Last December, Ron Planche was told he was going to die.
He began putting together photos to sum up his 60-year career in photography and photojournalism.
Planche had gone to the hospital with a tremendous headache late last year. After crossing the border for a timely CT scan, he was told to come back and see the doctor.
“I got a call from the doctor saying, ‘I’d like you to come in and see me. Oh, by the way, have someone drive you in,’” he said.
“Oh, I knew I was in trouble.”
Planche was told about a series of growths in his brain and was advised to arrange for an MRI, which would have taken weeks.
Instead, he checked himself into the neurology centre in Hamilton, where he was given a prognosis of one year to live, if he was lucky.
“Holy shit,” summed up Planche’s reaction.
From that point on, Planche began thinking about what to do for his legacy and his kids.
“I’m not doing anything because I’m in so much pain and under drugs and everything else. So I’m concentrating. How do I get my life in order?” he said.
Planche had around a million film photo negatives and 154,000 digital images from his 60-year career. He decided to put a photo up on Facebook every day and soon amassed a regular following of 25,000 page viewers.
Credit: RON PLANCHE
Former U.S. attorney general, the late Robert F. Kennedy, in October 1967, receiving an honourary doctor of laws at the University of New Brunswick.The Niagara-on-the-Lake Pumphouse reached out to Planche to host an exhibition of some of the images.
“They said it’ll be April of 2027 and I told them I’ll be dead by then,” Planche said.
The dates were changed very quickly, Planche said.
Along with his photos, Planche began dealing with the other unfinished business of his life — including his wine collection.
“I got my diagnosis of having less than a year to live, right? My wine cellar had 360 bottles in it. Really, really good bottles,” he said.
“We went through half the cellar, a bottle a night.”
Planche also began planning a trip with his wife, Jill. They had decided on Scotland.
While booking the trip, Planche realized his passport was due to expire.
“I got to renew it and the first question they ask is, do you want a five-year or a 10-year? I said ‘10-year.’”
“Of course, why not? I’m not dying. Ten years,” he said.
About six weeks after being told there was a 99 per cent chance he would die within a year, Planche got his MRI results.
He was completely fine.
“It just blows your mind, literally, figuratively,” Planche said.
It was an infection — one Planche was originally told had a less than one per cent likelihood of existing.
“And it turns out that the infection caused something to happen with the protein or something like that, that the MRI picked up and it interpreted a mass.”
Planche said the experience is not something he would wish on anyone.
“A lot of good things have come as a result,” he said.
For one, Planche’s retrospective exhibition, titled “60 Years in a Landscape,” is set to be displayed at the Pumphouse from Oct. 7 to 29 in the Hummel Family Room.
Credit: RON PLANCHE
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, during her visit to St. John, N.B. in July 1967 as part of Canada’s Centennial celebrations.The photos include monuments, landscapes, glaciers and recognizable figures such as Robert F. Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
Planche’s photos of the Queen Mother were taken during his time as a replacement summer photographer at Harvey Studios in Fredericton.
“I wouldn’t normally be on a royal tour. I was just put in because we didn’t have enough people,” he said.
Planche was immediately told where to stand, in the press bowl with a less-than-ideal view of the action.
“I said, ‘Screw this,’ and walked away from the thing, but I couldn’t get out of the park.”
The only way Planche could get out was over a four-foot-tall stone wall. As he climbed atop it, the Queen Mother drove by.
“She comes by and I yell, ‘Your Majesty,’ and wave at her. Bang. The picture goes around the world,” he said.
Later, the RCMP showed up at the photo studio where Planche was working. Before he could assume the worst, he was invited to cocktails with the Queen Mother.
Planche’s front-page photo of the Queen Mother will be on display at the Pumphouse, along with many others with stories behind them.
When it came to selecting which photos would be included, the decision was not simple.
“You boil it down to 250 or 300 pictures, and you say, ‘OK, which one of my babies do I leave behind?’” Planche said.
