“ I was born in Orange in 1954 and lived there until I finished high school. My Mum and Dad were 10 pound Poms and came to Australia with my sister post World War II. I had a lovely upbringing and I was able to try lots of things like music, dance, elocution and I rode horses. My parents were really good people and we had quite a modest lifestyle but I think that put me on track for the rest of my life.
When I finished school I did Nursing at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney and I loved it. I worked there for some years after as a Registered Nurse. My sister lived in Kings Cross and my Mum loved the city so I was quite familiar to the city. I lived in a terrace house with 4 other Nurses which was lots of fun. I always lived within walking distance to the hospital so I didn’t need to own a car.
I met my now husband Liam and we lived in Newtown and Camperdown. He was at Sydney Uni and I was 19 when I got married. In a few weeks we are coming up to 50 years together. We eventually bought a place in Stanmore and we came up here to the North Coast in 1982. Liam was born in Lismore. We had 2 children when we left Sydney and we decided we wanted a different lifestyle. We bought our little farm here which is where we still live so we’ve been here for over 40 years.
Before we were planning on leaving Sydney I got a tax return of $400. I really needed a washing machine badly but I really wanted to buy a camera so I decided to buy the camera (laughs). I’d always had little cameras which were point and shoot types and I’d done a little research but still didn’t really know what I was doing. We went to Cairns on a bus. The kids were asleep and I went to take a photo of the children sleeping, no camera strap around my neck and the bus came to a screeching halt, the camera left my hand and broke. Eventually I had it repaired but that was my beginning of Photography.
We moved to Lismore and outside our bedroom window was and still is a Jacaranda tree. A family of Tawny Frog Mouths, Mum, Dad and baby in the middle were perched on a branch. I grabbed a ladder, climbed up and took some images. I took the film into the local camera store in Lismore which was owned by Michael Shapter. He said, ‘I think you have an eye for this Jacklyn, you need to get a dark room outfit.’ Really? I said. I think I was chuffed that someone said they liked my photo, anyway he organised it for me. I remember it all came in a box, cost me $100 and in that box was a small enlarger able to just manage an 8 x 10 print, 3 trays, a packet of paper and chemicals. I’d had our 3rd child Tess who was born in Lismore at that stage and she was on my hip. I said to Michael, So what do I do? And he said…You’ll work it out. I had taken a roll of black and white film and on that was a picture of baskets in Abracadabra in Bangalow. I set up my old laundry, enlarger on the washing machine, cement tubs and I used a whole packet of paper to print that image. When I saw an image appearing in that tray something happened and from that point onwards I could not get enough, couldn’t learn enough. It was such a magical moment. The whole process was like being a child again. A couple of years later I built a proper studio and darkroom space.
Michael was wonderful with all my questions, I asked everyone who knew more than me. I had charts on the wall and I did an adult education course about developing and printing your own B and W film. I moved into the bathroom to set up and only having one bathroom I had to wait for the kids to go to bed. I’d still be in there at 4am just carried away with the process. In the early days I was working casually at Lismore Central Veterinary practise because I really loved animals. I worked with a young guy there from South Africa called Peter Buss who was a graduate Vet who equally loved Photography. He now works at Kruger National Park as a Vet and still loves Photography. We also did a course together with local photographer Paul De Woolf who gave us assignments which I tried out on my family.
I was asked if I wanted to put a couple of images in a pop up exhibition in a shop. There were some local well established Photographers exhibiting and the feed back was encouraging but apart from that I could see that my images were on par and I started to understand what I was doing, especially portraiture of people. That was groundbreaking for me because I felt I wasn’t out of my depth. I could see my photos had a certain style about them. Michael once said, a lot of people strive for a style in their work. I think by default I had a certain style that has travelled with me since I began my photographic journey.
I think going to the paper which I will talk about later, was a really good thing because portraiture was wonderful and I started to know what I was good at but I knew all the areas of Photography that I wasn’t. I was mesmerised by the SMH sports photos and the historical news images.
The next big thing that happened for me was I got a phone call from Jennie Dell and the Lismore Echo was starting in 1991. Jennie said I’m starting a newspaper and need a photo for the first edition. The first photo was of Harry Freeman. I would have been so nervous. I would take the images, go home, develop and print them and go back in. I really got a feel for news, I loved it. After that first front page image for the first edition of the Lismore Echo I became their Photographer.
Our eldest daughter finished her HSC and we decided to have a family holiday in Manly. On our return home the phone rang. It was The Northern Star asking if I’d do 3 weeks relief. I was stunned but asked who was calling. He said I’m Richard Jones, the Editor. I thought about it and thought if it doesn’t work I have tried. I stayed for 20 years and ended up as Chief Photographer there. I was the first female Photographer since the establishment of the paper which was May 1876. I was surrounded by amazing men and women who wanted me to succeed and nurtured my talent. During my time with the Star I received several photojournalistic awards and I was also selected as a sports photographer for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. I think it goes back to my Dad who was a wonderful mentor in my life who taught me to be independent and told me there was nothing I couldn’t do.”