My First Photos

[poliphilo]

These are pictures I took with my very first camera- a Kodak Box Brownie. The year must be 1957 or 58. The grumpy tot is my sister Jenny. I remember our garden in Croydon as being enormous- but clearly it wasn't. It sloped steeply up the side of the valley, to the woods of Croham Hurst at the top. Under the apple tree where my parents and sister are sitting I once watched a dead hawk moth being eaten by ants. The corgi's name was "Becky".

Comments

[aellia.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you unearthed your scanner.
I'm really enjoying your pictures here.
John bought a deck chair at a boot sale. We've never had one but after hiring one at the beach this year he decided it was the most comfortable to sit in the garden
x

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

A clever invention, the deck chair. But you have to be really careful not to get your fingers nipped!

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Your sister looks so out of sorts.

Funny how our childhood haunts are so much bigger in memories than they really were. I thought my childhood garden went on forever but when I go back there now it looks about half the size I remember.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Our garden was cut out of the hillside, in terraces. We had two lawns, a rose garden, an orchard, a wilderness area and a bit of woodland. It was amazing how much we managed to squeeze in.

[chochiyo-sama.livejournal.com]

Are those Hollyhocks? I love hollyhocks. My grandmother on my mother's side had such beautiful hollyhocks! There is a way to connect a fully open blossom and a bud in such a way that they look like ladies in ball gowns with fancy bonnets.

i'd make hundreds of them in the summer--a whole dance extravaganza.

:)

[athenais.livejournal.com]

That first photo is a stunner! You had mad composition skills even as a kid! I am loving these old images.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, those are hollyhocks. I didn't know you could use them to populate a ballroom.

It was a beautiful garden. I think of it as my "paradise lost".

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

It is a good picture, isn't it? I only ever took one film with that camera. What a waste. I wish I'd shown more perseverance.

[mamarose.livejournal.com]

I love your photos so much, I wish I had time to sort through my old photos to post. Eventually I will, and this inspiration will have come from viewing yours. Thank you!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you like them.

I'll look forward to seeing yours.

[alice-g.livejournal.com]

I always thought my cheekbones were from that distant cherokee connection, now i think they may be from Granny Grist. x

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Maybe they come from both sides.