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I’m constantly reminding my clients of why they should print their photographs. Throughout my career as a photographer I have witnessed people with so much joy over their printed photographs. But I have also seen tears.
One bride booked me last minute: she hadn’t a photographer for her wedding (she didn’t prioritise) and weeks before her mother died she couldn’t bear the thought of not having her mum in the album. Now she realised it was more important to make sure all her other family was also photographed for such a time when they would be gone, too.
I created a family photograph of a family that just lost a child but didn’t have any photographs of him. This was the most difficult photograph I’ve ever taken. I had to show the family of 3, but have a representation of the late child in it too. This photograph is now on display in their home.
Both these instances are heartbreaking, but perhaps the most personal story I have is one I haven’t really shared with anyone before now.
In 2009, I used photography and faith as a means to get away from a life of drugs and alcohol abuse. Just previous to this, there was a family gathering to mark my grandmothers 104th birthday, and I was asked to take a group photograph of the whole family, from Grandmother down to cousins.
I turned up intoxicated and high, as I’d been on a week long binge. This was the last family gathering that my grandmother would see. Soon after, I sorted my life out – but I couldn’t face looking at the photograph as it reminded me of that person I used to be. I kept it in a hard drive, thinking that one day I would print it and pass it around the family.
The sad thing is that now I’m ready to print it, but it’s no longer in the hard drive. I’m not sure if it was deleted or how it disappeared, the fact is that I didn’t print it and I really regret it now.
I won’t let my story be any of my clients story. Printing is an essential part of my business and the primary purpose is most certainly not for making money, but for keeping legacies.
One bride booked me last minute: she hadn’t a photographer for her wedding (she didn’t prioritise) and weeks before her mother died she couldn’t bear the thought of not having her mum in the album. Now she realised it was more important to make sure all her other family was also photographed for such a time when they would be gone, too.
I created a family photograph of a family that just lost a child but didn’t have any photographs of him. This was the most difficult photograph I’ve ever taken. I had to show the family of 3, but have a representation of the late child in it too. This photograph is now on display in their home.
Both these instances are heartbreaking, but perhaps the most personal story I have is one I haven’t really shared with anyone before now.
In 2009, I used photography and faith as a means to get away from a life of drugs and alcohol abuse. Just previous to this, there was a family gathering to mark my grandmothers 104th birthday, and I was asked to take a group photograph of the whole family, from Grandmother down to cousins.
I turned up intoxicated and high, as I’d been on a week long binge. This was the last family gathering that my grandmother would see. Soon after, I sorted my life out – but I couldn’t face looking at the photograph as it reminded me of that person I used to be. I kept it in a hard drive, thinking that one day I would print it and pass it around the family.
The sad thing is that now I’m ready to print it, but it’s no longer in the hard drive. I’m not sure if it was deleted or how it disappeared, the fact is that I didn’t print it and I really regret it now.
I won’t let my story be any of my clients story. Printing is an essential part of my business and the primary purpose is most certainly not for making money, but for keeping legacies.