This is one of those days that I realize what I do carries a lot more impact than just taking their picture. When I am asked to photograph a family, a baby, or an event like a wedding, I am always honored. I feel so privileged to be a part of their life, even if it is only 15 minutes. I get to capture the love that they have for one another and it is something I hope they will cherish for a lifetime.
The photograph above is a very beautiful family that I had the privilege of spending a few hours with on a couple occasions to not only to photograph their beautiful children, but also of their family and their love for one another. At the time, the beautiful mom was undergoing chemotherapy treatments for cancer. Who could tell? She looks absolutely amazing. She is beautiful, funny and gracious, all things that you don't normally associate with someone suffering from such an awful disease.
Today I was informed that she will soon get to meet a very loving Heavenly Father. My heart is breaking for her dear husband and her two small children. I want to scream and yell and be mad at God. But I do know that Heavenly Father has a plan for each one of us and knows each one of us individually. I am so grateful that I was privileged to know this very beautiful woman. Her beauty was not just skin deep - she is an amazing beautiful person on the inside. She continued to work as a nurse at the hospital helping bring new lives into this world, as her life was being slowly, painfully taken away. This woman knows and loves her Heavenly Father and her Savior and she is not afraid to die, only to leave her loving husband and children behind.
I take my photography very seriously - a few years ago when my own father passed away, thankfully we had taken a family picture the Christmas before. I realized that what I do may be the only way that people who love us, can remember us after we have gone on. This realization took on a whole new meaning for me - I don't want to take your picture... I want to quietly, ask to borrow a part of your life, so that I may turn it into something you and your family can cherish for the rest of our days on earth.
Please pray for this beautiful family. For her husband to find strength to carry on after she leaves this world, and for her beautiful children to always remember their Mommy. Please pray for her, as she continues to endure to the end, and she will find comfort knowing God will continue to watch over her family as they wait to be reunited again one day.
As I sit here crying at my computer I relizied that it's just not what's seen on the outside that matters. I have not got family pictures for a while ashamed of what I look like, but you have changed my thinking. I love Teresa and her family and my heart is braking as I have children the same age as her little ones. I have been praying and will continue, thanks for sharing your words.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your comment.. and actually reminded me of a great thing my friend Tiffany said.. when she looked back at her daughters photos of when she was born.. she was always the one taking them... and was in hardly any of them... as if she didn't exist. I have truly taken that to heart and try to remember that sometimes I need to be on the other side of the lens as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat you have written is so meaningful and echoes my thoughts exactly. Thank you so much for taking her picture with her family so they have these memories to remember and for all the rest of us to look at from time to time as reminders to live our lives as Teresa did...God bless!
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