Our Family Our Story

I love this photo….

When my mother-in-law Nancy, died in 2003 she left a pile of photos in a shoe box, as so many people do. On the back of this one was written “Beth, Nancy & Isobel at Flaxton Beach” From other photos in the box I’ve figured out it was taken around 1939/1940. I don’t know who Beth & Isobel were. I know that Flaxton Beach is near Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand. So why do I love this photo?

For several reasons…

Firstly, I think it’s a good photo even though its old and I converted it to sepia because it was very grey.

I love how it’s captured a carefree day, three young women going for a walk on the beach out towards the sea. There’s a little breeze. They are still wearing their shoes and socks, carrying their handbags. Picture their pretty dresses in all sorts of colours. Imagine their laughter and chatter as they walked along. I wonder what they talked about, what confidences they shared?

Obviously I didn’t know Nancy then. She suffered some hard times in her 88 years and in the latter stages of her life, when she lived with us, she was neither well nor happy. So for me it’s great to know that when she was younger she did live a happy life and had fun like young women do.

So a photo can tell a bit of a story even if you don’t know the story!

Another aspect about this photo was that it reminded me of a painting or print. I was sure I had seen one somewhere, just like this….of three women walking on the beach. At first I though that Jack Vettriano must have painted one but when I researched him, his pictures are of couples dancing on the beach. If you can shed any light on this I’d love to know if there is such a painting.