A RETIRED Gaunless Valley teacher has her grandmother’s book of home-made remedies to thank for the international recognition she has received for her photography.
Pat Maycroft, from Southside, near Butterknowle, last week earned an honourable mention during the International Color Awards, which recognises outstanding colour photography from around the world.
Ms Maycroft received the accolade for a multi-layered still-life photograph of an antique glass bottle merged over an open book in which her grandmother had written cures for such ailments as influenza and rheumatism.
A former photography teacher at Darlington College of Technology, the 73-year-old developed a fascination with the art form at the age of about nine.
She said: “I was curious about how to take photographs. I borrowed my dad’s Kodak Box Brownie and began taking photographs of my dog, Nova.
“As I grew up, my parents encouraged my interest and gave me a Kodak Brownie 127 camera. If I remember rightly the prints from this film were square.”
She went on to complete a City and Guilds course at Darlington College and later obtained a degree in photography through Cleveland College of Art and Design.
She said: “Part time teaching and time to do the degree course work was difficult but because I was enjoying it so much it was a pleasure.”
In that time she also became an associate member of the Royal Photographic Society.
Along with photography, Ms Maycroft writes poetry and is involved in publishing through the Vane Women Press (VWP).
VWP is run by volunteers who help female writers to be published for the first time and the covers of these books are often designed by Ms Maycroft.
Her “Gran’s Cures” photograph that earned the honourable mention is made up of two separate images she had captured.
She said: “I particularly like to make pictures rather than take pictures.
“By this I mean I like to set up still life arrangements to photograph and then use my computer to tweak the image or images to my satisfaction.
“I am delighted to have been awarded an honourable mention in the still life category in this year’s prestigious 12th International Color Awards.”
She added: “Thank you so much to the judges and organisers of this event. I’m thrilled to bits.”
More recently Ms Maycroft has begun taking video with her digital camera to produce film-poems that she publishes on Youtube.
