Kane and I tell our healthcare story together through photography. At this stage of the game, for Kane, I think it’s something fun to do with mom, something to pass the time at hospital appointments. For me, it’s how I manage the nerves and feelings that come up around those same hospital appointments. Photography is my outlet. Finding my photo voice gave me a feeling of control. Telling our story is how I tell the world that it’s okay to not be okay.
This year my goal is to help other people tell their story through photography. The stories I tell are based on my experience as a mom, an educator, and a suicide survivor. The story that is most important for me to tell right now is as a caregiver and a medical mom. It’s not my only story, but it is the most vulnerable part this year. That’s why I have to tell it. Because photographing, writing and talking about it helps me to heal.
Just like Kane, I like to jump right in to a project and figure it out as I go. For those of you who know me, you know that I don’t care if it’s perfect. I care that I do it. That I go for it. That I put my ideas out there and see if they connect with others. Perfect may come later, but I think it’s unlikely! Perfect is not what this is about.
But while I’m on the topic of perfect, check out these amazing postcards my girlfriend, Claire of Matriarch Design YEG, created for me.
This weekend, I finished the first draft of the book I am going to be self-publishing. As you probably guessed it’s the same theme, telling your story using photography. See…I jump in the deep end and I assure you it is far from perfect.
I started out writing this book for me. The book is a compilation of my blog posts and photographs, Kane’s photographs and the photographs Raz of Slice of Love Photography took during Kane’s heart surgery in September. All the feelings and images and intertwining stories…it was going to be at least 300 pages! That’s something I will keep working on for me.
So I pivoted and pared down the story I wanted to tell to make more space for others to tell their story. I can’t wait to share it with you. For now, I’ve shared it with a few of my cheerleaders and the people I know will give me honest feedback.
I even sent it to Nancy Tillman, the author who wrote the children’s book You’re Here for a Reason, because I really want to use a quote from her book in it! DEEP END.