Monday 1 December 2008

959 - Budgie [Jackie]




At Tynemouth Flea Market I was able to buy five boxes of slides, sight unseen, from a bric-a-brac man. This is the first, from 1967. The slides were taken by the girl in the picture, and cover a period of seven or so years. Many depict scenes around the Northumbrian coast, Cullercoats up to Seahouses, with a couple of Newcastle Airport at the end of the 60s. She grows up, still recording snaps, and herself in some of them: with glasses on, long hair and a summer dress in the last.

I have an idea to weave the images into a story - though the story that moves me is the one recorded by the girl. I'll never know this story, of course - just a handful of images from it. She'll be around fifty now. She's probably still local, or the bric-a-brac man would not have been offering the slides for sale. She could take a great photograph. I hope life is good for her.

3 comments:

Beth said...

Thanks for commenting on newcastledailyphoto. I am looking forward to sitting down and reading EVERYTHING when I have more time. I like what I've read so far.

Jorgelina said...

Awwwwwww!!! Do post some more slides, please! I really like the photo of girl with the budgie! It sounds so interesting and magical, you know, especially since they were taken such a long time ago and that girl probably never dreamt of them being seen by people all over the world! Nowadays with sites like youtube and fotolog you have loads of people showing images but telling no stories at all.

I just got to your blog today, can't remember how, though! lol

I'm looking forward to reading older posts! :D

Steve Lancaster said...

Thanks B! Something about singing a place to life by catching and playing with images of it - your site does this too.

And thanks Jorgelina! I've forty or so slides that I've kept from the slide-boxes. There's a quote by Yeats - 'Tread softly because you tread on my dreams'. Holding these slides feels a bit like that.

Because as you say, the photographer, she didn't intend for them to be seen publicly, but they have a transcendent beauty about them because of that. So I want to be careful - I want to post one or two more, maybe three, four, but no more than that, one at a time. That'll let the stories come out gently, if they ought to, and if they should stay secret, well, the posts will soon be forgotten... (Will check out the Spanish Inquiition, unexpectedly, tomorrow...)