A Photographers Eye on The Journey

 

Is little brother the photographer behind all these images? ;) 

Like many parents, I really love to take photos of my children and the images Ive taken of Ania over the course of her cancer journey have been impactful and candid- all be it with my camera phone! There is something completely magical allowing a professional take images of your child.  There is  artistry and craft behind a "real" photographers eye- and having a really good camera that doesn't also make phone calls helps the real beauty of a captured moment shine!

So, I am going to let the following photographs that were taken of Ania over the last year do most of the talking..... and I will give credit where credit is due to the magicians behind the lens....

March 2014- After 4 rounds of failed intra-arterial chemotherapy, we were given the somber news that we would have to remove her left eye.  Before that happened, we decided to have photographs taken of our family.  The lovely Eva Suerth captured Ania as she danced and put on silk butterfly wings for the first time.....

 

 
 

 

April 2014 - After her left eye was removed, Ania wore eye patches to conceal her healing eye (she liked wearing them because she had so many fun designs! Ania was photographed for The Little Lutheran magazine by photographer Mike Watson. I love these images so much because they are the essence of Ania's life right after her eye removal- she didn't skip a beat and she just kept on painting with that one fantastic eye!

 

After April, there was such a transitional appearance time. Her hair began to fall out and she went through several phases of prosthetic eyes. In July 2014 when Ania was halfway through her chemo regimen, we returned to Eva Suerth's studio to do a photo session of the new Ania- new "hair" and new eye. What resulted was a very ballet focused session- the studio became Ania's "stage" as she danced along to The Nutcracker soundtrack for the action shots. She is quite a serious performer as you can see!

July 2014-

Now that treatment is finished, it was time to do a celebratory photography session and my dear cousin Ashley did an inspired session the first week of October. However, I've decided to withhold those images and publish them on the blog next week on the day that marks the one year anniversary- so we can celebrate rather than dwell on a very scary time. Here is a teaser though ;) 

God Bless,

Erica