Rebecca Anne - 7 & Lauren Elizabeth 14

In my 81 years on this planet, unlike many other people, I know my life has often been recorded by a person with a camera. As soon as I met my Rosemary in 1967 I photographed her and then with our tiny newborn Alexandra.  Since then I have photographed (rarely snapped) my family to the point that when I look at my files I forget having taken some of them. One I had completely overlooked is below.

Rebecca 7 with Rosa 'Mrs. Oakley Fisher'

It was in 1975 when we arrived from Mexico City that I tried to get a job at London Drugs. I told the man behind the counter that I was a portraitist. In shock and anger he told me, “I have a masters in art from Queen’s and I don’t call myself a portraitist!”  I then washed and rented cars at Tilden Rent-A-Car on Alberni for a couple of years until I finally landed a job as a freelancer for Vancouver Magazine.

I have taken, street photographs, city and country landscapes, but I believe that I can safely now call myself a portraitist.

There are framed photographs of family on every wall of my little Kitsilano home. There are two that I am most impressed (someone has to beat my drum) of my granddaughters. One of them of Lauren is in my dining room. The other of Rebecca is on one side of my bed.

Last night I was trying to figure out what made these portraits look so amazing to my not yet tired eyes.

One of the reasons would be lost by many photographers. Both photographs were taken by my medium format  Mamiya RB-67. Because it is a heavy unit, by necessity, it has to be mounted on a tripod. Unlike a person who might use a handheld film or digital Nikon, or a cell phone, taken at the person’s eye-level, my camera was set so that it was exactly at the eye-level of my granddaughters. I was not shooting up or down.

I believe (and have always believed) that children are small adults. I never ask them to smile. I like that direct (disarming?) gaze. A pioneer with this idea was 19th century photographer (portraitist) Julia Margaret Cameron.

That both photographs were lit with flash, Rebecca’s with a softbox, and Lauren’s with a beauty dish, adds to the presentation of the portrait.

People still (I hate that word) ask me if I still (I really hate that word) take portraits. I do and I have not forgotten what makes my portraits of my family stand out even now.