Joe Wigdahl 7/11/13 Joe Wigdahl 7/11/13

AWARD: Luerzer's Archive 200 Best Advertising Photographers Worldwide

Luerzer's Archive 2014 200 Best Advertising Photographers Worldwide

I'm incredibly honoured and proud to have one of my images chosen for the 2014/15 Luerzer's Archive 200 Best Advertising Photographers Worldwide issue. They chose an image that I shot for Subaru while I was in Norway. Thanks Luerzer's!

Joe Wigdahl 30/10/13 Joe Wigdahl 30/10/13

Kids Shoot Test- Alicia and kids

I did a test shoot with Sydney agency Bump Models a few weeks ago and got the chance to work with Alicia and her kids Ryan and Sara. I love working with kids and when I test I try to see how much I can get out of them within a time limit- say half an hour or an hour and a half or something like that. Most shoots that I'm hired for that use kids usually get planned in such a way that I have a limited time to get something and then I have to move on. For the test shoots I try to let the kids get crazy, come up with ideas as they're happening and let them play freely to allow them to come up with things naturally on their own. Nine times out of ten the parent is worried that the kids are being too wild and are apologizing for them and yelling at the children to be polite and do what I ask. I usually have to reassure them that the mayhem is perfectly fine and exactly what I want. At the end of the hour or two hours I've got a ton of great images and the kids are wiped out, the parents are relieved and everyone's happy.

Joe Wigdahl 17/10/13 Joe Wigdahl 17/10/13

The Monocle Guide to Better Living

The Monocle Magazine has just come out with a hefty new book titled, "The Monocle Guide to Better Living" and I have a two page spread inside featuring a shoot about swimming in Sydney I did for them last year. It's a beautiful book and it's great to have my images alongside other photographers and stories from around the world.

Joe Wigdahl 21/8/13 Joe Wigdahl 21/8/13

Vodafone 4G Ad Campaign

I just recently shot a new campaign for Vodafone launching their new 4G service. The job involved working with massive, real letters spelling out the "4G" that weighed several hundred pounds and took a team of moving experts to get the unwieldy, fragile and extremely expensive props into place. We started off at 2:30 AM shooting on Sydney Harbour and finished off the day at 8 at night shooting in a park filled with frollicking dogs in the Eastern Suburbs. Considering the challenges of working on such a long production day on location we really lucked out with weather, the props surviving the moves and avoiding the dog poo at the park and had a great time.

Joe Wigdahl 21/5/13 Joe Wigdahl 21/5/13

Portrait for Good Weekend: Writer Drusilla Modjeska

Portrait of the Australian writer Drusilla Modjeska for a Good Weekend story about her bout with breast cancer.

This was one of those shoots where the subject, Australian writer Drusilla Modjeska, wasn't really too keen on being in a photoshoot. She gave me all sorts of warnings about how she's not a good subject, the camera doesn't like her etc. and I just said, "Don't worry. Let's just hang out and chat for an hour and I'll take some pics over the course of the conversation. That's it." She had a gigantic library, covering most of the walls of the house from floor to ceiling as well as a large collection of Papuan tribal art from her visits to Papua New Guinea in the 50's and 60's. It was a breeze talking to her and she's one of those people that I wish I could meet every week for a brief chat just to keep my brain stimulated. We talked about families, authors, history and tribal art. When I was sure I got the shot I told her I was done and she seemed surprised that what we had just done was a photoshoot. It doesn't have to be an intimidating thing with lights and stylists and the whole circus. Sometimes a shoot can be two people having a nice chat.

Joe Wigdahl 17/4/13 Joe Wigdahl 17/4/13

Aussie Bodies: Keep Going

A few months ago I was asked to shoot stills alongside a TVC production for Aussie Bodies. I shot portraits of several famous Aussie athletes and an everyday yoga mom in action for the Australian protein and supplements brand Aussie Bodies for use in print and online. Each story was a pretty inspiring one: Sally Fitzgibbons is a world champion professional surfer and started winning titles when she was 14 after just a few years of surfing. Kelly Cartwright lost her leg to cancer when she was 15 and has since climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and won gold and silver medals at the 2012 London Paralympics. Lewis Jetta was part of the Sydney Swan's 2012 AFL Premiership title known for several of his last-second game saving goals. Marcus Bottay is a Guinness Book of World Records holder for the rope climb and is sort of the king of those guys who work out in the fitness yard on Bondi Beach. He's also a big believer in freeing people from gym and healthclub memberships and teaching them that opportunities to get fit, be healthy and have fun are everywhere. It was one of those jobs where I felt lucky to get to meet a bunch of pretty inspiring people.

