I received a call from Kris LaManna, at ESPN the Magazine, while on assignment in Florida a few weeks ago. After listening to her voice mail of the story she’d like for me to shoot I instantly was thrown off my game. I still had one more shoot left on the current job and all I could think about was the shoot Kris called me for.
Chase Kowalski was seven years old when his life was cut short while attending school in Sandy Hook, CT. He was one of the victims gunned down by….his name isn’t even worth saying out loud. Kris asked me to join her at the Kowalski’s home to photograph Chase’s bedroom, which was exactly as it was the day he left for school that December 14th. Chase was a sports fanatic and it was evident once you entered his room. I was as nervous as I’ve ever been for a shoot in my life because I did not know what to expect. All my reservations were wiped away once we were greeted by Chase’s parents, Becky and Stephen. They decided they were not going to let the grief overrun them and decided to turn a negative into a positive. You can read the article to get the rest of the story as I would not do it justice as well as the writer, Marty Smith.
As for the photography I had no idea what I wanted to the image to look like. What is appropriate in this situation? I knew the focus was the handmade Jimmy Johnson poster above his bed but that was it. I didn’t want the image to be too moody as this is a positive story and I didn’t want the image to be too bright and cheery cause, well, I just didn’t. The one thing I did want it to have was life, a feeling of life. To me that meant sunlight. Not really knowing if there would actually be sunlight that day, which there wasn’t, I carried with me a fresnel head for my strobe. This would allow me to create my own daylight and the ability to place it outside the window where I felt it looked best. I was happy with the final image and I hope I did Chase justice. I also hope the article gives exposure to the foundation that Chase’s parents created in his name.
