Monday 24 January 2011

Meet Helen who was a keen photographer as a young girl.

Helen's diva display
Helen is a lovely lady who made me smile.  She runs a little antique shop which I stopped at because the  display outside made me laugh.

Helen
Turns out Helen deliberately set up this display and she said "I have a wicked sense of humour", which started us talking about photography!  She had a few old box brownies and said that those were the cameras she used.  She told me about how when she was a young girl during the war she pleaded with her Mother and Father to give her a camera, her Father was apparently a keen photographer himself.  He said that if she could prove to him that she could take a photograph then he would allow her to have her own.  

How to make a camera from a tin
With that she went away, got a tin, made a hole in it, put a piece of x-ray film inside it, made sure the hole was covered with her finger, and then made her dog sit nicely and she took his photograph!  On showing this to her Father, he was both impressed and surprised, and true to his word, he gave her a camera.  "Turns out the photograph was a good one" she said.  

I thought it was a lovely story and she kindly let me take her photograph and that way I can remember this tale as I hope you will too.


10 comments:

  1. What a sweet encounter! I love the way shared loves can connect people.

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  2. I am so glad you both liked this, I thought she was just delightful and I loved hearing her tell the story, from her chair with a blanket over her legs to keep her warm.

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  3. This is such a great post. I LOVE that last photo of her too...such great character. I love the story of hers and her pinhole camera too.

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  4. I loved hearing her story Anika, and she was so animated in her telling of it. The picture you like is her describing the pinhole so as to produce her negative which then she turned into a print.

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  5. People are so interesting! What a cool lady.

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  6. So sweet this lady and it is always so good to talk to people with the same passion.

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  7. I absolutely love this story and your photographs. I am going to link to this in my blog later today!

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  8. Chrissy, I am so pleased that you are taken with this post. Helen was so lovely and I was just so smitten with her I could have sat by her listening to her stories for ages but couldn't as Anders and Dexter were waiting for me in the car. I will however go back to see her in her shop I am sure as I thought she was lovely.

    Jane and Belle, you are both right, it is lovely to meet people who are nice and I feel like I have done this with my blog too so thank you!

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  9. I like that you took the time to listen to her story. I love Helen.

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