by Kara L.C. Jones
KotaPress Editor

Discovering Soulumination

One rainy Seattle afternoon, my husband and I were tooling around at Glaser's camera store downtown, going from the main shop over to the lighting equipment shop a street over. As Hawk talked shop with the folks behind the counter, my mind and body began to zoom around the big warehouse room. I felt distinctly pulled over to the far wall that runs along the other entrance to this building.

When my eyes finally focused on the wall there, I saw these huge prints, mostly black and white, of families. Moms with kids. Siblings together. Dads holding tiny babies. And my heart began to race and my breath caught in my ribcage. In several of those photos, I was almost certain that one of the children was dead. I know how the face of a child looks after he has died. I know because I have photos of my own stillborn son.

I ran over to the counter to ask for pen and paper to jot down the photographer's name so I could look her up online. The amazing person behind the counter said, "No, don't bother because, look, we have postcards about the project and the photographer and the website." While this was less than seven months ago (maybe in February 2006), and since then lots of photographic projects have come onto the scene -- but back then, just seven short months ago, this was the first time I had ever come across this!! Now, I hope there are only more and more photographers willing to offer this kind of service to bereaved families. It is so needed.

From the Soulumination website

Free professional photography services for families facing life-threatening illness or death of a child.

Since discovering the Soulumination project, I've learned that they not only offer these services to families, but their founder has been make appearances around the country to train caregivers about this work. You've got to check out their Soulumination website and get full information for yourself!
<<BACK