The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

Meg is growing up

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When I recently asked for blogging suggestions, several people badgered me for more about my daughter Meg.


At 12½, Meg is not such a wee lass anymore

Last week she started high school. A big step for any child, but for one with Down’s Syndrome in mainstream schooling…

So far she’s coping with it in considerably better spirits than me and her mother. While our guts are churning with all our fears and nightmares clamouring to make themselves felt, she’s heading off to school with a smile each morning.

At the weekend, Meg and I went out for a walk in Laurieston Forest, and took the cameras.

I gave Meg my first Fujifilm digital camera to use. It’s a good camera to learn on – you can set it to auto and it works well as a point-and-shoot, but it has several manual over-ride options so you can ease yourself into learning things like shutter speed and aperture. It even has a macro lens built into it, which allows you to focus really close up on things - something my much more expensive Canon DSLR doesn’t.


Meg looking at the light coming through the trees


Enjoying the ability to get close up.

Here are a some of the photos Meg took:


Large toadstool


Growing out of a rotted log


Dad is instructed to turn his head towards the camera and smile.

Sometimes it’s difficult living in Meg’s shadow.
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43 comments

Lynne said...

she's beautiful and she takes great photos...watch out dad!

AA said...

Beautiful & beautiful. All of it.

Ponita in Real Life said...

She's a gorgeous young woman, and I think she has your eye for composition. Perhaps an aspiring photographer?

mapstew said...

She has a couple of very fine teachers!

:¬)

Keepin' afloat - barely said...

Lovely and amazing. Good teaching helps too. Thanks for the photos.

Unknown said...

Sometimes shadows are cool and refreshing and safe. I suspect Meg's shadow is such a place. Enjoy.

debra said...

Seeing the world through the eyes of the photographers. Nice :-)

snoble24 said...

yep kids grow up fast

Vicky said...

Meg has taken some great photos, following in her fathers footsteps :)

Fay Campbell said...

Ok, so she just got a camera and she took those shots? Dang! Well, maybe it's genetic. Great shots.

Anonymous said...

Like father like daughter.

I especially love her second picture - my eyes keep coming back to that amazing splash of blue sky in the background. :)

Jasmine said...

I really love the second one she took. That forest looks so magical.

litzi said...

Hi Kim,
Laurieston Forest looks like a magical place for a young lass and her Dad to spend some quality time together...

Meg’s photos are terrific…perhaps she inherited your gift for capturing things with a camera lens that most of us fail to see. Do you think she’ll retain an interest in photography or is this just whim?

Whitney Lee said...

Lovely. I, too, would be a bit worried. Kids can be so cruel to those who are at all different. I'm glad it's going well.

It's wonderful that you are able to share your love of photography with her. I always loved doing things with my dad when I was growing up and enjoyed when he taught me how to do things. I still do. As a parent I'm discovering that there's a special joy in sharing something I love with my daughter.

angryparsnip said...

What a beautiful daughter you have.
12 is early for High School in America
that is more like our Junior High.
High School is scary at any age !
Dad looks great and much too young to have such a charming grown-up and talented daughter.

cheers, parsnip

Hindsfeet said...

I was taken by the telling, tender softness in your eyes and in your face, the mask momentarily superfluous, as you indulge your daughter's request to look her way and smile...the love mirrored there is a peek into the sublime...

erika said...

I adore these pictures of Meg! She is so very beautiful and charming. It makes me so happy to hear that she is doing well in school and she is loving it. Go Meg!

Rachel Fox said...

Beautiful pics altogether (good one of you - very happy!). In fact sometimes 'beautiful' just isn't enough.

Unknown said...

i saw meg in your photo album on facebook. she's a beautiful girl. i love her eyes and that hair!!!

her photos are lovely kim. you should be proud.

best of luck to her in high school!!!

Katie Roberts said...

what a beautiful, thoughtful spirit you have Meg... not to mention talented!

Alice said...

I think about how worried I am sending my daughter to school and it must be 100 times harder for you. But the kids are oblivious, aren't they?

And she's so gifted...what a lucky dad!

AA said...

@ Hindsfeet, I couldn't have said it better myself. I thought the exact same thing. The picture Meg has taken of Kim, she's managed to capture his softness. No contrived fanciness, just truth of what is.

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Lovely, lovely girl.

Sandy's witterings said...

Excellent pictures from both of you.

Eryl said...

Crikey she's good! How wonderful, though, to be taken through a forest by your dad with a camera like that to play with. Glad to hear she goes smiling to school each morning, I can't imagine her taking any nonsense.

