Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Photographing Miraculous Children


Metastatic nearoblastoma, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, acute myelogenous leukemia, twin to twin transfusion syndrome, lymphocytic leukemia, pulmonary hypertension, scoliosis, these are very big words associated with these very small children. Words a parent should never have to hear.

Another difficult set of words to hear is:
“You must get to the hospital right away.”

These are all words that entered the lives of these families who needed pioneering care for kids at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. The Hive Advertising of San Francisco called upon me to photograph a number of children and their families for this heartfelt marketing campaign. All these children are miraculous survivors because of some very amazing medical treatments and care from the people at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. Meeting these children, one would not expect they have had a life with so much hardship at such an early age, but that is what makes these photos so special to me -- they look like typical ordinary children.

I guess that is what they wanted from me, simple, honest photos that get to the heart of the matter.