These images are from a beautiful, truly enchanted time in my childhood.
I took these photos at the ancient Roman city ofLeptis Magna, located near present-day Al-Khums, Libya (North Africa, on the Mediterranean coast). I would’ve been in grade 7, about 11 years old, at the time. I visited this location many times, but on this occasion, it was part of a school field trip. I am extremely fortunate to have attended this school, the oddly named “The Oil Companies’ School”, or “OCS”, which was originally built in the 1950s and meant for the children of American oil companies executives and diplomats. By the time I was there in the 1980s, it was attended by the children of expatriate workers in Libya more generally. I had classmates from countless different nations … quite literally from all over the world! The school had a fantastic arts programme, which included superb and comprehensive photography courses, which covered everything from camerawork, film development, darkroom editing techniques, basic aesthetics principles, and so on.
I’m happy to say I still own, and occasionally use, the Pentax Spotmatic camera and 50mm/f1.4 lens that I used back in those wondrous days.
