This was good – sent to the PAN office by the Mirrorpix team – cheers!: Camera Girl By Doreen Spooner with Alan Clark
CAMERA GIRL is a celebration of the life and work of Doreen Spooner, Britain’s first ever female national newspaper photographer – her remarkable personal journey and how she made it in the cut-throat world of Fleet Street.
In a career that spanned over fifty years, twenty-six were spent at the Daily Mirror during the paper’s ‘golden age’, capturing the most exciting times and famous faces of the 20th century. Whilst Doreen’s career flourished, her once happy home life began to unravel, and she had to act fast to save her family from financial ruin and rescue her marriage. Leaving her children and housewife role at the door each day, Doreen entered a world of political scandals, glamorous movie stars and cultural icons.
At home was heartbreak, loss and real-life dramas – all whilst managing a young family, dealing with working mum’s guilt, and challenging what were then considered the socially acceptable roles for women in the workplace in London’s ‘Swinging Sixties’.
Front-page scoops, royal indiscretions, stroppy celebrities – they’re all part of Doreen’s unforgettable, and beautifully photographed, journey. CAMERA GIRL is an uplifting and touching tale, and a unique portrait of post-war Britain. Though never a conscious feminist, Doreen was always an undoubted trailblazer, whose professional success contrasted a difficult private life as a working mother in a marriage overshadowed by addiction. Now aged 88, Doreen lives in Surbiton, Surrey.
Camera Girl By Doreen Spooner with Alan Clark is published by Mirror Books ● 3 November 2016 ● £12.99
Picture Editor Alec Winberg with photographers Arthur Sidey and Doreen SpoonerPicture from Mirrorpix.
Date 1960s but actual date unknown
• Get your copy HERE
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• Doreen on Newsnight HERE
• Images taken by Doreen can be found on mirrorpix.com under the code DS2016