Sunday 15 Oct 2017

Here’s one I took of my French exchange penfriend from Paris, Carole, while visiting my grandparents in Derbyshire. I think I must have been around 14 years old. I still recall this image despite not seeing it for years and wonder what she is doing now. I remember being very impressed by her red great coat which she wore stylishly on her shoulders without putting her arms in.

Looking at it more closely for this exercise I can see that I had some natural inclination towards thirds both vertically and horizontally! There is also something about objects in front and in the distance, seeing natural complex patterns in the branches and using them to frame the near and far features all of which I think my current work embodies. Choosing to take Carole in the countryside rather than against the wall of a building or indoors for example is perhaps something I still prefer to do. I think this image captured a ‘”timeless” moment in time when we were enjoying learning about each other’s cultures and languages.

I did not then know I would come to photography in the way I have now. I was keen on art but not very good at drawing and enjoyed being able to capture teenage moments accurately through photography. This has continued throughout my career as a psychologist. So there was not just one eureka moment but a gradual growing strength of interest and intention to maintain my passion, improve my ability and develop my confidence; enough to start sharing and leaning from others.

Having posted this image and my thoughts I was pleased to have received several comments from course colleagues and my tutor either commenting on how it evoked memories for them, was an example of a time before SLR and DSLR and the quality of images that could be produced then or how the composition and interest in nature comes through in my current photography.

I commented on images posted by colleagues both those that were of a similar age to mine and those that were since the early 2000s. It seems that some did not have /could not access any early records for various reasons and others had come to photography later in life or were young so their images did not go as far back as mine!