Profound moment

[runnah]

So as part of my gig I do the company's head shots. Last Tuesday I ended up taking a photo of one guy who later ended up passing away suddenly the following weekend. It was profound as it was the last photo of him taken while he was alive. The family is grateful to have a nice high quality photo of their father/grandfather.

Its sad, humbling, and important to me knowing I was the last. Let's hope it doesn't happen again.

 

[mmaria]

oh God.

that must have been a unique feeling/experience... I can't imagine how I would feel...

you did give them something really important..

oh God...

I'm pretty under impression of the story but not capable to put what is going trough my head into words...

 

[ronlane]

Sorry to hear that but good for you being able to capture that memory for his family.

This story is a reminder to me to take more portraits of my family.

 

[tirediron]

Had the same thing happen with a client once. I know how you feel!

 

[sm4him]

Yep, I know what you mean. It really does change your perspective on some things, doesn't it?
My experience with this wasn't quite as immediate as yours, but it was still something that had a profound affect on me. It's really what made me decide to up the portrait skills and start doing more of it instead of always trying to talk people OUT of having me do their portraits.
I've told the story here before, but I did family pictures for a dear friend, Thanksgiving 2013--both her adult children and ALL the grandkids were coming in, a rare opportunity to have them all together. She wanted pictures, and insisted I do them--I didn't really want to, because I knew a pro portrait photographer would do a much better job, especially with ALL those kids to try to corral! But I also knew she wouldn't hire someone else, so I did it.
The following Memorial Day, her husband, also a dear friend, died in a horrible boating accident. Those are the last pictures they have of everybody all together. They put one of those pictures up in a frame on his casket. Now THAT was surreal, to see one of YOUR photos "featured" on someone's casket! And at least four different family members have told me how precious those photos are to them.

I use that story when someone is hesitant to be included in photos because of some ridiculous thing. A friend wanted me to take pictures of her granddaughter and her daughter. I agreed, but urged R., my friend, to join them in some of them. R is, to be frank, extremely obese--and she is also a delightful person, has a beautiful smile, and adores E, her daughter and HL, her granddaughter. I told her the above story (she also knows the family) and asked her:
"If something completely unexpected happened to you tomorrow, do you honestly think E. or HL would care one thing about any "perceived" physical "blemish" in a picture of you with them? Or do you think that photo would be all the more special because they would have captured forever the look of love on your face?"

I've always been the worst about hating to have pictures of ME taken, but I've also tried to change that since that event.

 

[Derrel]

Oh, wow, yeah, that really does qualify as a profound moment. Thanks for reminding us about how photos can be powerful things.

 

[Bryston3bsst]

It really is kind of a wake up.

I had several of my pictures used at my best friend's funeral. It's surreal. Looking at them at the funeral I can remember the exact moment and circumstances of each one......where we were, what we were doing. Then, poof........gone.

Kind of hard to get your head around.

 

[Mr. Innuendo]

The last photo ever taken of my Dad was of him standing between my brother and me at Dad's 80th birthday party. The photo is a bit blurry, but it's perfect, too. It's my single most prized possession.

You just never know.