I don’t sell photos
Who wants story time? Well, this is my page so you're getting story time (albeit an emotional story time which is why this post won’t have any pictures in it).
I recently had a message slide into my DM’s out of nowhere from a client I’d only worked with twice. I’m not going to go into the details of the work (or even tell you her name, but let’s -for the purposes of this story- call her Amy) but the content of the message moved me and really highlighted something I struggle to articulate to people when discussing what I can do for them.
A few years ago I met Amy on a shoot for a local charity. It was a great day (though admittedly a tad manic) and a few months later she asked me to take some pictures of her and her family to commemorate a milestone event in the family. Of course, I leapt at the opportunity and spent a whirlwind 15 minutes with them in a local park photographing them in an honest moment of joy, pride and love. The pictures were delivered, Amy said thank you and the files were placed into the archives. A job well done and some lovely pictures to sit on the family mantlepiece.
Then, 2 years later this message arrived from Amy:
It started in a fairly typical way with a “Hey, Hope you’re well”. I was, and I continued expecting a request for another session or for a new link to the images. The next line stopped me in my tracks, “My nan died on Tuesday”. The message told of a heartbreaking few weeks, of a brief battle with cancer and how she’d been asking Amy for ages to order some prints from the session for her and that it was only now she’d gotten round to it and they would be proudly displayed on all family members walls.
She then continued to explain that her nan hated having her picture taken and that the family didn’t have many of her because of it. The ones I took were some of the few and they’d taken a more special and profound meaning to the family because it keeps the memory and the person alive in their hearts.
So without wanting to sound too grand or pretentious, that’s what I do. I don’t take pictures. I don’t sell prints or canvases. I don’t even make Art. I capture a moment, a feeling, an emotion, a person in time for you to have, cherish, remember and most importantly feel when the moment, or even the person has passed. A picture is more than a Facebook post or an Instagram story. It's a memory, it's a person, it's a feeling.
I will share with you one section of Amy’s message. The last couple of sentences which are now framed in my office and mean so much to me.
“Thank you for your work Jon, from the bottom of my heart. ❤️ Both of us had no clue how much those 10 minutes and 50 or so snaps would mean two years ago… But now they keep her memory alive. We will be forever grateful X”