The biggest surprise of my career has been to photograph families facing a difficult time of need. What I thought would be a business of weddings and happy moments, has revealed itself as so much deeper, so much closer to walking the narrow path along the cliffs of life and death.

Grief is always among us, as is death and love. We all face these times, and yet they can remain so elusive in society.

 I hold these sessions so tenderly that most of the images are too personal to share. So instead of showing you, I'm going to tell you.

When I started my business, one of the first portrait commissions that I got was from a woman who's husband was 5 years into a dementia diagnosis. I captured him playing with his grandchildren by the Catalpa tree outside their home, climbing down the ladders to the beach, searching for seashells and rocks and then he embraced his wife in the cool fall ocean breeze. Moments of normalcy in an otherwise difficult time.

Then a dear friend's father received a cancer diagnosis. Although they were fighting a long hard fight, she knew it wasn't looking good and asked me document what would turn out to be his last birthday. 

Later, after his passing, I was present for the release of his ashes into the ocean. What struck me wasn't just the grief, yes it was there and a big part of it, but the resolve of his family to get together and show the universe what a gift their father had been. 

He had been and continued to be a conduit for strength, resilience, kindness, and warmth, the glue of a family, and a presence that continues to live on, even years later. 

My own uncle faced stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He was a retired dentist and would spend hours lecturing me about teeth. He was adamant about not having his picture taken, it wasn't how he wanted to be remembered, but at some point throughout the family gathering that summer, he chose to forget that I had my camera. 

I photographed him brushing his teeth on their balcony during a midsummer's eve sunset, chatting with and hugging his three grown sons. And those were the last photos I ever took of him.

I leave you with this - not all diagnoses end in death and many people win the fight. If you are looking for photos for this time, to celebrate yourself or the person in your life going through it, it is something that I offer to you. 

These portraits are priced under a regular family session or an heirloom session, depending on the time you're looking for.