When she held out her arms, the world itself wrapped around me & held me tight...
Mother's Day... it's a tough day for those of us whose mum's are no longer around. I lost my Mum to breast cancer when I was only 17 and I still miss her, 20 years on. However this isn't meant to be a melancholy post, far from it. Whilst looking at some old photos at a friend's the other day, I remembered the old photos I have in a box upstairs.
So today I decided to get them out and have a look through. I've not looked through these since my obsession with photography really kicked in 3 years ago. Boy was I in for a treat.
I found the usual stuff.... family photos of Mum with my grandparents at Butlins, family pets from days gone by, Uncles in military uniform... but the album that totally captivated me was the beautiful brown leather album with thick black pages.
These are the photographs of Mum when she went to live in Canada with two of her best friends in 1958. These days it's fairly typical for people to go travelling when they are 21 or even in their late teens but in those days it really wasn't - as the article from the local paper shows!
Now I've always thought that I got my photo 'genes' from my Dad - he was photography mad when I was younger and still loves it now but back then he had a darkroom in the attic, the works. However having seen some of the photographs in this album that Mum took, I'm starting to think it was a joint effort!
On one of the trips home, Mum came back via New York, a place I love. Some of the photos have blown me away... there's some amazing street photography and a stunning shot of the Empire State Building which I'm guessing was taken from a helicopter.
As well as photos there are old menus from favourite eateries, tickets stubs and 'bon voyage' cards....
,
I am going to try and find the missing photos - probably scattered around in various bags and boxes, and restore this album so I can look through it again and again.
Hopefully, Mum loves my photos as much as I love hers. She was an inspiration to me when she was alive and continues to be. <3 Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful Mum's out there. xxx
