A life at the fairground

In almost every picture #7 tells the story of a Dutch woman whose life is seen from the point of view of a fairground shooting gallery.

The chronological series begins in 1936, when a 16-year-old girl from Tilburg in Holland picks up a gun and shoots at the target in a shooting gallery. Every time she hits the target, it triggers the shutter of a camera and a portrait of the girl in firing pose is taken and given as a prize.

And so a lifelong love affair with the shooting gallery begins. This series documents almost every year of the woman's life (there is a conspicuous pause from 1939 to 1945) up until present times.

At the age of 88 Ria van Dijk still makes her pilgrimage to the Shooting Gallery.

In almost every picture #7 is a biography of one woman's life from an unusual perspective, one which allows us to witness the times she lived in, as well as acting as a revealing look at the changing face of photography through the decades.

http://www.lensculture.com/kessels.html?thisPic=100

Very interesting set - shame she waited until 1978 before actually smiling for the camera though...

It would be interesting to know how the trigger mechanism worked?
Pre war it would have been all mechanical apart from a flashgun.
She would no doubt have had to make a return visit to pick up the
photos, until they switched to Polaroid.