“I was born in Lismore Base Hospital and grew up in Alstonville until I was 20. I married a local fellow who has since passed away. We were married for 12 years and he died suddenly of a heart attack. He was only 37 years old.
I went to French Polynesia for a holiday with some friends in 1979 and there I met my future husband Tom most unexpectedly. He was sailing down the South Pacific fulfilling his lifelong dream and snuck into Club Med for a free meal as they’d run out of fresh food on the boat and as he says, came out engaged. It was an expensive meal. We were seated at the same table of eight and we felt as though we had known each other all our lives. That was absolutely the last thing I expected. After 2 days he asked me to marry him. I said yes and I’m glad I did. We’ve been together 38 years and I love him more now than I ever did then. He’s an American and we own the local Priceline Pharmacy up at the Square.
As a photographer my favourite subject is wildlife and nature. In 2011 I had a chance meeting with an American Photographer, Paul Souders who was out in the field in Alaska. Tom and I met him when he was taking pictures of the brown bears and we struck up a conversation. We were with a guide and we literally met out in the wild. Paul stayed on photographing. I went home and he asked me if I would like to go to Svalbard in Norway to photograph the Polar Bears. Tom said Go! So I did. We chartered a boat and we spent 4 weeks there taking photographs. I met some lovely people.
From there another trip eventuated with Paul to Antarctica with the same photographers who were on that boat. We all sailed across the Drake Passage which is one of the most dangerous crossings in the world. Ignorance is bliss. It was very scary. Huge mountainous seas with waves you couldn’t see over. There was one particular day I was sitting in the galley all by myself leaning back with my feet up as the boat was on such a lean and I yelled out. We are all going to die! It was so terrifying. The trip took a week of sailing. I’d do it again though. Tom’s a sailor and he said he wouldn’t do that trip.
I photographed all sorts of penguins and the landscape is like no-where else in the world. The silence is deafening. It’s just so beautiful, truly out of this world. Every now and then you hear a big crack from the ice. It’s so amazing.
Since then I have done 2 more trips with Paul to Africa. I went to South Africa, Kenya, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe which was scary as far as border crossing go. I photographed all sorts of big cats on that trip.
Since then Tom and I have been to Chile and Cuba which is where I took the photographs in this exhibition. We love travel. We love fly fishing and that takes us all over the world. We are supposed to be retired now but Tom keeps going back to work. That’s to support my habit (laughs).
I plan to go to Uganda in February to photograph the Gorillas. Paul does all the ground work and gets the permits. He’s been there lots of times. We hope to do a road trip. Kenya first, through to Tanzania and then into Uganda.Paul is a very good photographer. He’s won all kinds of major prizes in the world. I am very lucky.
Tom and I have two daughters. Kathryn is a Pharmacist and works in our Chemist and our daughter Allison lives in Toowoomba with her husband. We have 2 grandsons.
We spent 2 weeks in Cuba. Most people there didn’t mind having their photo taken. Cuba has just stopped. It’s like going back in time as nothing has changed since the early 1950s. You see a 6 lane highways with no cars on it, just donkey carts, people, animals and huge pot holes. It’s really bizarre. The buildings are crumbling. It’s a different kind of beauty. The colours of the buildings are quite something and the people wear bright clothing. They make it really interesting. This is the first time I’ve gone into street photography.
I love living here. Look at the climate and the people! We have lots of friends here and my husband has made this his home. He’s now an Australian citizen and he said he would never go back to America to live.
I’m never going to stop. Six months ago I had a major back operation and its given me my life back. I’m 71 and I have no plans of stopping. I’ve always wanted to see the Gorillas but to photograph them will be magic.”
You can see Meg Gordon’s wonderful Cuba series at Fox Photo Den.