Capturing Hope and Healing: Utah Photographer
In a state full of Utah photographers, I knew more called to my creative heart than just gorgeous portraits of clients. I started as a Utah Photographer twelve hours before my son passed away. But this blog post is not about me. You can read my whole story here. This post is about my beautiful clients and how my 40 over 40 age campaign came to be.
For many years I felt lonely, isolated and disconnected because of the life experiences I had walked through. I was stuck in the merry go round comparison game. I compared my hardest life experiences to everyone else's highlight reels. It left me feeling jealous, and sad. I knew I wasn't the only one who had a story. I decided my mission as a Utah photographer wasn't just to highlight the beauty of my clients but highlight the beauty of their wisdom.
Meet Krissy. She is a beacon of hope, resilience, and unwavering strength and pure radiating joy! Krissy, a mother to seven daughters, has experienced the unimaginable pain of losing a child to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Despite this profound loss, she radiates a spirit of healing and happiness. You can't fake the kind of joy Krissy exudes.
As a mother, she knows the value of treasuring every moment with loved ones and making every moment count. When Krissy faced the heart-wrenching reality of handing her daughter back to God, Instead of succumbing to despair, Krissy turned inward to scrub the trauma out as fast as humanly possible. Rather than turning away from the pain she turned into it. Rather than running from her trauma she ran toward it. Her ability to stare pain in the eyes, love it, accept it and move it is unparalleled to anyone I have ever met.
Through her life lens, Krissy focuses on emotional and mental health. Her own experience of loss has heightened her sensitivity towards not wasting time she's given on Earth. She has no time to waste being sad. The most impressive thing about how Krissy has healed, is her courage to FEEL it. While she doesn't have time to waste being sad, it's not that she doesn't allow herself to feel all the feels. The truth is, she is an expert at feeling all the feels so she can release them and replace them at lightning speed.
Krissy's example during her photoshoot showed me that complete wholeness and healing is possible after the unthinkable. Her light that shined through her eyes was an example that wholeness is possible. Obtaining joy after one of life's greatest sorrows is not only doable but achievable at turbo speed.
Krissy's journey from grief to resilience serves as a powerful reminder of the human spirit's capacity to overcome even the darkest of times. She is a coach, upcoming author and speaker. She has tools in her emotional toolkit to help unwind trauma of all kinds. If you are looking for a coach to show you real life skills to get you out of the rut that's keeping you stuck, contact her here.
I hope as a Utah photographer, you are able to see how beauty lies not just in the images, but in the courage and strength of the souls in front of the lens.
It was a joy to capture Krissy as one of my 40 over 40 age campaign participants. She taught me so much in such a short amount of time as a Utah Photographer.
Love you Krissy. Thank you for being you.
xoxo
Michelle Ellsworth
