Finding your space ..

Subtitled: Why I never made it as an Astronaut!

I've just finished reading a fantastic book by the astronaut Chris Hadfield - "An astronaut's guide to life on earth'. Chris was Commander of the International Space Station in 2013. There's a chapter in his book that begins "When I was 10 years old all I wanted for Christmas was a camera" ..

When I was ten years old all I wanted was to be an astronaut! I was mad on space, getting up on my own in the early hours of July 21st 1969 to watch Neil Armstrong do his thing; building papier maché models of the moon's surface so I could land my Airfix Lunar Module on it; drawing rocket after rocket in art class. That kind of thing ..

Of course, being specky-four eyes and thick as two short planks I was never going to achieve any ambition I might have to get into space but, fortunately for me, along came photography just three years later and I was spoken for! I'd found my way ahead! Similarly, Commander Hadfield came down to earth with a bump, too! (Ho, ho..) He "had an epiphany" after taking picture after picture that was "poorly lit and uninspired". "I was never going to be a professional photographer.." he says "My pictures were God-awful. I put the camera away".

How lucky we both were to find a 'calling' in life. I was recently photographing a careers event for school-leavers - a whole hall full of businesses and exhibitors trying to interest them into taking up apprenticeships - and I thought 'Imagine being 16 and not knowing what you want to do with your life!' .. I find that incredible. It isn't incredible though, is it? It's perfectly normal and I just hope they, like myself - and especially Cmdr. Hadfield - find their space in life .. 

Ps: This is a Saturn V rocket I photographed in Houston on a visit to Mission Control. I still think, secretly, there's still a bit of me that wants to be a space-man!..

©Martin O'Neill 2015