pictures.

I recently finished a story about a group of sisters battling breast cancer by opting for preventative double mastectomies. At the end of the story I interviewed Heather, the main subject of the story, about the pictures. There is a picture in the slideshow that some people could object to. Essentially it shows Heather post surgery. She and I had talked multiple times about my presence and photographing her in situations that normally would be considered private. I knew it was ok that i made the picture and she would have been ok with publication - but i hesitated showing it to her because I was concerned that she might react out of context. I got over it and met her with printouts of all the photos. We went through them and made audio recordings of her talking about the pictures.

In the end I think it really helped the presentation and added a layer of information to the photographs. Also, it erased any doubt that she was ok with the publication of the photos. In fact, she makes a really beautiful statement we could never have communicated on our own.

Thanks to Heather and everyone in the Boulanger family for their time, patience and openness with Julie and I.