Sally Fitzgibbons for Aussie Bodies

Marcus Bottay for Aussie Bodies

Lewis Jetta for Aussie Bodies

Kelly Cartwright for Aussie Bodies

Joe Wigdahl 26/3/13 Joe Wigdahl 26/3/13

Subaru Forester 2013- Norway

A few months after shooting the first leg of the 2013 Subaru Forester's trip around the world, AOI Pro contacted me and asked if I'd like to go to Norway to shoot the next leg. I jumped at the chance- I've always wanted to go to Norway and after I moved to Australia I considered the chances of ever going to be close to nil. Even though there would only be 4-5 hours of daylight a day, -20C most days and it would be something like 28-35 hours of travel each way depending on flight times and delays and it would be right before Christmas, I had to go.

2013 Subaru Forester Norway by Joe Wigdahl

A break in the clouds, Norway.

Buried road markers

A long road through the mountains

Frozen lake at dusk.

2013 Subaru Forester Norway by Joe Wigdahl

The crew lost in the fog.

The “Blue Hour”

Aside from my clients who were from Japan, the entire crew and production were Norwegian and I had the good fortune to meet and shoot alongside a motion crew headed by Norwegian D.P.

Jo Eken Torp

. Shooting in the -20°C temp didn't really bother me as I had lived in Chicago for 10 years and had done shoots in colder temperatures than that. The Norwegians had a lovely habit of standing around and eating waffles and cheese toasties and drinking endless cups of filtered coffee on our downtime and that kept us cozy enough. I was more worried about the fact that we were shooting in Norway the week before winter solstice and daylight would be short and it would mean that not a minute of shoot time could be wasted. Most of the time the motion crew had the car so I had to get whatever I could get without bugging them which meant using long lenses and hiding in the woods while cameras were rolling. When I did have the car to myself I would usually get about 10-15 minutes to get as many of my hero shots as I could before they took the car away from me. To make things more challenging, I completely lost my voice for 5 days of the shoot. I would have to whisper hoarsely to my assistant and then he would have to frantically yell something in Norwegian or English to get things to happen while we still had the car for a few precious minutes. Several times we were ready to start shooting when a cloud or some fog would pass by and everything would get totally lost in white. Nothing had edges or shadows and there was no sense of depth whatsoever. It was like being in an infinite outdoor cyclorama and shooting would become useless. Suddenly a cloud might lift and we'd shoot furiously for 5-10 minutes before it was gone again. On the last day of shooting we had an incredible sunny day and got the chance to see the "blue hour" in which the landscape gets a stunning steely-cyan/blue hue just after the sun sets.

My dad's side of the family is Norwegian- that's where the name Wigdahl comes from. We grew up with lots of relatives in the "Yassir, you betcha, I'll bring some casserole to the pot luck!" Scandinavian diaspora of Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. During the holidays at the Wigdahl's we ate mashed potatoes and meatballs, pickled herring and lefse covered in butter and sugar. My grandparents had little troll figurines around the house and my family drank coffee from the time we woke up to just before bed. We were told that Uff da! was basically the Norwegian all-purpose curse but my Norwegian friends from Norway told me that it's basically equivalent to shouting "Jeepers!" or "Gosh darnit!" But growing up in New Jersey and being of Norwegian descent meant that we didn't really know anybody else who was Norwegian so we took our grandparent's word (and maybe Garrison Keilor's) for what being Norwegian meant.

Aside from the curiosity of knowing where one's ancestors comes from, I think my brother and I were always sort of plagued by the question of "How much of this is my fault and how much is it genetics?" hahaha. Scandinavian music that makes it abroad seems to be either insanely heavy death metal or club music. Scandinavian films tend to favor the silent, expressionless, melancholic hero bathed in dusky blue light. The dusky blue light was true but everyone I met in Norway was really lovely and chipper and constantly offering me a cup of coffee. My assistant did point out that the snowsuit I was wearing while in Norway was the kind of snowsuit that homeless people wear- so that might be a reason why everyone was so keen to offer me coffee and a waffle but I was stricken by generally how friendly the Norwegians were and how perfect their English was and it made traveling a breeze. I kept thinking what a shame it was that I couldn't spend some serious time in Norway to meet more people and to see how this incredible landscape could transform from white to green.

