At the Hoboken Open Studio Tour this past Oct. - Jene & I were exhibiting our personal works as well as promoting our Labor Of Love Pix portrait photography. I met a woman who loved my B&W nudes. She felt they were sensual without overtones of "in your face nakedness". She told me that she would like to have me shoot her. I handed her my card.
I heard from her about 2 weeks ago, she told me she had breast cancer and would like to photo document her journey - before and after. I asked how she felt about Jene and I shooting her together and she was up for that. She liked Jene's dancers in motion series as well. Although our styles differ we understand how to create a story and get the concept across in the capture.
The 3 of us met to discuss what type of story she wants to tell - our take on it and how we could help her. The session started that night with a call from her friend who wanted to cast her torso in plaster. Never having done this before her friend solicited the help of an artist at Blick's Art Store who came and helped with the process. We spent hours together, virtual strangers coming together to help someone through the emotional ride when dealing with the onslaught of a double mastectomy. Our paths have crossed and each one of us was touched by the other.
And so the journey begins....
This will be a true Labor of Love helping someone cope with her changing body, the fears of cancer, showing people that she is still the same person as she was before, letting her inner beauty shine through her pain, tears and scars. Through our photographs will hope to shine a light on the fact that a woman is not just tits and ass. She is a woman because of her mind and heart, loving as only a woman can.
Breast cancer touches us all in one way or another.
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