By Judy McAllister

One thing obvious about Jackeline Simon is that she loves photography. Her blends and selections of seasonal photo cards have exquisite colour and artistry. Nature, as witnessed by Jackie’s pictures, shows compelling creativity and design. Along with humour and fun thrown in for good measure, Jackie exudes delight in the natural world, the subject of her photography.

Throughout childhood, Jackie grew up shyly adopting her father’s skills in photography. “Warmth and kindness my Dad gave me while teaching me to hold the camera and see the picture through the lens.” This became a lasting legacy. Jackie recalls working for her first camera by picking strawberries in Langley B.C. Her taking of pictures had to be stretched out until she raised enough money to develop the photos. She clearly remembers carefully considering what she wanted a picture of for she did not have the digital camera back then, as now. Her father’s voice comes back to her every now and again instructing her to “slow down, wait for the picture and spread out the process.” Her early pictures give a glimpse of her developing flair for the “unique picture” or angle difference. She captured the laughter, the pose, and the artistic expression she goes after even today.

These days Jackie prefers to photograph what she herself enjoys and wants other people to see. If “Henry the Heron” is around she will wait and follow with camera posed until the right time emerges. She has pictures of young Henry and a “more mature, filled out Henry.” She spends day-long outings to places of interest such as the Butchart Gardens and Butterfly World. Jackie passes on her love of James Bay with those closer to home through snapshots of local tourist spots like Ogden Point and cherry blossoms hanging form the trees in Beacon Hill Park. Her pictures, she hopes, appeal to most customers moseying about PharmaSave drug store at Parliament Mews or Munro’s bookstore.

Initially, Jackie revealed a growing understanding of the healing aspects of photography. “Taking pictures gave me something special that I needed at the time.” When problems arose at school, it was photography that “gave me confidence and something I could control.” It somehow seemed to draw her into a healing place within – where life was a little better. A picture of her fear gave her muscled strength to override whatever distressing thoughts befell her. After the death of her late husband Jim, who was her “silent partner” in launching the production of her photo cards, Jackie once again found strength to carry on in life. Photography as healing art was there when she was nine years old and at every step of her journey.

It is a wonderful, artistic field that she has opened for us to view through her photo cards. She has found that a life passion can be fulfilling in its most simplest of terms. Her photography remains to be a part of her everyday life, with the scenes becoming a part of our recollections of Victoria.In December of 2003 a bronze maquette depicting Emily Carr and her creatures was unveiled in the drawing room of her childhood home on Government Street. It has been on public display at various locations around Victoria, but now it has been purchased and will stay at Carr House permanently.