Everyone needs a creative outlet,
and for artist Mary Talbot, that outlet is photography. ‘I started with a wonderful point and shoot camera given to me by
my mother.’ In her words, she started exploring her passion for
photography rather latent in life, a passion that was bursting to come out. She
now reflects; ‘photography has
given me serenity’.
Born and raised in Bermuda, Mary acquired an early appreciation
of the arts, as her mother was a painter. Her great-grandfather too was a
painter, and to this day, Mary feels a connection with him through his
paintings of nature and landscapes.
With family ties to the East Coast, she
decided to study at a small University in New Brunswick. During her time there,
she came to appreciate life in Canada, which included a change in seasons, big
trees and wide-open spaces. After graduating with a BA studying Psychology and
French, she returned to Bermuda where she worked and saved money for her permanent
move back to Canada. She was ready for different experiences; she was ready to
widen her horizons.
Starting in Toronto in 1967, she then moved north
of Port Hope, a place where the famous author Farley Mowat now calls home. She
settled down and raised her family there and eventually she wrote to the well-known
author for a job. By the mid 1980’s, Farley Mowat was looking for an editor and
Mary was hired. She remains his editor to this day.
It was in the mid 90’s when Mary acquired her
next camera. She remembers being inspired by frost on the windows, and did
everything she could to get up close and capture the images on film.
Disappointed, she just couldn’t get the picture that she wanted with her point
and shoot. Farley, noticing her frustration, left, and a little while later came
back with a Pentax Spotmatic, which he suggested she try. With manual adjustments
Mary found the control she needed to capture the image she wished to share.
It is when this artist gets close up that she
finds the abstract in her subject, everyday objects are transformed ‘beyond
their familiar documentary appearance’. Her true passion is exploring the world
around her through her lens where she finds the unexpected, and Mary responds
to the subject best in this way. Looking at her subjects up close, Mary becomes
truly absorbed as she discovers the details, the patterns, the textures and how
colour plays with everything. The Macro lens allows Mary to choose what to
focus on. In her artist statement she reveals ‘we all interpret things
individually but, as we reflect on art of any kind, it is perhaps not as
important to understand what a subject is as it is to simply feel its essence’.
Mary studied with the distinguished Canadian photographer
Freeman Patterson, who remains an inspiration for her to this day. She also pursued
workshops with Andre Gallant, Richard Martin and New Zealand’s Sally Mason
where she has explored techniques with panning, montages, and multiple
exposures. She has travelled with her photography and notes that subjects are
‘wherever you are’. This time of year, when the sun from the south is still
low, one of her most favourite places to work is in her own kitchen as the lay
of the light coming through the glass reflects the colours. Freeman Patterson
wrote in his book Odysseys that light is ‘the most creative physical force in
the universe‘.
Speaking of the cover photo, Mary says ‘Combining
two images into a montage… can
produce intriguing photographs. This
is the technique used for “Memories of Spring” and
produced the desired watercolour painting effect. ‘
To learn more about Mary Talbot, please visit
her website at
Also see the Spring edition of The Link magazine now available for pick up near you!
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