Photographing Wick life: 'What fun we had!'
Recorded 9 years ago
About this recording
Janet McDonald worked as a photographer for more than half a century. She and her late husband, Ian, ran J McDonald Photographers in Shore Lane, a business that truly became a Wick institution. In this interview Janet talks about day-to-day work such as portraiture and local press assignments as well as one-off occasions such as the Wick quatercentenary and big annual events - notably Wick Gala Week. She also recalls covering major news stories for the national papers, including the loss of the trawler George Robb at Duncansby in 1959, the Longhope lifeboat disaster of 1969 and Operation Snowdrop (1955) when many isolated communities in the north were cut off by deep snowdrifts. And she reflects on what it was like to photograph the Queen Mother during her regular summer visits to the county.
Janet died in April 2020.
Contributors
Photos
Operation Snowdrop
