My father has been sick since I was a child. Though never close when I was little when my parents divorced I was aged 14, my brother and myself became the next of kin on the hospital forms. Over the past 9 years, we have taken him too and from hospitals, doctors appointments, specialists.
In late 2009 he was diagnosed with throat cancer, and this time I decided to take my camera along to document the journey for both him and myself. My photographing him shows the strength of my denial- by focusing on the visual aspects of what cancer means I thought may camera could serve as a piece of armour protecting me from what was happening. But the opposite happened, I was able to see him in a different light, more as the viewer of a series and less as a frustrated carer, the more photos I took,the more I began to feel a true sense of empathy with my father.
So often as a photographer we are concerned with how our subject is feeling. We try to make them feel comfortable but are mindful of not overstepping the mark. By photographing something so intimate, I became almost like a subject. There were times I could not photograph, not because it would upset my father, but rather because it would upset me. That is why I avoided photographing this as a true photo essay, rather I focused on portraits- this series is very much about my father not cancer. This series is my photographic therapy. [Official Website]
