Mum & Dad

• Photographer
  Peter Ogden
• Technical Info
  Iso6400. 24mm. F/6.3 1/60s
• Photo Date
  20/4/2024

This is my mum and dad. My dad has been fighting cancer and was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. When I last saw him, he was on the ropes. But this visit, he came out swinging. The reason? You’re looking at it. Mum and dad, both in their late 80s, have always been there for each other, through whatever life throws at them. Even washing the dishes. It struck me, as I watched them work seamlessly together, that they’ve stood in that same spot every night since 1964 when they bought the house - one washing, the other drying. They work so well together…and are still fighting.

Australia is a landscape unique in its savagery and spectacle. Being UK born, I first arrived in Perth and that first experience saw me in the Nambung National Park whilst using a big stick to fend off brown snakes. I was the art director on a commercial photography shoot – keeping one eye on the back of the camera, the other firmly on the red dirt around the tripod. That juxtaposition, the incredibly beautiful landscape combined with the incredibly scary natural critters, has fascinated me ever since.