What Photography Means to Me

Will marvellous phone technology deprive today’s kids of the thrill I felt on receiving my Brownie 127 camera? I loved it! I was about 8, snapping everything in sight, to the annoyance of all subjects. Someone said I had a "good eye”, and I was hooked.

Posher cameras followed, increasingly bewildering in their technicalities. Then courses; booked with enthusiasm, dreaded on the day. The most daunting was street photography that required approaching complete strangers to set up original poses - supposedly putting them at their ease, while totally ill-at-ease myself. My luck was in when the cast of Les Misérables emerged in full costume from their Soho theatre - no problem getting them to pose, but “hurry up!”.

People, landscapes, architecture, trees and flowers, skies - close-up, distant - all are fair game. In lockdown with its solitary rules, a walk with a camera became a luxury , with a sense of purpose. Not least at home afterwards: daily for 160 days, I selected heath and park images to share with Facebook friends, who were kind enough to thank me for doing something that brings me joy.

Recently a friend asked about my passions. I stupidly took time to think, yet the clear winner is photography - an insight that brings new determination to master the many technicalities that still elude me.

"Composition and technique aside, photos are all about memories, which are always priceless."

by Claire Julian, Chapel Member and Open Mind Newsletter Editor