At the end of May I photographed the Hintz Family. Meg and Mark go to our church, Hope Community Church in Minneapolis. Last December, Meg and Mark lost their third child, Jairus. He was stillborn at 35 weeks. Just three days after Christmas. Once I heard their heart-breaking news, I knew that I wanted to gift them with a photo shoot.
Prior to heading out for the shoot I was doing the dishes and thinking of poses I could do, ways I could shoot and good subjects to talk about with Emma and Hazen. Then a song came on the radio called "Blessings" by Laura Story..... and I lost it. I just broke down - just like I did the Sunday after Jairus went home to heaven when Pastor Steve preached on Grief. You can watch the sermon here. I would highly encourage anyone who has ever dealt with grief {all of us} is currently dealing with grief {many of us} or think they may someday deal with grief {all of us}. That Sunday, {just days after Jairus passed} Dan and I sat right behind Meg and Mark at church and I cried, the entire time. I have never in my life felt that much emotion in one hour. Really. I have been through my own trials - but my heart has never hurt like it did that day. Just typing this brings pain in my heart and tears to my eyes. I knew that family pictures would not be the first thing on Meg's mind, but I knew then, that someday I would love to do that for them.
Approaching that day, Meg and I chatted about incorporating Jairus into the photoshoot. So Meg brought along a few items that belong to Jairus – a bear, blanket and hat. We wanted to incorporate those into some of their pictures. As well as the beautiful locket Meg wears around her neck.
The last five months for the Hintz family has been documented through a blog that Meg updates. I encourage you to read their story and find strength and hope in her words.
http://hintzclan.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html
You can see some of the pictures in a more recent post of hers, but I thought I'd share a few too:
No comments:
Post a Comment