The first time I ever used a camera - I was eleven. My Mum gave me an old, black, shutter box camera and told me to take photos of a dog's funeral. Although he had a proper home and a family who loved him, in the hearts of the town's children, Gomer - a chocolate-coloured, hound dog - belonged to all of us. He was gentle and lazy and we all loved him. Day or night you could find him, sleeping outside the local pub door, waiting to accompany his master safely home. He would raise his head to anyone who spoke his name and with a grunt, welcome a scratch behind his ear, a rub on his tummy and of course a beef jerky treat.
All the young persons, from six to eighteen years, protested his death. A poster size petition nailed to a fence was signed by all the town's youngsters, including a few adults. Sadly, no amount of signatures could save him. The Town Council had a witness - saying he saw Gomer - killing two of Mr. Remsing's sheep. Shortly after that meeting, Gomer was spirited away to a field where he was shot - then buried at an undisclosed location.
The "mock" funeral was held on a Saturday. The boys, wearing over-sized, cast off, charity shop suits, loud ties and sneakers, rode their bikes in procession down Main Street, pulling a wagon that carried an empty wooden box with "Gomer" painted on the side. I captured these childhood memories, to black and white film. Taking most all the images - vertically - I ordered my ragtag friends about, scrunching them closely together around the grave site so as to fit them all into the picture. Typically a shy and quiet girl, here I was bossing everyone around. That day, I truly was - "a photographer"
When I look through these wonderful childhood images from the 1960's - I remember how excited I was to be the recorder of that special day, when we all said goodbye to our beloved Gomer. As the years rush by, I continue to document the substance of my life in photos. I snap thousands - of married life, babies, family reunions, pets, holidays and sunsets.
The more photos I take, the more I experiment - attempting to take something artsy and profound.I become that bossy little girl all over again - ordering my little dog around, I pose him on the arm of the sofa and splayed out on my bed. I dress him up in toddler's clothes - stripy, orange turtle neck sweaters. I tape one ear up and one ear down, I make him wear little hats. I manipulate and tempt him with doggie biscuits to sit for me in the most outrageous scenarios that no normal dog could be coaxed into doing. He becomes addicted to the camera. The instant he sees my Pentax K1000, he yaps with excitement and runs around in little circles. Programmed now - he jumps on the arm of the sofa and vogues for me. I have, created a monster.
I proceed to take photos of my daughters, eating, sleeping, watching TV, sitting on the toilet. My daughters become very afraid and lock themselves in their bedrooms. I've become a lunatic and no one is safe from my madness. I am - ashamed. Fortunately, my daughters came out of it unscathed and are fairly normal young women today - no counseling was needed. I go on to take photo after photo - even crossing the globe to Nepal, where I'm assigned as official photographer for the 2003 Everest Marathon. I stand for ten hours in a dusty, dank potato field - waiting to take photos of the runners as they cross the finish line.
And here I am today, living on this lovely, green, ancient Isle called Britain. I look through my camera lens and frame; countryside, river, lakes, sheep, birds, graveyards, architecture, little old ladies with shopping carts and COWS. I am a woman with a camera who has gone wild in the wilds. I use the soft light that filters through the windows of this flat and experiment with still shots, especially fruit and flowers. I set my camera on time exposure, daring to take nude images of myself. I join the local Photography Club, meeting a group of very congenial hobbyists and suffer through some of the most boring, yet amusingly eccentric meetings I've ever attended. A new life, a new country and I even have a new motto which is:
"You can never take enough photos of cows!"
