Early Exposure

My aunt, Rosalyn King, photographing my brother Stephen, circa 1950. We were probably at Castlewood Park in Lexington. My dad, W. L. King, took this photo. What impresses me most is her use of the tripod and her white open toe wedgies. Her 8 mm movie camera hangs on her wrist like a giant charm on a bracelet. With it, she will photograph every Christmas to come while wearing a Chinese silk bed jacket. She intimidated me but I can’t deny she had class, even on a budget. She opened a restaurant in Wilmore that was outfitted with Fiestaware. She never married, but after the war became a career gal and drove Buicks to and from Lexington. A daddy’s girl, she lived at home and took care of her dad and her stepmother. When she died I was on my way to Rochester to work on an artist’s book. I took two friends to tea at the Plaza in remembrance of her.




Susan E. King is an artist and writer who grew up in Kentucky in a family of storytellers. Her foray to Los Angeles, to be part of the Woman’s Building, introduced her to printing and artist’s books. She’s always been entranced by printed ephemera, and her current series is titled Photo Bio. She divides her time between rural Kentucky and town (i.e. Lexington, KY and Los Angeles, CA). www.susanking.info