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There are very few times in a career that completely change the way you think and feel about what you do….
I received an email from Sarah, a photographer from Connecticut, asking if I had some free time to do a portrait session for her good friend, Kelly. Kelly is a wonderful mom of two beautiful young girls and married to a very sweet and handsome man, Jason. Sarah continued in her email, “… Kelly’s husband has cancer and he is transitioning at home because the doctor’s don’t think there is anything else they can do for him, and we’d like to see if we can get them a family session with their daughters before he passes.” My heart sank. I knew immediately that I wanted to do this session for them, but I was leaving in a few days for Hawaii, which was almost immediately followed by three more weeks of travel. Sarah and I went back and forth and finally found an afternoon that was open for both me and the Van Stone family. I was heading over there in less than two days & just couldn’t wrap my head around how the session might go.
My drive to the Van Stone home was quiet as I was thinking about the session until I finally realized that this session wasn’t going to be about what great wall-potrait-type-images that I would try to produce. It was simply about capturing a family’s love for one another, no matter what the background or lighting looked like.
When I arrived, I was excitedly greeted by the youngest daughter who wanted to show me all her favorite books and told me story after story. Kelly was so warm and inviting which helped eased the feeling that I was intruding on precious family time. Kelly brought me into Jason’s room & introduced us. I spent a short hour with the Van Stone’s… just trying to capture a single heartfelt moment for each family member that they can love and cherish forever. My time with Jason was short as he tired easily, so our session quickly moved outdoors where I simply let the two girls play while I took a few pictures of them.
I left their home after hugging each one and drove home quietly… “This is what photography is about” was all I could think as I teared up behind the wheel. Kelly wrote me two days later letting me know that Jason had passed away. She was so appreciative that their last moments together as a family were captured on film.
This is why I do what I do… to document the truly meaningful moments in life. I sincerely want to thank Kelly for having me into their home and for Sarah for reaching out to me – sending a very big hug both of your ways! I hope our paths cross again.
oh, tasha…
heartbreaking and breath-taking and perfect.
it’s beautiful to see God’s timing and that you could all make it work before Jason passed away.
what a amazing blessing for Kelly and her girls.
praying for peace for Kelly’s family.
*Tears* So beautiful.
Well you did it!!! You captured pure, uninhibited love! You’re amazing! So proud of you! The beauty of life and death is present in photos!!
The tears are flowing. This is amazing.
Simply amazing. Thank you so much for sharing. I am a photographer as well, based out Minneapolis/St. Paul. Had a very similar story, although it was Lou Gehrig’s disease. Family was so appreciative of those images before he passed. Thanks again so much for sharing, it’s another story of someone that truly loves their job, not for the money, not for the travel, not for self gratification, but to be able to capture those moments that are worth more than any amount of money could pay for!
Jared
Hard to type through the tears…what an incredible gift you gave this family!!!!!!!
So moving and beautiful photos.
very heart warming and a really good lesson to all of us. sometimes you never know when your photos are going to be the last capture a loved one has to look back on when their special person is gone. you did a beautiful job.
God bless you! The images are beautiful, and capture this family so wonderfully. This brought tears to my eyes. What a lovely gift for an amazing and strong family.
Wow. I, ahh… have something in my eye…
This is truly one of the most beautiful posts I have ever seen. Thank you for sharing. xo
Absolutely beautiful Tasha! I have followed this family’s caring bridge site. What a blessing for them to have you capture these precious moments.
this is precious….thank you for reminding me <3 beautiful work!
Jen
Oh my gosh! I am a sobbing mess right now!! ugh! This is the reason why photography is important. I have to go through this with my parents and I understand how how it is. Kelly is a very strong woman and this is very inspiring. Thank you for sharing <3
Tasha, There are no words for how truly amazing your gift of photography is, or for how generous and kind your heart is! You have preserved such precious moments for the family… and now their legacy, love and memories will live on. I feel so lucky to have found you, and I am sure that our paths will cross in the future. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. xoxo
Tasha! You had me at tears in the first paragraph, and then the pictures! Your gift will definitely be cherished by this family and those adorable girls for a lifetime! God Bless!
