Cathy McPherson at the Parkes Elvis Festival in 2022.
The Parkes Elvis Festival sadly lost one of its most dedicated volunteer photographers when Cathy McPherson passed away on 28th August last year.
Cathy joined the photography team of the Parkes Camera Club when they were invited to join the media team in 2014 at the festival. She enjoyed the atmosphere of the festival and the people. “She loved catching all the characters in her photos, and it gave her great joy watching everyone enjoy themselves,” said her close friend and fellow photographer Maree Tanswell.
“Her favourite events to photograph included the street parade, gospel service and the Wall of Fame concerts.”
While Cathy had fun taking photos at the festival, she took her nature photography more seriously. She loved taking landscapes, flowers, sunrises and sunsets and especially birds. She would spend hours watching and waiting for the right time to catch a bird in her lens.
It was also her love of birds that led to some of her images ending up as giant artworks at the Manildra Flour Mills. The mural artist Jimmy Dvate used her images of a king parrot and grass parrot for his first mural on a tank near the Mandagery Creek Bridge.
Cathy said she was thrilled he used her photos, but sadly she never got to see the mural in real life.