In September 2003 my father was diagnosed terminal from mestastasized laryngial cancer, largely due to smoking. He was always a pragmatic person. As Dad went through a variety of treatments for his cancer I was told to continue school, work and my other activities. His reasoning, "There is nothing you can do to help me".

    The long days at school and working full-time left me little to spend with him. One thing I wanted more than anything else was for him to hold on long enough to see me graduate college. Ultimately, I just wanted him to be proud of me.

      I had made the decision to pick up a camera during the second week of October. For two weeks I had photographed what was transpiring at home. Althoguh taking photographs was an intuitive response, I could not understand why I was shooting.

     My father passed on December 14th. I began looking at the contact sheets shortly after the new year. During that time I struggled to come to grips as to why I created these pictures. Eventually I realized that this was how I spent time with Dad.

     I still have not come to grips with the loss of my father. As difficult as this time was the photographs I created are the pictures I am most proud of.