I was going through my archives to define what the next little treasure would be that I desired to share when I came across one of my first and last attempts at developing my own images. It was the mid eighties and at the time, I was in the process establishing a business partnership with a wonderful woman by the name of Suzette P. who was an Esthetician by trade. While we did not really get our dreams off the ground due to her eventually delivering two fine twins; a boy and a girl, and other long forgotten reasons, we did have great times with the many friends she introduced me too; fellow photographers as well as varied actors and actresses etc. The good times were a rolling, so to speak.

It was a few days after the birth of her twins at Old St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, BC and I, like any good photographer always had my camera handy, even during visitations. It was during that visit when a quite, soft-spoken woman came into the room to visit Suzette and the twins as well as a few other close acquaintances. She was a slender, soft-spoken woman who acted just like one of the family and after a few brief words and an introduction to me; she proceeded to sit on the bed next to Suzette’s. As she proceeded to hold one of the twins, I immediately noted the motherly manner in which she not only held the child but the gaze that accompanied it as if dreaming of the day she would perhaps hold one of her own. Resistance was futile as I raised my camera my camera and followed my urge to capture the delicate bonding of a woman and child I felt emitting from the visual phenomenon of life I was blessed to be a part off.

The lady in the image was/is none other than, ”Mary Stuart Masterson” who had flown in from New York to shoot a movie for which title I have long forgotten, but the emotional memories of that moment in the hospital still linger on as if it was just yesterday. I always try to watch her films whenever I can, as even today I still see the sweet and down to earth woman she is…. “Thank you Mary”, for the fantastic memory, I will cherish it always, “and to Suzette where ever you are”, I could not have asked for a better friend and business partner and I truly hope you found the happiness you so diligently sought…

This particular piece is a black and white I developed my self in my bathroom lab; when my two young sons, at the time, were not intruding out of necessity. For what is worth the enlarger, settings were F5.6 for 9 seconds.

Yes I cheated; I had written the settings on the back of the print those many years ago and to this day I leave the developing up to the experts to allow me more time to do what I am best at, creating images.

Mary Stuart Masterson

Allan Herman, Creative Visual Marketing Services Inc. (CVM Inc.)