Documenting the Hard Stuff – A Post Mastectomy Session

When I walked in to Devin and Shawn’s apartment, Devin already had her shirt off and was settled in on the couch with her dog, Noodle, cuddled up next to her. She had asked me to come over just two weeks after she had had preventative mastectomy surgery, to capture what this time in her life looked like. Devin is an extremely talented actor, and I deeply respected her motivation in having me make photographs of her life and body in that time post surgery. Between her family history and genetic testing, she had come to the difficult decision that she would have the mastectomy, and she wanted us to make some art.

At one point in the shoot, Devin looked over at the Christmas tree, “It’s kind of weird that we have the Christmas tree in the shots.” And Shawn answered, “Why? This is our Christmas this year.” I found that kind of generous acceptance of reality so moving. This shoot truly was a collaboration. I was there with my camera, but Devin and Shawn (and Noodle) brought the love and honesty. We documented some of their morning routine and then also took some emotive portraits. I couldn’t be happier that these guys invited me in to their home at this time. Such a great reminder that so many different parts of life are worth documenting.

Much to my shock, one of my photographs from this session won 4th place in the Documentary Family Awards and can be seen above.