An opportunity came up for me about a month ago. The opportunity came in the form of an invitation to register for a webinar on “Processing Grief Through Photography and Writing.” The webinar is a presentation of North Van Arts and the instructor is documentary photographer and educator, Felicia Chang, from North Vancouver. Registrants attended the series for four weeks broken into ninety minutes per session.
https://northvanarts.ca/. http://www.feliciachangphotography.com
The webinar is designed to give ideas of how loved ones may be remembered through the combined mediums of photography and writing. The creative part of me resonated with the concept of the webinar as soon as I heard about it.
Felicia Chang brought her own passion, skill, and knowledge as a photographer to the webinar. Her passion to support people in their grief is evident in how she speaks through a transparent heart. As a retired healthcare chaplain, I recognize this combination as one sensitive to people who grieve.
The main reason I participated in this webinar is it resonated well with my current writing project. I already decided photography would be a perfect addition to the book of poetry I am writing.
My hope is by mid- 2021, my first solo book, “Plant Them a Garden: A Reflective Work of Grief, Faith, and Poetry,” will be ready to be published. The book will offer expressions of grief stemming from grandparents who grieve the death of their grandchildren.
Grandparent grief is often overlooked, hidden, and not often a topic of conversation. To see life through the eyes of grandparent grief is a unique perspective. This perspective is accompanied by an emotional cloud which hides their pain from view. As a result of my chats and other interactions with grandparents who grieve I hope to give a voice to this hidden grief.
My desire is the photos included in the book will be powerful representations of the poems. This is where my readers will decide if “Plant Them a Garden: A Reflective Work of Grief, Faith, and Poetry,” will indeed be the “voice” I pray it will be.
The photos shown in this post are ones I snapped for the webinar. Each photo represents the brevity of life.
ScarredJoy 
Hi Alan, I’m now checking this email account (I have 3, lol). So nice that you have embarked on the photography aspect of grief, in addition to writing. Praying blessings for success. Let me know when the book is ready. Blessings for the New Year to be full of health, cheer and success. Susan
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Hi Susan, thank you for the comment. My habit is to use photos I take for my blog posts and such. With, “Plant Them A Garden,” my focus is to include photos in keeping with the theme of the poetry. Yes, I will let you know when the book is ready. Thank you for the New Year blessing, my friend. Blessings to you and your family, as well.
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