This is a photo of my late Father Danny. At this point, he had been already living with Parkinson’s disease for close to 7 or 8 years. He had lost a lot of his independence and his confidence. Because of this, I knew that if I ever wanted to get him in front of my camera, I would have to give him a good reason and make it easy for him to say yes.

My Mother’s birthday was coming up, and so I knew that he wasn’t able to get her a gift on her own since he had already stopped driving long before. So I asked him, “Hey Dad, let’s do a photoshoot for Mom’s birthday, and you can give this to her as her gift?” He surprisingly agreed, so we planned a day that I brought my studio set up to his house. We set up right in the living room and were able to capture some of the most precious recent images I have of him.

Sadly, my Dad was called home to heaven in 2020, but I was so grateful we had these precious memories of him. ‘

There is so much that I love about this image. I love that I can see all the details in his face, his wrinkles, his scruffy beard, and crooked teeth… all things I am SURE he would hate! But that is the beauty of this. Capturing all the details, flaws and all, because that is what makes us ourself.

This is why this project means so much to me, because a lot of people don’t want to get in front of the camera once age or disease has taken over, but it is so important for loved ones to have these special memories to cherish.