As seen in the newest issue of Cleveland Clinic Magazine, for a story about the after-effects of cancer treatment in children. Holly, now age 13, is a cancer survivor but in its wake has developed a number of complications that doctors attribute to her year-long chemotherapy and radiation regimen.
Its one of those assignments where the client wants intimate and compelling reportage images (w/ a few portraits mixed in) and--better yet--understands that it requires a bit more time w/ the subject than just a one-off portrait session to produce (and is more than willing to factor that accordingly into a reasonable shoot budget).
Altogether I had two full (long) days w/ Holly, of course the first half day we're getting to know each other and she's growing accustomed to having a photographer follow her around, so I'm not shooting too much at that point. The first night I had dinner w/ her family and some long talks w/ her dad about farming and the predominantly agricultural area of Ohio in which they live.
Day two I spent w/ Holly at school, in band practice and after school w/ her friends in drama club. By now her classmates want to know the skinny, and to an extent I think once she got over the initial embarrassment of the situation she seemed to almost enjoy the attention (at one point even asking me, "tell him you're here for me!" to a nagging bandmate, to which he replied "really? lucky!").I guess this is what really made the two days of shooting worthwhile: feeling that the subject and I reached a point where my presence and my job (to document a slice of her daily life in the brief time we spent together) were accepted by Holly and her family, and all suspicions or doubts or self-consciousness were quickly erased. I felt I had gained trust, and as a photographer that's about the most I can ever ask of a subject.
And in turn I hope that comes across in the photographs.
In the final product I was glad to see how many pictures were used from a rather large self-edit of selects, and for the most part used well. Ultimately I might have liked to see some slightly different choices for print, but their final edit is what it is and I'm pretty pleased overall. Here's a few outtakes from the cutting room floor.