Carol Fletcher has a vague childhood memory of someone trying to show her how to use a Twin Lens camera. She couldn’t understand why, when you look down into the box to focus, that you had to angle the camera to the right in order to get more of the scene on the left. Since then, she has progressed to owning a Rolleicord TLR now, but admits that it still confounds her.
carol fletcher – iceland farmhouse
carol fletcher icelandic sheep in the wind
Over the last 30 years, Carol has travelled the world to such exotic destinations as Cuba and Iceland (they are both SO on my list to get to!), and has collected massive amounts of images and stories and mementos. I asked her how she came to the business side of image-making.
carol fletcher – antartica iceberg and waves
“The photos and all the travel momentos from each trip sit in my bookcase and I treasure the time to sit down and relive the trips. A good friend of mine suggested one day that I print my favorites and sell them at an Art Fair. At that first fair I got a great response and sold many more than I expected. After a year or two of Art Fairs, I opened my Etsy shop. I’ve also done portrait sessions, weddings, and have been working on 3 documentary projects about the changes in Cuba, a family of 9 living in a tin house in Guatemala, and closer to home–the people who rescue dogs from shelters.”
carol fletcher – vinales dog
Always conscious of the “one that got away”, Carol says that missing a shot (because she didn’t have a camera, or was too slow, or didn’t think it was appropriate to capture) has to be the bane of every photographer. “Sometimes I see these photos in my mind, like they rotate in a slide tray. But I wish that I could stop the tray and examine a photo to remember the details and enjoy the memories again.”
carol fletcher – havana chandeliers 1 – cuba
carol fletcher – locked – havana cuba
Despite the fact that many of her images are of places in icy temperatures, they somehow still manage to exude the warmth and familiarity of memory. Perhaps it’s the influence of her photographic heroes – Steve McCurry, David Alan Harvey, Sam Abell and Nevada Weir — “all the National Geographic photographers who practice filling the frame with goodness. They are also good people who share their knowledge and experiences with heart-felt passion and gusto.”
She also loves “all the old colored travel slides of Burton Holmes, the surprising contact sheets of Henri Cartier-Bresson and the beauty of the sepia-tinted Indians in Edward S. Curtis’ prints.”
carol fletcher – red tail light – havana cuba
With all the thousands of photographs she has taken over the years, her favourite one is surprisingly close to home. It was taken on her Grandmother’s back porch one Mother’s Day Sunday before they all went to a fancy brunch. “My boyfriend (now husband) took the shot of my mother, step-father, grandmother and me, just as my grandmother made a quiet joke. She and I are laughing as we often did when together. I cherish that photograph and that memory. She passed away in 1999.
carol fletcher – a quiet joke with grandmother
Her best advice?
“Best Life advice: My mother always told me not to worry about what other people think. So I try not to…and just do what I feel is good and right.
Best Photography advice: Linger longer.”
You can find more of Carol’s photography on her website, www.carolfletcher.com.