The first camera I ever used was a Box Brownie. It lay neglected in the dark, concealed within the fusty old sideboard in our dining-room. I remember its faux-leather casing and a huge convex viewing lens, long-scarred and dusted with a thousand memories.
As an excited seven year old it seemed ... immense!
It was loaded with film, a simple black and white emulsion, then passed to me with a greasy coated lunch-box that contained ham sandwiches, Smith's Crisps with the little twisted blue bag of salt at the bottom, an apple and a half-melted Kit-Kat. A school outing to Hadrian's Wall. Nose pressed tight to the cold bus-window as the world flashed by outside.
I took just a few shots. Random stones and hard-etched summer-day shadows. How I wish I had the prints with me now! A simple box Brownie, a start to my journey.
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