Monday, August 27, 2007


I had plans. I took many photographs of Rebecca and Lauren during our weekend stay in Lillooet. This morning I was going to process them and post some of them here. But a little bothersome irritation in my left eye manifested itself yesterday afternoon in a Chilliwack McDonald's. We had stopped on our way home. I was enjoying a thick chocolate shake. By the time we got home opening my eye felt like sanding a board. This morning the problem was compounded with over-sensitivity to light. So some sort of a re-run is necessary.

In August 2005 I was looking for a used Nikon FM-2. I already had one but I wanted another so I could load one with colour and the other with b+w. The FM-2 is a film camera that operates in almost all weather without a battery (except for a meter I never use). It has a tough titanium bladed shutter (see, below,left).



Before the folks at the Geographic went digital the FM-2 camera was their backup instrument of choice. I bought a used FM-2 at Leo's on Granville and brought it home. I took some pictures of Rebecca with her fish/butterfly catcher by my rosebed. It was then that I noticed that the camera's exposure meter did not work. Even though I use a hand held meter for my measurements I returned it. When I processed the b+w roll (Kodak Plus-X) I noticed this exposure. From the beginning I called it The Last Day of Summer. Even though Rebecca is now two years older she still looks a lot like she does here. Rosemary rarely heaps any praise on my photography but she does consider this one as one of her favourites, even though she takes me to task for the crooked frame which was an oversight of mine in the darkroom.

Driving back from Lillooet I often looked into the rearview mirror. Lauren slept placidly but Rebecca had this look on her face. It was a look of end-of-summer-melancholy.