure but I’m sure you have some wonderful photos waiting to be shared in your archives. Carol

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    • Thank you for the nice compliment, but I laughed at the grand life part. Our version of travelling isn’t very glamorous, but we decided many years ago that it would be a priority for us so we plan carefully to make it happen.

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  15. I will say you are looking a bit perturbed in Grenoble. 🙂 Love that final photo of the two of you. Do you have a selfie stick or is that the long arm of Gilles in action? I shall also say that in the 80’s you looked fantastic whereas I looked like a complete dork!

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    • Gilles has a selfie stick for his GoPro and admittedly, it has come in handy a few times 🙂

      I’m discovering that being completely unfashionable in the 80s, the pictures of my youth don’t look quite so dated today … although every once in a while a photo of me with my glasses on will pop up. Yikes! :/

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  16. Beautiful in Barbados! And happy again in the last photo 🙂 I hate being photographed and only now do I think I was actually not too bad in my youth. Alas those days are looong gone!

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    • No, I don’t run marathons anymore. I found the training for that distance of running is too hard and I don’t enjoy it. I’m just too slow.
      I have however done many, many half marathons and shorter distances. This should have been a big running year for me (I’ve been racing only ever other year), but I decided to focus exclusively on cycling this year for our trip to Thailand in October.

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  20. The letter “J” seems to be a difficult one for almost all of us in the A To Z Challenge, yet you’ve come through with a good idea. I’m impressed that you knew where to find photos of yourself. I’m not that organized about travel photos, and rarely allow myself to be photographed. But you? Good job, nice pics.

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  21. This is a lovely post. I love the barbados photo and the selfie with you and Gilles.
    We’ve been to some of the same places:
    Grenoble, France
    Krakow, Poland
    Oslo, Norway
    Copenhagen, Denmark
    Berlin, Germany.

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    • Thanks Max. I wasn’t sure I was comfortable about a post full of my own face, but I actually had a lot of fun with it.

      You’ve hit a lot of places in your travels I haven’t been to … yet. If and when I ever do, we’ll have to compare notes 🙂

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  23. I love that you chose to make “J” a post about you! I think most of us have those photos where we are looking incredibly annoyed or unhappy. For me, they are a reminder that I need to turn that frown upside down!

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    • I wish the idea was mine so I could take all the credit 🙂
      It is funny to look back on photos during the film days when only single snapshots were taken. Inevitably, the boys and I all look borderline surly.
      Now that we can – and do – take so many photos, the expressions aren’t quite so irritated 🙂

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  25. There is nothing wrong with stealing an idea Joanne just don’t get caught 🙂 Its funny but in some of these photos you have the same expression as my wife when I try to take pictures of her.

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  27. I love the humor of your post and honesty of your personal photos. Many people I know hate having their picture taken. Over time I changed my perspective, especially after going through boxes of vintage family photos…did I really want to be remembered as the sour puss? That’s not my personality at all but someone looking at them in the future wouldn’t know that. Fortunately, you have a lot of really cool imaged of yourself so the bored ones will be a moment, not a lifetime. 😉

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  29. Okay, I officially vote this best post of the challenge so far……you have to get something for becoming a criminal in order to complete the challenge! Love all those pix, but the Grenoble and Salzburg ones makes me LOL. What a mug you have going on in those! First one, though, I can finally see your sons in that face!

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    • I hoped someone would find the humour in this post 😉
      I had nothing for this post (until I went rogue on poor Mick) and threw it together very quickly.
      … and yes, the Sisco genes run strongly in my sons.

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  30. Nice photos and fun post, Joanne. Both my husband and I like photographing, and quite often we have to wait for each other because even though we are at the same place, we take pictures on different things 😉
    Have a great day.

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    • Until I started taking photos a couple of years ago, I really had no appreciation for how difficult it is to actually take a photo … especially since Gilles was working with a camera in the days of film when one wasn’t inclined to take 10 photos of the same thing in an attempt to get 1 really good one.

      You are so right though – we are inclined to see very different things and Gilles will occasionally direct me to take a certain photo because I was looking at it from a different perspective.
      Carrying a camera has certainly changed how I look at the world and now in hindsight, I’m grateful for all the times Gilles took his time to capture a memory.

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  31. I believe you have every right to lie and steal when it means that we get to see you over the years in so many different places. Wouldn’t you like to be back in Barbados right about now? In the warmth, sipping an adult refreshment?

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    • Oh Judy! Another *J* 🙂
      The letter J is such a difficult one for me – even as a kid learning cursive writing, I hated having a name with a J.
      It took someone else to point out the obvious solution to my J problem 😉

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    • hahahaha!! Oh yes, definitely happier. Selfies take a fraction of time compared to waiting …. and waiting …. and waiting for Gilles to take a photo back in the days of film 😉

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  37. That photo of you in Barbados is gorgeous! But I love the Salzburg “Hurry up and take the damn photo” look.

    Stealing and lying? Needs must.

    I am married to a man practically allergic to cameras and as a consequence I rarely appear in photographs when we travel. When I do, I tend to have the same look as you in Salzburg.

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  39. Finally – a good photo of someone taken in the 80’s! I attribute this to a lack of the horrid clothes we were wearing back then. I have a friend who’s violently resentful of coming of age in the 80’s – the worst decade ever for fashion. lol.

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