Ordinary Days, Slipping Away
Saturday November 11th, Kismet photographed our first church fund-raiser. We had many people come and go and each impacted our lives in very different ways. One client we had though, really touched our hearts... As I called her into our temporary photography studio at the church, she said in a quiet voice "I have an unusual request", to which I responded "sure." She proceeded to tell me about her husband's passing due to cancer in April and wanted to know if I could get a picture of her and her daughter with his picture. I remember looking at her tear filled eyes at just the mention of his death. It smacked me in the chest like a ton of bricks. My automated but emotional "Yes, I can do that" slid out. I was immediately grateful for every bit of constructive criticism I endured and every detailed lesson on posing and lighting and camera operation they worked on autopilot in the background as I struggled to hold back my own tears to capture this moment for them. As we were viewing the pictures, she told us how they had always wanted family pictures done but kept putting it off with comments of "Wait until we lose some weight" and "When we aren't so busy." He was diagnosed with cancer, and 8 weeks later passed away. Tears flowed as she spoke about how they thought they had so much time. They never expected for their life to take such a tragic turn. Now, all she has left is his closely cropped picture and she wanted to include him. I couldn't help but weep with her. In my own life, my kids would take pictures and I would respond with "ewww, delete that, I look horrible" not even thinking that it could be the last picture of them, or of myself. It made me realize that in the end, people don't care what you look like, if you're hair is a mess, you're a bit over weight, or if your smile isn't perfect. They care about the memories. The moments of laughter and joy in the capture and what you were feeling. When our time on this earth is up, they will look back on those moments and wish them back more than anything in the world...even the goofy selfies. Don't wait to capture your moments. Take pictures, love fiercely and make memories, because in the end, the memories are all we have left. Bits and pieces of the time we've spent together. No matter how long that time was, it'll never seem like enough and we can never get it back.
Keywords:
Kismet,
don't wait,
grief,
loss,
memories,
missed opportunities,
opportunities,
photoshoot,
portraits,
regret,
sadness,
today
Comments
Keisha Ford(non-registered)
I can relate to this.. I lost my husband last year and our last family photo was when our daughter was in preschool. It is really hard because we were scheduled to take family pictures, but didnt realize we would ner get that chance. I am looking forward to getting a chance to meet with yall to get pictures done of my daughter and I. I enjoy looking at your photos, and just seeing the joy and excitement from both of you. Cant wait to meet you Jen. And Bro Grace cant wait to see ya again.
Nita(non-registered)
This really hit home for me, because I hate having my photo taken. I am not photogenic, & have numerous health issues that contribute to it. I am a 29 year survivor of a rare disease, & know that every year could be my last. While celebrating this year's annual survival earlier this month, my friend took me to dinner. Before the meal, she said, "We must do a selfie!" I reminded her that I don't do selfies, & she said, "We don't have even one photo together!" I thought about how it would feel if something happened to one of us, & there were no photos documenting time with our best friend.
When I posted the selfie, the congratulatory comments mentioned that we must have had an amazing time, because we looked so happy. I may just take another selfie the next time we have an adventure.
Betty Start(non-registered)
So sorry for their loss :( Very well said. Our daughter said she didn't like one of the pics I took of her blowing out her candles on her cake at her 19th Birthday Surprise Dinner last ...I still have it and still posted it with the rest because she looks really happy in it ❤
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