It was September 1977, I was living in New York and this was my very first visit to Ireland.  I arrived in Belfast via the ferry to Larne and went to stay in North Belfast with the mother and sister of a Northern Irish friend from New York. Without any ID or press pass, I presented myself to the barracks in Lisburn and told them I wanted to go out on patrol with the army so I could write an article.  (I am not sure how I got there but it was probably via a press officer contact in the Northern Ireland Tourist Board …)  With little ado, I was given a ride in a Saracen and sent out with a foot patrol in the Markets — allegedly pursuing the rumour of sniper fire.  I can remember what I was wearing — jeans and a red hooded sweatshirt.  My camera was a manual Fuji SLR with a wonderful 1.4 50 mm standard lens, with which I took many black and white photos until it was stolen in the 1990s.  My favourite of these photos is the portrait of the patrol — I think you can see both aggression and apprehension in their eyes; the other favourite, of course, is “soldier and child”, which was one of two photos published with an article in the New York Daily News in March 1978.

Vicky Cosstick’s Gallery