To the Stone family… to Kelly… I am so very sorry for your loss. I can absolutely see your love for your husband, and the love your girls had for him. These images are very special for me to see… what a beautiful love you have. I can’t imagine how much the images mean to you. Blessings to you.
Tasha, thank you for sharing these images with us–they are beautiful images and moments, and Kelly, thanks for gifting us with being able to see them.
Such a sad situation for the Van Stone family, my condolences. But what a simply amazing set of moments you captured for their family, Tasha! I can only imagine the how much these young girls will love and appreciate having these images when they are older and reconnect with the memories of their father. On top of the wonderful images, they couldn’t have picked a more kind, caring, and considerate person to share part of their last days with him. Thanks for sharing their story.
I cried. So beautiful. I’m going to go hug my husband now.
Kelly, here is a long distance hug to you and your girls from someone you don’t know, but you cares about you nonetheless.
You captured their love beautifully! Praying for this family…
Wonderful images–incredibly honest and moving. The emotion is just radiating off this page…What a gift that you could capture this family’s final moments. I am so sad for their loss and will keep them all in my prayers…
Tasha,
Everytime I look at your photos it shows how in tune you are with your subjects. You capture such ethereal moments that I feel so lucky to get to witness!Of course, this new set brought me to tears. Keep sharing your wonderful talent with the world.
These pictures do indeed show how love can heal and empower. What a wonderful way of capturing it. My prayers are with the VanStone’s during this time.
Wow, there are no words to express how wonderful these are.
I know what it’s like to have your precious family overtaken by illness and to lose a loved one. I was never so fortunate to have family pictures like these taken to capture our life at that time. What a gift to the van Stone family to have these beautiful images. Very touching. I know they will look back some day with smiles instead of tears.
There are no words for these photos- just wonderful. They totally capture the love of a beautiful family.
Oh Tasha. I’m crying reading your post. I’m so glad you and Sarah connected and that you were able to capture these images for this beautiful family. What touching moments you’ve captured.
I love so much about this post, and I hate so much about it… I love that our community came together to give this family images that they can treasure forever, bc that is all that they will have now. I am so glad you were able to do this for them, and I hate that they had to go thru this to begin with… my heart goes out to those little girls and their Mom XO
Oh my God. This is so many things; sweet, sad, beautiful, difficult, sucky, real, lovely,but most of all, for me, a reminder of how we need to appreciate every minute we have with the ones we love. Thoughts and prayers for the Van Stone family and for you as well. Great job, as always.
Omg this story was so touching and beautifully captured. You really felt how in love and close this family is and the battles they’ve had to over come
Wow. Great job, Tasha! They are going to treasure these photos forever. My heart goes out to this family.
Thank you. I have no words to describe… Wonderful pictures. Having trouble seeing, eyeballs are really sweating…
and this is another why you are so good at what you do…it is who you are. Thank you for such for sharing your experience and gift.
This…. this is truly why we do this kind of work. You captured something amazing and beautiful and timeless. I was moved to tears. You’re spectacular, Tasha.
Thank you, everyone for your sweet, sweet comments! I am so thankful that people were moved by the images, but I know that the Van Stone family is even more appreciative of the thoughts and prayers. You all are so wonderful! Thank you, Laura, for passing along my name to Sarah – it was wonderful to know that RBH was trusted to document something so special.
I was so moved by this, that I posted it on my own business FB page and encouraged everyone to come and see this … photoshoots are always important, but sometimes – if you’re lucky – you have the chance to capture something that becomes more than just a memory. It becomes an heirloom. You did the job with perfection …
Wow!!! This is soo moving and I’m soo glad you were able to document this for the family. Truly shows the power of what we do!!
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