Shades of You Photography

This is a poignant blog post for me to write and I really want to do it justice.  I hope you read through the whole thing.

I met this sweet couple about 4 years ago when they were pregnant with their first child.  We did newborn portraits.  Then we did pregnancy portraits when they were expecting their second child.  Their beautiful daughter.  I really fell in love with this family during our times together.  Mom is just an absolutely beautiful person, inside and out.  Dad is the nicest guy.  Fun and fun-loving.  Just a joy to work with.  It was during our second newborn session that something was very wrong.  Mom shared with me that she hadn’t been feeling well and it was clear to see that she wasn’t.  I was very concerned.  Time went by.  They loved their portraits and I assumed things were fine.

But they weren’t.

In January 2011 I got an email that shook me to the core.  It was this beautiful mom letting me know that she had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.  The “not feeling well” that we were seeing at the newborn session turned out not to be just hormonal.  At first, nobody could figure out what was wrong. They went to doctor after doctor and nobody could figure out what was wrong. They even moved to another state for another job because they thought her headaches and mood changes could be due to stress. They finally found a doctor who gave them the bad news. It was a brain tumor and it had been growing for quite some time.

Since being diagnosed she has had 3 craniotomies.  The neurosurgeon was able to remove 85% of the tumor but the rest is inoperable.  After 4 rounds of chemotherapy they are now monitoring and, in Mom’s words, “living happily with brain cancer.  That remains a work in progress but is well worth the effort.”

In the process of keeping in touch she wrote some really moving emails to me.  Emails that meant the world to me because she was expressing how much their family portraits have meant to them.

Emails like this:

I treasure the the pictures that you have taken for my family and I know my kids will too when they get older.   You are helping people beautifully capture moments in their lives.  It is a special gift with which you are blessed. We tried to take photos of the family between two of my surgeries, because I was afraid I would lose more hair, but they just aren’t the same as the ones you have taken.  Unfortunately we weren’t in Dallas so we couldn’t get you to take them. No one has quite captured our family like you have.”

I had the pleasure of seeing them in my studio over the holidays.  I will post more photos as soon as I can but I did want to put up a couple of this lovely mom and her beautiful children.  I knew that they were hoping to get something special with Mommy and the kids and I can only hope I did them justice.

Portraits are the doorway to the memories your family keeps.  I am humbled by the fact that they feel that I have been able to capture something special for them in their portraits.  Looking at these images I can see the love shining through and I hope they see it too.

Feel free to leave comments and well wishes. I know that they appreciate every single good thought sent their way. xoxo