A unique senior

[Jimmyz]

I had a session a few weeks back for a 2008 senior boy.
When the mom and boy arrive I see he has a pretty severe case of Muscular dystrophy.
He is able to walk but he has arm crutches and it appeared it was the strength of his arms that he used to move his body along.
Now when I do a session I take a little time to gather some ideas of what I want to do for the session before the folks arrive.

When I met Dan I could see he was very shy and I wasn't so sure he wanted to do the session.
I shook his hand and walked into the shooting area to think about what I was going to do now.
Dan came walking in and said he would like to have mostly upper body pictures.
I decided I would just shoot like he had no physical problems.
I did have him sit for the indoor session.
Outside I assisted him and joked around as I would any senior and he was laughing.
When the family came back for the projection and saw the show they were over whelmed with emotion and were hugging me and my wife.
Dan struggled to come over and shook my hand.
He loved the pictures!

When they were leaving, Dan's Mom turned to me and said thanks for making Dans senior pictures something he will always remember.
It felt really good to have made this family so happy and this boy with so many odds to overcome feel like any other kid.
Here's a few they picked out!

[clarebear]

jimmy,

these are great images. what an awesome story! thank you for sharing your "this is why i am a photographer" story today.

clare

[Songman45]

That's what this business is all about, dignity and capturing personality. My hat is off to you and I respect you for what I know you went to in meeing and exceeding this customer's expectations. Kudos and 2 cc of Vitimin K coming your way. Oh the pictures? Tremendous, great imagination and technique.

[tbnj]

Those are both great images, and I love the story! Thanks so much for sharing. He's a cute guy.
Tina

[Athena]

Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. You, the pictures, the story, the way I feel reading it. Thank you for being you Jimmy.

[gaopa2]

Jimmy what a special shoot and what wonderful photos.... good on y'mate! Have some karma. Cheers, Bill P.

[patterfr]

I believe we are all given gifts to make this world better. So here is some evidence of that. I mean that.
Jimmy, these pictures are perfect with a great story to boot.
BTW, I looked at the pics before reading the story and he came across as the "quarterback who gets all the chicks" so pretty awesome job!!!!

[Rain Lily]

OH! This is what I want to specialize in!!!

You ROCK for doing this...

I seriously want to have a specialty in this area, photographing special needs kids - but right now, working for Special Ed in our schools, there are ethics issues about getting this end of things going...

But YOU have taken it and run with it - you did a GREAT job!

Have some karma - if I could karma you twice on this, I would!
Sis

[Not4wood]

I'm coming in a little bit late, but I can't find the words that will add to either Rain Lilly or Fran. They both said a mouthful about personality and capturing the Soul from his eyes. LOL In so many words there.........

Great Shots. How bout the ones they didn't buy?? Obvously you worked very hard on these to be able to capture and show this quality. What about those others that you liked and they didn't??

I gotta tell you, I was gonna write it again but I already did. Great Shots......

[Jimmyz]

Thanks everyone!
It is amazing that while trying to earn a living we can actually touch someones life and make it better. We see f-stops and lighting ratios and they see family and personality.
We are a very blessed group of people.

[Rodeoshooter]

Stories like this is what I love about my chosen profession of being a "Professional Photographer". I have often said no one told me I had to be a "psychologist" when I went into business as a photographer. I truly believe we make life changes (for the better) for our customers by listening to them and creating images they could never imagine having.

You did a great thing as a person and a photographer. You will see many returns from his family as a thank you.

WAY TO GO! :>)

[digitaldude400d]

Absolutely awesome story and fantastic shots! One of the great things about photography is that the images that are capture can keep on touching others ...as these pictures do. Thank you for sharing that moment with us!

[Maggie_B]

Great shots as usual, he's a handsome boy. You must have a way with people Jimmy!

Mag

[PetersenPhotography]

Jimmy - fantastic pictures, touching story. That's what I've discovered taking pictures of people - you can really change their self-perception with a single photograph. I just hope that, when I do it, it's a change for the better!!!

Originally Posted by Rain Lily

OH! This is what I want to specialize in!!!

You ROCK for doing this...

I seriously want to have a specialty in this area, photographing special needs kids - but right now, working for Special Ed in our schools, there are ethics issues about getting this end of things going...

But YOU have taken it and run with it - you did a GREAT job!

Have some karma - if I could karma you twice on this, I would!
Sis

Sis - as a teacher myself, I know what you mean. So far, I have limited myself only to taking pictures of kids whose parents happen to be colleagues of mine (and with whom I'm on good terms!!) However, if I put an add in the paper (or something like that) and garnered business that way, I'd probably be perfectly safe to do that - assuming that I refused the business of any child I had direct responsibilities for.

Perhaps you should try advertising somewhere away from where you work, but within a reasonable distance from your home? I see you live in LA...do your public schools operate on the municipality/city system or on the parish/county system? In my home state of Maine, it was city, so I'd probably advertise and accept clients outside of your city district (just to be on the safe side). However, living in Maryland we do things on the county system, so I'd not accept students from my school or from the feeder schools that my students will attend in the future or have attended in the past.

If you really want that to be your niche, then go for it.

[KingEnigma]

Touching Story. Great job.

[ohenry]

Awesome story!

[ah-photography]

Everyone else has said it all; awesome story, awesome attitude and awesome results - have some k

[felix.reichardt]

you're the best! have a karma.

[KellyL]

I love you JimmyZ! Even more now than before! Awesome shots and wonderful story.

[Jimmyz]

Thanks Kelly!
You are a friend!