vividity blog

I was privileged to attend the opening of a very special exhibition last week. It is a collection of work from the Australian Community of Child Photographers, a most wonderful group of people who volunteer their time and talent to help families who have experienced stillbirths or who have premature and/or seriously ill children. The photographs were beautiful, and the stories behind them touching to say the least. It’s worth getting along for a look if you can. Take your tissues! Here are the details:

(Click here if you need more information.)

About ten years ago, before I had children of my own, I approached a couple of hospitals and other organisations like SANDS (a support group for sudden and neonatal death) to ask if I could offer photography services for the families they came in touch with, but I was knocked back. I was in the middle of my PhD at the time, so I didn’t have the time or the energy to push the system. (Yes, I have a PhD. Yes, a real one. It’s in Early Childhood Education. I might tell you about it sometime…) And then I fell pregnant, and didn’t think turning up heavily pregnant to photograph a family who had just lost a baby was such a good idea (not to mention I wondered how I would handle the emotions that would arise, knowing that the same thing was a possible outcome for my own pregnancy), so I didn’t pursue the matter.

I was thrilled to discover a year or so ago that someone had fought the system long enough to get the ACOCP up and running. What commitment! I’d like to join ACOCP one day, but not for now. Probably in a year or two when my baby is older, and I can more easily drop everything and run at any time of the day or night.