Mourning Portraits

This is a post I have held off on for awhile, but decided to post in order to share some of the bitter-sweetness of the occasion. The bitterness is that someone died: Dave, who was a friend of many of my best friends, and the (absent) father of a lovely young girl that Devon and I adore, committed suicide after many years of addiction and unhappiness. The sweetness and sunlight comes from any funeral situation - as horrible as the circumstances might be, there is something amazing and powerful about one's community coming together to celebrate a friend's life, memories, and the beauty of just being all together.



Before the funeral, Dani requested that I take some mourning portraits of her beautiful daughters and herself. I loved the idea... I don't know if either of us can explain exactly why, but hopefully seeing the photos of these three lovely ladies explains for me why they would want a family portrait during the moments when they were at their most raw and sensitive.



Anyway, I'm very happy with how the photos came out.



After the sad-but-sweet memorial, some of Dave's friends went on to continue the celebration/ mourning at a local pub, and I got to see the loveliness of parents with their children, as life marched on.





My heart goes out to everyone who was affected by Dave and all of the sides of his sensitivity and pain.

More cheerful posts coming up!