Southend U3A

Writing for Fun

Captured - Joan Bond

April 2014

Dan Pearson left the hospital feeling relieved but not really able to look after himself. It was suggested that he had a little convalescence but he just couldn't wait to get away from any authority. It was so ridiculous after being in several warzones he was injured by a celebrity attending a gathering and who objected to having a camera pushed into his face.

Dan had ideas of photography since achieving his degree at Essex University. He was always brought up with the idea that it didn't matter which subject you studied, just the fact that you were able to work to a degree level and then choose.

Well he had his BA and wanted something artistic and not being closed in an office all day. His mate Dave had been in photography for some time making a good living taking pictures at weddings and any gatherings church wise. He passed on all his knowledge about cameras; lenses, filters, angles, light and shadow positions. Dan carried on with this knowledge and had some success with a few magazines, but he was married to the lovely Sue and now kids on the way so had to get something professional that would bring in a wage.

He applied to the papers and was taken on to cover local events, flower shows, dog and sheep dog trials etc. but when there was a certain satisfaction from the public and he was moved on to covering riots and marches in London specially with Ban the Bomb in full flow.

The time came however when he was moved to war zones abroad and faced some ghastly scenes of death and destruction, the worst being when women and children were involved, He ended up in Kabul with the attack on the Trade centre by the Taliban. It all seemed so wasted. He said the area was so beautiful, the road from Peshawar through the Khyber Pass to Torkham was magnificent; the most romantic place on earth with the view as the road wound up through the mountain.

His pictures then being used through the BBC shows visibly the news stories and it brought it home to people how terrible, then peaceful, it was; he was involved in the conflict again and received a bullet wound in the hip so was returned to Britain.

He was getting older now so thought he would go freelance, taking pictures in safety and selling them to the news. It was sometimes so tedious when there was a rumour that something was about to happen and the crowd of newsmen waited for days sometimes a week for that special picture that was going to make his fortune.

Sadly his wife had left him sometime before as he was never there and she was tired of trying to bring up two kids on her own so when he came out of hospital he was feeling sorry for himself, felt his career was over being permanently damaged by the head injury from the bloke in the crowd , he thought he would try something new. He had always liked the sea so moved to Dorset, He walked the front early every morning wanting to shun people and one day sitting quietly on the beach he glimpsed the sun, a huge object just starting to rise over the Downs. Of course he still carried the old Leica with him and watching the glorious sight of the sun rising slowly until totally revealed, turning the sea into a sparkling diamond with a beam seemingly directed in a line to himself, he captured a scene so wonderful, he felt that there was plenty still in life to again look forward to.