Everywhere I’ve travelled, since I was a young girl, I’ve always carried a camera.  There are photographs of teenage years at home with my family, Mum, Dad, Aunt Lilly, my three sisters younger brother and our dog.  We are all in the back garden, posing.  Dad looks very serious, but Mum and Aunt Lilly, are smiling as are my siblings.  Rory, our black and tan Manchester terrier which we got from Battersea Dogs Home a few years before, sits in the middle looking at me.  Perfect!

The old Kodak travelled with me to Australia and back again.  The photographs bring me back to the warmth of the sun and the swirling flow of the waves on Manly Beach.  The happy faces remind me of the many people I met on my travels, and the dear friend who shared those times with me.  Some faces I can’t put a name to now but the occasions and places come back fresh to my mind.  There’s a magnificent view of Sydney Harbour Bridge, taken in black and white, as we crossed on the ferry from Manly, heading towards Circular Quay and the city centre.

On route home on a Greek ship we docked at Piraeus.  From there we travelled by train to Athens, stopping off to see the Acropolis and the Parthenon, standing majestic in its ancient glory. In Italy, we have photographs of ourselves and three boys we met on the ship, in front of the Trevi Fountain.  There’s one of us standing far back from the Basilica to get a good view of St. Peters and the circular area where people stand to watch for the Pope’s appearance.  There is also few shots of the Colosseum.

I was returning home to England for my sister Valerie’s wedding.  There are photographs taken at the church, including the last ones I have of my dad before he passed away.  I have photographs of holidays in Ireland, in Ostend with my sister and two of my friends, and Rimini in Italy with Valerie before she was married.   We look so young and carefree, showing off the style of that time. We thought we were gorgeous!

There are wedding photographs of the rest of my family, and finally my own.  I didn’t take many of my three children when they were small, but quite a few were taken by my husband or father in law.  There are the school photographs, the birthday parties when the house was full of the neighbour’s children.  My two daughter’s graduation photographs show off the dresses I made for them, standing beside the boys they had asked to accompany them.  There were big stepping stones in their lives before college.  My son, the youngest, stands proud in his karate outfit after getting his brown belt.  He was still in junior school.

When I look through the photographs now, after my children have married and left home, I see the expressions in their eyes, looking full into the camera.  They look happy.  They look content and they have come a long way.  I look at one in particular of myself and my son when he was about ten.  I had what looked like a balaclava over my head and we posed for the camera! We did silly things and we laughed a lot and our cat and dog were always somewhere in the photographs.  There are random ones of someone making a funny face because they didn’t want their photo taken. There’s one when they were all in their twenties, laughing as they fell into each other on the couch.  I can hear their laughter now.

The camera has captured the years that have gone by so very fast.  People and places, occasions and celebrations could have been forgotten were it not for the albums and shoe boxes full of photographs taken over the years.  Memories come back with more clarity and emotions are re-kindled, thanks to my camera.