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Photos by Marilyn Whiteley > Zimbabwe

Marilyn Whiteley

SORRY! THE NEW FORMAT HAS TAKEN AWAY THE PARAGRAPH BREAKS!! I was initiated into the world of f. stops and shutter speeds at an early age by my father when he gave me my first camera. Until I was in Kindergarten, he developed and printed his own photos, but at that time he began using that relatively new photographic product Kodachrome because he loved the rich colour it gave, even though he disliked losing the control he had enjoyed in the darkroom. I supposed I received an informal photographic education as I watched him carefully frame his shots, and, for example, photograph tulips with the sunlight coming through them because the colour was more intense that way. In 1957 I began to use slide film, too, and a year later I received an amazing gift from a family friend: a trip to Europe, upon the occasion of my university graduation. In Germany I bought my first SLR (a Contaflex) at a time when they were fairly new on the popular market. Also on that trip, one of my travel companions gave a not entirely welcome boost to my informal photographic education: frequently when I raised my viewfinder to my eye, he would say disdainfully, "You aren't going to take a picture of THAT, are you?" Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't, but his implied criticism raised my photographic consciousness. I realize now that I had assumed that an amateur photographer should record every sight of interest or significance whether or not this produced a good image. His comments started me along the long road of discerning what my photography was all about. Gradually over the decades I became less a reporter and more a seeker of images. For a time I sought a bit of the control that my father had enjoyed in the darkroom by making Cibachrome prints of my best images, general nature photos, but my skill and my satisfaction were limited. At first I resisted digital photography because of my loyalty to the colours of slide film, but in 2004 I got my first digital camera. I was a quick convert to the editing that it made possible: now I could have colour AND control! Although my photographic interest and activity has gone back many decades, it was always only a minor theme in my life story. Born and educated in the United States, I moved to Canada when I married a Canadian. I have taught religious studies in colleges in the USA and Canada, and I have worked in a church archives. As an independent scholar, I have written articles and books mainly in the area of women and the church. (For these I use the name Marilyn Färdig Whiteley.) Independent scholars don't retire, and I am still doing research and writing. But my husband's retirement has enabled us to travel a great deal in recent years, and this has given a great boost to my photographic interest and activity. I'm sorry this is so long. Thank you if you persisted!

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