01.23.10

01.23.10, originally uploaded by colemama.

When reflecting on collections (today's @dailyshoot assignment), I realized that
- 1) I'm not a long-term collector in that I might start collecting things and then move on to something else after awhile (for not particular reason) and
- 2) my collections are primarily 'memories' and 'digital images' - though I did submit my accumulation of beach shells for today's assignment.

In thinking about memories, I have (and brought out again to re-live for this photo) a collection of papers (newspaper articles, survey forms, maps, stories), slides, and artifacts representing dolphins for an Earthwatch expedition that I participated in twenty years ago. The Wild Dolphin Society project with Randy Wells was three weeks long and based in Anna Maria Island, FL with the goal to continue a long-term dolphin study. There were over 100 identified dolphins with identified behaviors of every kind. It was an incredible experience enhanced with a necropsy viewing, assisting with the release of two dolphins, Echo and Misha, back into Tampa Bay, and collecting data with a Woods Hole researcher on signature whistles. One of these days, I'll do another one and what a difference technology will make in collecting (and sharing) my memories! Naples, FL