Beginnings - part 1

It was Christmas of 1969 that we began photographing. I wasn't for it or against it at first but admit that I did like the photographs. I am 24 when we started but let me start about 9 years earlier. It was summer and the mischievous little girl that I was caught my cousin enjoying a Playboy centerfold. He never knew I was watching but the excitement of what I was observing made me feel things I had never felt before. I returned to my room, stripped off my clothes and looked at myself in the mirror. I am no centerfold but I was pleased with what I saw. I never thought that I would pose naked but maybe somewhere in the recesses of my unconscious the thought took shape.

After the initial Polaroid images we had to wait as my husband had a tour of Vietnam to do with the US Army. We resumed photography in 1971 when he returned with a good camera and a complete dark room kit. He taught himself how to develop and print black and white images. I marveled at the magic of an image suddenly appearing in the solution.

We shot in our home either in the evening after the children were asleep or afternoons during nap time. I enjoyed seeing the finished images more than actually posing for them. There was a definite turning point for me when we did our first outdoor shoot at a nearby state park. There was excitement in knowing we could be caught and I was very nervous about it.