Burlington Photographer - Celebrating the beauty and wisdom of women over 40

When I was six my father decided that we would be better off emigrating than staying in the rapidly declining Scottish economy. We very nearly ended up in Australia, but two family tragedies back to back changed the destination to Canada, Montreal in particular, and here I remain. Children can be mean and, the Scots having many different words for ordinary things and of course the accent, I soon became a very quiet lass. And there I remain.

Books were my refuge and I still love reading, mostly mystery or crime novels. My favourite author for the last while has been Louise Penny, whom I have had the great good fortune of meeting twice at her book launches in the beautiful village of Knowlton, Quebec. She is a genuinely magnificent human. The love of a good mystery transcends I suppose into my crossword puzzle addiction. If I am not able to find a Montreal Gazette on Saturdays I find myself at a loss. There are four crosswords and two Sudokus in the Saturday paper. If I somehow manage to complete the New York Times Saturday crossword I feel I have truly accomplished something.

My passion for photography has been an almost lifelong affair. My parents gave me my first camera when I was about 9 or 10, an Eaton Majestic, kind of a knockoff of the more expensive Kodak Instamatic. By the time I was 13 I had my first SLR, a Zenit B, Russian made and so basic that I had to follow the chart on the Kodachrome box to figure out F-stop and shutter speed but I learned a lot that way.

When I was finishing high school I had no idea what I wanted to do but the photography angle was prominent. Mum and Dad took me to visit the Montreal School of Photography. Maybe I was just too young or overwhelmed at the time and I decided against it. Instead, of forgoing college, I got a job as a print room assistant and when my boss saw my printing she suggested I take a drafting course. I became quite good at it and had a very successful career for many years.

When I look back on the “what ifs” I have one particular memory of an English assignment in high school in which we had to write a newspaper article. I think it was the highest praise I ever received for anything I had written. So, what if I had pursued this, along with the photography? Answer: a dream job as a National Geographic contributor! One of my prized possessions is a camera bag with the NG logo on it gifted to me by one of my daughters. This bag has traveled and I hope to continue carrying it to many more destinations.

As for how I feel about where I am in life at the moment; the glass is always half full, there is always a silver lining and the next adventure is just around the corner.

In the immortal words of Robert Browning, “Grow old along with me. The best is yet to be…”