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It was a day full of strangeness: Burton Constable, whale skeletons and Lancelot Capability Brown. There were ha has and a dam-cum-bridge and rows of clipped yews. I imagined Lancelot riding over a dam onto a bridge, laughing all the while. There was a camera made of plastic called Holga – a toy that was most definitely not a toy. Not when Dad pointed it and took a shot.
There were clouds that day and I remember Dad aiming his camera up at the sky. “Why are you doing that?” I asked. “There’s nothing up there.”
Dad smiled and shook his head. “Wait and see,” he said.
Then we walked along that yew-lined path and he stopped. “Wait there son,” he said and sprinted forwards. I stood, waiting.
As he pressed the shutter I imagined something magical would happen – a rainbow of liquid or a bunch of feather flowers would emerge from the lens as the shutter blinked open and shut. I stood still, willing myself not to blink, not to move until he took the shot, or I’d risk breaking the spell.
We walked on, found a whale in the stables, walked over the dam-cum-bridge and laughed at the ha ha. I forgot about the camera and the bunch of feather flowers.
A week went by before Dad showed me the photo. I saw myself standing in the far-away land of ha has and capable Lancelots, where whales were only a dam-cum-bridge away and I laughed and I laughed at the magic he had made.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, Debra Broughton and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