Gyrobo said...

That's some mighty fine, photogenic fungi there.

hope said...

Seems you're both a good teacher and Dad. :)

Meg is growing up into a lovely lady!

Kim Ayres said...

Lynne - I wasn't joking about living in her shadow. Round here, I'm only known as Meg's Dad.

Adila - thank you :)

Ponita - she does enjoy the camera, so I'll be teaching her more

Mapstew - thank you :)

Keepin' afloat - thank you :)

Carole - Meg caresses the soul... when she's not being an irritating 12 year old, that is ;)

Debra - thanks :)

Snoble24 - yup, every 12 months they get a year older... ;)

Vicky - this is where it's handy having an old, but still reasonable, camera for her to use

Fay - to be honest, I did post the best ones. But then I only post my best ones too :)

~:C:~ - it is a nice one that :)

Jasmine - it's a lovely forest, except for most of the summer when it's swarming with midges. Fortunately the cooler weather kept them away at the weekend

Litzi - I think this is something she'll keep on with

Whitney Lee - it's always lovely to have those special times together

Parsnip - no junior high here - straight from primary to high school. And I certainly don't look too young - the grey hairs and deep lines are settling in.

Hindsfeet - what a lovely thing to say - thank you :)

Erika - I keep waiting to hear something terrible about school, but it's not happened yet

Rachel - I don't usually smile in my self portraits, because I think other expressions are more interesting photographically. But for my daughter I had to follow her instructions :)

Roschelle - thank you :)

Katie - thank you :)

Alice - fortunately the school has a good reputation and Meg's not the first child with additional support needs to go there

Adila - you know I'm a sucker for flattery - I've trained myself to momentarily believe it :)

Pamela Terry and Edward - thank you :)

Sandy - thanks :)

Eryl - it's true, she's never really been one for taking any nonsense :)

Gyrobo - that's some mighty fine face fungus you're growing there. In fact, I hadn't realised robots could grow beards - is this a step into the future?

Hope - thank you :)

Anonymous said...

Well, I've been looking forward to that one for awhile! You know she's beautiful but I'll say it anyway! High school! My daughter is in 4th grade (they must structure things differently in Scotland)and that's scary enough. Love the 'shroom shots!
Thanks Kim. It's hard enough to find bloggers with kids that are close to mine's age - mostly seem to be about babies/toddlers- those frightening developmentally focused years.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful photographs!

Mary Witzl said...

I can't get over how much she's grown, Kim. And she is absolutely lovely.

Deidra said...

I love her skirt! Sorry, I know that's sort of irrelevant, but I appreciate her style.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much, Kim! Wonderful to see her! She looks so much more mature than 12 1/2! Following in her father's footsteps with that camera! She has learned much to make you look so handsome in that photo. ;) Barbara

Unknown said...

She is beautiful, Kim. Despite your concern about her starting high school I'll bet you're pride in her is more than words can express. Our not so little girl just moved out of the house and started her freshman year of college. The years go by so fast!

Falak said...

Meg's photographs are lovely. High school can be tough but I'm sure Meg will be just fine.

Kim Ayres said...

Starrlife - If I'd started my blog when Meg was a baby, I daresay it would have been completely dominated by Meg's DS. But because she was 7 by the time I did, I'd already overcome most of the fears and worries and the DS is now rarely an issue. Most of my posts about Meg are just father-daughter ones rather than DS specific.

Allen - thank you :)

Mary - aye, she'll be a teenager next birthday!

Diedra - it is a pretty one :)

Barbara - to be fair, I did pick the best photo she took of me... ;)

Rocket Man - is she your first, or last to leave the nest?

Falak - thank you :)

Cindy said...

Beautiful picture, beautiful daughter! Thanks for sharing. :)

BLOOM - Parenting Kids With Disabilities said...

Wow -- your pictures of her are stunning and she's a chip off the old block. I love the close-up of the toadstool with all that texture.

Jayne Martin said...

Looks like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. She's got quite an eye.

Unknown said...

You brought back so many memories for me with this post Kim! I had mixed feelings when Kerri began her time at high school, trepidation and worry but pride at seeing her going in that gate with all of her peers, in the same uniform she 'melted in' so well.
Don't worry, she will make lot's of friends she will learn from them and they will learn from her.. I promise.

Lauren Buzze said...

Goodness, I wish more people in the world thought this way.

Rainy Arjakusumah said...

keep up the good work, meg!

Rainy Arjakusumah said...

keep up the good work, meg! -Rainy, a proud mother to aurel, 10 yo, Down Syndrome_

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