I should start by saying that I’m a cynical so and so and I regularly shake my head at the seeming madness of modern life.
This week I (unintentionally) became part of a story that heartened me and cheered me up no end.
The background
So, to rewind, back in October I took some days off to spend with my family. One of the things we did was to visit the Natural History Museum in Kensington, London. The trip was great, I really enjoyed myself, I took two cameras with me and got lots of great shots of my son, my OH, the museum and the exhibits.
My original blog post I wrote about the visit is here:
https://sgoldswoblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/a-visit-to-the-natural-history-museum/
Now, one of the exhibits I really wanted to see was “Dippy”, the diplodocus skeleton in the main hall, that I recalled from visits as a schoolboy. I took a couple of shots, some with people in, some without people in. I chose a photo (posted below) with some people in the foreground because it showed the scale of the skeleton.
The (happy) Story
Fast forward to this week and a very nice chap, Sergi, from Barcelona contacted me through the comments on my previous post to let me know that the people in the photo I had chosen were him and his girlfriend, he had found the photo by chance searching for photos of the diplodocus, and he asked if he could have the photo and any others I had showing him and his girlfriend.
I was happy enough to provide the photos. However, the story continued, because Sergi let me know that this had actually been a special moment, in fact he was proposing to his now fiancée at the time.
I looked at the photo again and realised that originally I had seen what I expected to see – normally 99/100 people who show up in my photos looking at something in their hands are looking at their phones. But in this case it wasn’t a phone, it was a ring which had clearly just been handed over by Sergi to his girlfriend!
I can’t believe I captured this image by chance and, as I said to Sergi, I’m not sure I would have posted the image at all if I had realised what was happening. In any event, it was all a happy accident and (I hope you’ll agree) a lovely story.
sgoldswoblog 
This is awesome! xD I guarantees you that
This is awesome! We will never forget that moment, and thanks to you we will have a picture and this amazing post to remember it anytime we want. As you say, I’m glad for this happy accident. Best wishes!
Sergi
I followed the story as it evolved through your comments, and it warmed my cynical old heart. 🙂
I’m glad to inform you that we got married two months ago, and our guestbook had a Dippy on it!
You’ll always have dippy! Apologies for not replying earlier, unfortunately I’ve had flu for the last week. Really glad it all worked out for you and your wife – I still tell people this story. Its things like this, the moments in life, that make photography so wonderful.
All the best,
Simon