Bryce family session - Why photos are so important - Berkshire Photographer

I wanted to tell you how much it meant to me to be asked to take these photos. I thought about what I could say and how I could make sense of how special it was. In the end, I decided it was better to let Cheryl tell you her story herself. There’s no way I could fully understand or explain it to you.

“It's really hard to put my finger on exactly how I felt when I was diagnosed with lymphoma. To be honest it was mostly relief that we could name the thing and then start smashing it with some chemo. I wasn't scared of dying but I was scared of leaving the kids. I managed one day back at work after maternity leave before being admitted to hospital. That day I sent Elise a message. There were no photos of us together as a family and if I did 'cop it', as we came to refer to death for toddler-proofing sake, there should be some of those. On a wet, rainy day, an hour after intensive chemo Elise took these. I will always love them. She managed to capture not only beautiful images of our family but a few photos of us as a couple with our guard down, dealing with the 'ahem' chaos that is cancer. One of those photos captures more of the emotion of dealing with the thing than either of us was capable of even acknowledging at the time. I'm not even sure if we have yet.”

It’s easy to put things like photos on the backburner. I know, I do it for myself all the time. It really hit home to me that the one thing that seemed most important to Cherly, besides getting well, was capturing memories for her family, for her kids. I was honoured that it was something I knew I could do to actually help. Also, don’t you think they totally rocked it!? This is an hour after chemo!