By Eve Digby
Shot on a Pentax Espio on Fujifilm 200, 35mm.
These pictures are taken in Vancouver, Canada where I spent my last Summer. The first is taken in a
conservatory, in the middle of a park and it was of my view towards the roof. You can kind of see the
structure of the conservatory in the background. It was a very peculiar dome shape. The last, is of
the room my two friends and I shared in Vancouver, with the focal point being the mirror with the
sign saying ‘free’ stuck to it. I had found it one day on my way home from work with that exact sign
on it, on the side of a street and it quickly became our communal mirror for makeup and trying on
outfits. I related ‘Your city gave me this’ to my first picture as I found a new sense of wonder while in
Vancouver.
I rekindled my childhood joy to be in nature and appreciated all the greenery and
wilderness I saw, as the street we lived on was quite industrial. Vancouver definitely heightened my
interest in the outdoors and appreciation for the quietness of the countryside.
More obviously in my final photograph, ‘Your city gave me this’ was the mirror itself. In Canada, I
was shocked by the communal mentality within our neighbourhood. It was extremely common to
see piles of books/toys/clothes out for free on nearby lawns or paths. Perhaps it had something to
do with the growing homelessness issue in Canada, but I found it very interesting how people did
not care where their items were going, as long as they were getting a new life. In Ireland, you could
never do that because young teenagers might destroy the items or people would take everything
due to greed. In Vancouver, however, there was a take ‘what you would like and leave the rest’
mentality.
And so, on that walk home, the mirror was needed in our house and we considered it our hidden
treasure. I contemplated bringing it home to Ireland but in reality, it was very low quality. I just
wanted an excuse to hold onto the memories I had now attached to it. The girls and I spent
countless hours in front of that mirror, and I guess, at the end of the day, what Vancouver gave me
was the memories of my summer. The mirror was just a vessel for personification. Nevertheless, that
FREE sign stayed stuck on there and I’d fix it no matter how many times it fell off. I parted ways with
my beloved mirror when I headed back home, I left it in that room. Hopefully it can be the vessel
through which many more memories are made. I took what I needed and left the rest.