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Susanna Burton-Thompson couldn’t have scripted a more extraordinary life if she’d tried. Now retired in Snells Beach, nearly five years on from a long and colourful career, she’s finally had time to reflect, and write.
The result is her newly released book, A Life of Surprises: Random Stories of a Photojournalist. It is a compelling collection of stories that span continents and careers, from rescuing Vietnamese boat people to surviving a shipwreck, and saving a man from death row in a Zambian prison. There’s even a chapter about divine intervention when buying an old lime green car.
Susanna’s unexpected journey into photography began as a teenager when her high school art teacher suggested she might make a good photographer. Her mother scoured job listings, eventually landing on one that didn’t require experience, or a man – a position at the then-controversial New Zealand Truth newspaper. With zero experience behind the lens, Burton-Thompson suspects she got the job because she reminded the editor of an old flame.
Her next role came via a literal crash course in wedding photography. When she accidentally rear-ended a Jaguar owned by Wellington’s top wedding photographer, he offered her a Saturday job to help her pay for the repairs to her mother’s car. That chance encounter eventually led to Susanna Burton
Photography, in Meadowbank, Auckland, a business she ran with her sister for more than two decades.
“Serendipity is my favourite word,” Burton-Thompson says.
Between her newspaper job and her own business, she has used her lens for international aid agencies such as Operation Mobilisation and World Vision. Her travels took her across the globe, including nine years aboard OM’s ships.
“I initially signed on for just three months, on the Logos in 1980, washing dishes. But God (and talent) had other plans, and I was invited to stay on as the ship’s international photographer.”
The final chapter chronicles the romance that blossomed between neighbours when she moved to Snells Beach. Now, four years into married life, Susanna and Owen are enjoying quieter adventures together in Mahurangi.
A Life of Surprises is available at the Heartbeat Bookshop in Warkworth. Signed copies will also be available at upcoming author talks:
Warkworth Library, Sunday, August 10, at 1.30pm; Mahurangi East Library, Snells Beach Saturday, August 16, 10am; Mahu Friendship Club, Mahurangi Community Centre, Snells Beach Wednesday, September 3, 9.45am.
Book Giveaway
Mahurangi Matters has a copy of Susanna Burton-Thompson’s book to give away. To enter, send an email to gm@localmatters.co.nz with Remarkable Memoirs in the subject line. Entries close at midday on August 14.