Joe Wigdahl 28/2/13 Joe Wigdahl 28/2/13

Subaru 2013 Forester- Australia

In September I was asked by the Japanese advertising agencies Hakuhodo and Aoi Pro to take part in a year-long project shooting the new Subaru Forester as it began a drive around the world through some its toughest terrain. I shot stills alongside a motion/TVC production headed by the Australian cinematographer Daniel Ardilley with the Australian production handled by Dynamite Productions. I felt pretty lucky to be involved in this production as I knew I was going to be going to parts of Australia that I probably would never get the chance to go see otherwise and I'd be able to go up in a helicopter to get some great views of the incredible Aussie outback landscape. We first shot in a rather desolate spot outside of Broken Hill, where all the old Mad Max films were shot. While we were shooting we had to endure temperatures of 38°C and higher and the only things that seemed to occupy this blazing landscape aside from the occasional dry shrub were flies. Lots and lots of flies. It was my first time out in the real desert of the outback and I wasn't prepared for how that fine red dust gets into everything, so I spent most of my downtime when I wasn't shooting cleaning my camera and lenses. On our shoot in the Flinders Ranges we were climbing hills in 4x4s so steep that we ran the risk of flipping backwards. I still remember our location scout telling us before we had to drive up the longest, steepest hill of the track to get to one of our locations, "You have to commit to it and go forward and not stop. If you hesitate or stop, you will roll backwards and probably die. You'll also probably kill whoever is behind you." Nice. I don't tell my wife about those parts of the job.

Still, I had a blast shooting alongside a fantastic crew and production team and I enjoyed working with my clients so much that it inspired me to start learning Japanese. They were happy enough with my work on the Australian production that they brought me out to Norway in December to shoot another leg of the Forester's journey around the world. (I'll post images from that in a week or two.)

Subaru Forester, Australia, photography by Joe Wigdahl Photography

Subaru Forester, Australia, photography by Joe Wigdahl Photography

Joe Wigdahl 15/2/13 Joe Wigdahl 15/2/13

Nikon D5200 "I Am Imagination"

Back in August I worked with the German advertising agency Jung von Matt ( JVM) on the "I Am Imagination" campaign for the new Nikon D5200. It was also one of the several jobs I've done this year alongside a TVC/motion production where I was the still shooter. I had the pleasure to work alongside Danish director Henrik Henson who shot the motion spot for this campaign.

Nikon D5200 “I Am Imagination” Photography by Joe Wigdahl

Nikon D5200 “I Am Imagination” Photography by Joe Wigdahl, Advertising Agency Jung von Matt

Joe Wigdahl 5/2/13 Joe Wigdahl 5/2/13

Australian Mangoes

Mangoes in the summer in Australia are amazing- during my first summer here in Sydney I went crazy for them. Every Sunday I would buy a box of 20 mangoes for 20 bucks and spend the next couple days dripping with juice, eating them over the sink. My mother-in-law grew up in South Africa and her fondest memories of Christmas always involved piles of mangoes (and that's all that she ever wants from us for Christmas). Needless to say, I was pretty excited when the people who represent Aussie Mangoes contacted me to do some shots for them.

After a little searching we ended up lucking out and finding a fantastic family for the shoot. It's not always possible, but if I have the opportunity, I always prefer to work with a real family as opposed to a family made up of assorted talent. The main reason is that, well, it's real. I always think that it serves the client in a better way because they can say, "Yes, this really is a real family enjoying themselves" and it helps me do my job faster because we don't have to worry about any awkwardness- we can dive right in. It also helps with how I approach these types of shoot days. I'm usually presented with a shot list in the brief and I use that as a guide to how the days will flow. Once we get the wardrobe, maybe some props and other lighting/tech things set up I like to push that stuff out of my mind and begin the shoot. In this case, I spent the days cooking and eating with the family, cleaning up, having dessert and then running around in the back yard in the sprinklers with the kids. The end result is that we have a lot of fun and we get a lot of real moments of a family spending time together. I'd say the only negative thing about doing this shoot was that the mom was a little exasperated that I had gotten the kids so wound up and had fed them something like a dozen mangoes each- I think she was a little worried that they were never going to go to sleep again. I got to go home with about 20 kilos of mangoes and spent the next week making mango chutney, mango jam, mango pavlova...

Slicing the Mango

Scooping the mango cheeks out of the skin with a glass.

The mango cheeks removed

Mango, spinach, chicken and white bean salad

Mango, prawn and rocket salad with a capsicum vinaigrette

Mango pavlova

Grilled Lamb and Mangoes

Joe Wigdahl 27/11/12 Joe Wigdahl 27/11/12

Australian Desert Landscapes

I know that I haven't been updating my blog very much lately but it's because I've actually been pretty busy and unfortunately many of the jobs that I've been working on have confidentiality agreements that don't allow me to talk about the jobs until several months after I've shot them. But I've got loads of new images to show you and I hope you like them. In August I had the opportunity to go to one of the salt flats/lakes in South Australia for a photoshoot. It was my first time in the true Australian Outback desert and I was thrilled that someone was sending me out there because there are a lot of places in Australia that are so remote that I have no idea of when I'd ever get the chance to go see them unless someone sent me there. I got to really see a glimpse of the Australian interior with loads of kangaroos, emus and the red dust that makes the light so incredible at dawn and dusk.

