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I took my first photograph using an old Box Brownie when I was eight years old of my mother and the family spaniel. I captioned it `Mum and Betsy in the Garden at Neutral Bay`.  It was not a particularly auspicious start, but I quickly became keen on photography taking pictures and developing them in the blacked-out kitchen in our home on Lake Macquarie  in New South Wales.  Mum was ultimately my most enthusiastic supporter, but there were occasions when she grew cross. `You never clean up properly Chris,` was a frequent comment.

My first picture published – of Djibouti – was sold with a story to the Sydney Morning Herald.  `Nice piece,` the editor said. `Got any pictures of it?`  I began a career as a travel writer (I have written and illustrated more than a dozen books) working out of Sydney, then from London where I live.

The Queen received a copy of my first book – The Gulf States and Oman  as background reading for the royal visit to Arabia.  Commissioned to write, I was also the only woman photographer to make the six country, three week tour. The trip was action packed for me: just as the Concorde carrying Her Majesty and entourage landed in Kuwait, my driver went off to get petrol with all my cameras.

Fortunately I was able to retrieve them in time to shoot some interesting pictures and since then I have never let my equipment out of sight  turning down many courteous offers to carry my heavy camera bag in places as diverse as Pakistan and Polynesia.  My heart lies in the developing world and of around 50 countries I have visited, more than half lie in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Indian subcontinent. I like to think that one day my pictures of the old ways of life will have a value for the new generation.

Christine Osborne is a member of BAPLA and the British Guild of Travel Writers.

contact: copix@clara.co.uk

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