Camera Girl

by Alan Clark

A moving and inspiring memoir of Doreen Spooner. Struggling to hold her head high through the disintegration of her family through alcoholism, she began a career as Fleet Street’s first female photographer. While the love and family life she’d always dreamed of fell apart, Doreen walked into the frantic world of a national newspaper. Determined to save her family from crippling debt, she captured the Swinging Sixties through political scandals, glamorous stars, and cultural icons, while her home life spiraled further out of control. The two sides of this story take you through a touching and emotional love story, coupled with a hugely enjoyable portrait of post-war Britain.

Genres: Photography, Biography

328 pages, Paperback

Published April 20, 2017

About the author

Alan Clark was an English Conservative MP, historian and diarist.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doreen Spooner was the first female staff photographer on a British National newspaper – The Daily Mirror. In a career spanning from the 1940’s to the 1990’s, Doreen’s big break came in 1963 when she photographed two young ladies in a London pub, from inside the pub toilets. Those young ladies were Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies. Her photograph made the front pages in both the UK and US and marked the beginning of Doreen’s extraordinary career.

Camera Girl provides a brief snapshot into Doreen’s life. Working in an industry dominated by men, Doreen faces the challenges of juggling her career, motherhood and an alcoholic husband.

This book is easy to read and provides a fascinating insight into Doreen’s life and an industry which is almost unrecognisable to that in which Doreen started. It contains carefully selected photos chosen from the archives, by one of her daughters Catherine. It is remarkable to see how she photographed Albert Einstein, Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson in the early days of her career, to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Freddie Mercury and Spandau Ballet in her later career.

A moving autobiography (aided by Alan Clark) by a remarkable woman. I highly recommend this book not just to those with an interest in photography and/or the newspaper industry.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book with all the details of being a women and forging a career in photography, back when no-one else was doing it. Doreen followed her instincts and her dreams and was rewarded for it, but the backdrop of her personal life and how it unfolded was equally striking and only served to show what a strong women she was - and is - to have held everything together and continued to support her family when times were tough, going out to work with 3 young kids when most women would have stayed at home. Can't wait to pass this on to my mum!

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engrossing. For those of us who grew up from the '60's thru' the '90's, with vague recollection sof post-war events then living through the Kennedy/Nixon/Whitlam/Thatcher reigns, ignominous or otherwise. For those who recall LBJ and Robert Maxwell of The Mirror takeover and Phaidon/Pergamon Press changes. The famous sports stars and the infamy of Fleet Street, Doreen Spooner's insight into her life as a Press Photographer is a wonderful reprise through the eyes of a woman on the spot.
There is a sketch of her own personal life and families and what copelled her to continue what her father had begun before. Ambition and a need to cover the mortgage when her equally famous and talented French/Belgian husband suddenly went downhill in the vaunted artistic 'alcoholic haze'. Sad in fact.
She had a great network of 'assisters' from the sunny-side and the shades who were the subjects in her skilful black and whites.
If you remember 'the page 3 girl', The Profumo affair, the many changes of attitude through Beatles, Greer and Watergate....up til now, then you will enjoy this overview of what it is like to be at the beck and call of The Editor and the Egos of the stars and the timeline of history.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in the 1960s, Fleet Street was the corner of London for all the newspapers where each day was a slew of taking photos, writing articles and choosing the best ones day in day out.

It was a man's world but Doreen grew up around the camera thanks to her dad, who worked on Fleet Street and eventually followed his footsteps into a world where it was hard for a woman to break into and she became one of the only women news photographers for years.

This was such a fascinating look into a person who changed a lot of the game for women photographers and how she did the best she could trying to get the perfect shots and how she travelled photographing the Queen, Twiggy, and more!

A lot of the books and Memoirs about photographers I find are about men and its very refreshing to get an insight into how it was for Doreen, how she balanced being a mother and her husband who struggled over time and turned to alcohol and it changes this to a very moving but positive story about achieving your dreams!

[Susan Kirschner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good read.

I remember so many of these news stories and they were once again bought back to life. A most enjoyable book about a very interesting and gifted woman. Highly recommended.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant read!

[Mathew Marshall]

Fantastic read!

[Alex Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear pictures of a different time

[MRS K BROADHEAD · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting book

Doreen’s stories of the people she photographed took me back to an era I well remember,I enjoyed reminiscing with her.

[BillReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography of Daily Mirror photograper - very good

[Chris Hunt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up on this book. It was not what I expected. It was a fairly straight forward account of how the author took up journalism and how her career panned out. She seemed to have it fairly easy. I was expecting some cutting, thorny bits about how she had to pioneer her way through a mans’ world, but none of it.
It was a pretty soulless read and as I want more from a book I let it go. Too many excellent reads out there to waste time on this.