Before you read the below post, I have to say that I made a mistake and feel so embarrassed! Jesse, the mom, in this post, and I totally miscommunicated. I thought she was a beginner with photos, but it turns out she’s been doing portraits on the side for a while. How I missed this, I don’t know. (Brian’s not surprised though. :)) Anyway, you’ll love what she captured of her little one. This story is so moving. And Jesse’s work will totally inspire you without doubt! (Thanks Jesse for the heads up!)

This is posting a little later than I had planned today, but that’s what happens when you find a leak in your kitchen sink! 🙂

I have to share an amazing story with you. Meet Jesse–a beautiful spirited mom of three kids. Jesse was at my house a couple weeks ago for a parent school meeting. It turns out Jesse loves photography. So of course we went crazy in conversation! We talked all about capturing and documenting our kid’s lives, and the gift we can give them from doing this.

That night Jesse went home and looked through the blog, and read a bunch of the Photography Tips for Moms exercises on detail, documenting, storytelling. And then the worst nightmare happened. Her daughter, Violet, started a temperature that ended up hitting 106! They rushed her to the hospital, and Jesse felt pulled to grab her camera.

This is Violet’s and Jesse’s story. Get Kleenex, it’s amazing.

Violet was so delirious from the fever, she couldn’t follow the doctor’s light.

Jesse said it was as if she had makeup on b/c of how flushed her face was from the fever.

Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 went by with test results coming up empty handed and a fever and headache that wouldn’t let go. I can’t imagine how helpless Jesse must have felt as a mom. She touched on how the camera and capturing this experience was so powerful with all that she was going through.

Chase, the therapy dog, came in and put his soft head on Jesse’s lap. Jesse said she cried when Violet reached out and responded to this gentle dog. A connection was made, even though the fever was still there.

Clowns came to bring smiles.

The kids from Pascaline and Jesse’s class sent cards.

By Day 7, the doctors found that it was a kidney infection. Violet was soon smiling after they were able to treat her!

She was finally sitting up and laughing with friends, when days before she slept through all the visitors from her high fever.

Jesse made this beautiful book with My Publisher (love them!) and wrote the story out of the whole experience so Violet would always have it. As Brian and I looked looked through it, we both started crying. It was so moving.

I asked Jesse if she photo shopped these images. She said she doesn’t know how to use photo shop and just did a little bit with the photos in Picassa. I asked what her camera and lens were. She had the Canon EOS Digital Rebel and a basic lense that came with it. She shot all these photos at a 5.6 aperture. Can you believe it.

Jesse was so kind to let me share Violet’s story with you. It’s one of the most moving examples of a mom, taking a risk with her camera, and documenting their child’s life. As parents, we see the tender moments and recognize the vulnerability and details (like cards from the class and dogs that touch our child’s heart) better than anyone. Who better to document our children’s lives than us. I know some of you email and share how you feel overwhelmed and intimidated with the camera, but hang in there. It’s such a worthy pursuit. And I know you’ll get it figured out, just takes practice.

Much love and blessed dreams tonight, Me Ra

to see more of Jesse’s photos, visit her site.