People, Holyrood, Newfoundland and Labrador

The first year I moved to Holyrood, I volunteered to work on a slide show of senior citizens in the town. It was shown at a live concert during the parish 100th anniversary celebrations. It was very rewarding for me to watch the reactions of the audience as they viewed photographs of the people who had contributed to community life for many years. The two people in today's photographs were among the oldest residents of the town at the time.

I was setting up for the first photo when the woman stood behind the man, possibly to shade herself from the sunlight. I took the photo because I felt it made a statement about their roles in life. Traditionally in Newfoundland and Labrador, and probably in most places, men were the ones who went outside the home to work and women stayed home to care for their children and look after the many household chores. In general, by 1983, the roles of men and women were no longer as delineated as they once had been, but these seniors were at an age where they saw no need for change.

I also photographed the two of them individually. I converted the second photo to black and white and liked the result. Even though the man knew that the photo was going to be shown at a public performance, he didn't smile for either photo, which I thought was interesting.

The photos were taken 25 years ago and they were in his 80s at the time. These images are now historical documents, much like the images of Bacon Cove that I sent yesterday.