I had rented the Nikon D800 for the job and I was going to be staying out in a sheep station that was hours from anywhere with lights and there was a new moon so I knew I would have the perfect opportunity to capture some amazing landscape and night shots. At the particular salt flat where we were shooting there was only about 4cm of water sitting on top of a hard white salt surface so it created a mirror effect that made anything standing on it look like it was resting on glass. It was an incredible experience being there and taking pictures there and my only wish is that I had more time off set to take more personal shots like the ones you see below.

Joe Wigdahl 17/9/12 Joe Wigdahl 17/9/12

Bondi Kite Festival

Last week I covered the Bondi Kite Festival for a local Bondi magazine "Life in the Bubble" and had a great time getting my feet wet in the Bondi surf while shooting these amazing kites. More images and the story can be seen here: http://www.lifeinthebubble.com/issue/2012/may/windsofchange

Joe Wigdahl 25/7/12 Joe Wigdahl 25/7/12

Monocle Magazine: Sydney Swimming

Last month Monocle Magazine featured the most liveable cities in the world and of course, Sydney was one of them. They wanted me to travel around the Sydney area and document the people and places that makes swimming feature so strongly in the Sydney lifestyle. I traveled around the northern beaches like Balmoral and Manly and many of the eastern beaches like Clovelly, Maroubra and of course, Bondi. I'm a big swimmer myself so I was really looking forward to hitting the spots that I love and getting the chance to find some new ones.

Below is Murray Cox. It was sheer luck meeting Murray as he was the first person I met on the first morning I went out to begin shooting for the article. It turns out Murray has been swimming in Sydney his entire life and is one of those rare swimmers who has "connected the dots," which means he swam every beach in the Sydney area from Palm Beach in the north down to Kernell in the south. He knew everybody associated with swimming in Sydney and put me in touch with just about everyone else I had to shoot for this article. What a find!

It was the beginning of winter here in Sydney when I began to shoot for this article, so most swimmers had retired until spring. Most of the people I met for the article were the few hard-core all season people. When I first moved to Australia I swam year-round as I was accustomed to swimming in chilly Lake Michigan (the water temp in Lake Michigan still never gets warmer in the summer than Sydney gets in the winter) and I would happily spend an hour or so in the winter water in my board shorts. A lifeguard had come out once to check to make sure I didn't have hypothermia and I sort of laughed at the idea of being that cold. Now, a year and half into living in Oz and I'm completely acclimated and I can't go in the water for more than 10 minutes without reaching for my wetsuit and feeling like I'm going to freeze to death.

My mother happened to be visiting us from the U.S. for a few weeks so I decided that it would be a great way to show her a bit of Sydney by taking her with me to Balmoral to shoot one of the Balmoral women's swimming clubs. The women loved that I brought my mom to a shoot and my mom ended up being so inspired by the incredible fitness of these swimmers (many of whom are my mom's age or older) that she decided afterwards to join a swim club.

Joe Wigdahl 30/6/12 Joe Wigdahl 30/6/12

Chicago Storm Pictures

I woke up this morning with an email from a friend back in Chicago warning me that several people were sending around a picture on Facebook that I took, claiming that it was theirs. Apparently there were some pretty ominous clouds over Chicago and someone either mistakenly (or intentionally) said that this picture was taken yesterday of the same storm and at some point, the image went viral on Facebook and Reddit with several people claiming they took it

I've got prints of the image available for sale in my store here.

I'm glad that people really appreciate this picture, I've always liked this shot and it's really flattering to see so many people get excited about it. Copyright/intellectual property infringement aside, it is a bit upsetting that people would claim they took it or claim erroneously that it depicts something that happened yesterday although it actually happened four years ago. (I blogged about it right after I took these shots several years ago.) If anything, I'd like to make sure I get credit for the picture because I was the moron who was stuck in a helicopter taking pictures during a massive lightning storm and I probably used up a lot of my good luck taking those pictures.

If you happen to see someone claiming credit for this picture or sharing it from someone else who claims that they've taken it, can you politely correct them, tell them that I took it and point viewers here?

Thanks!

Joe Wigdahl 5/6/12 Joe Wigdahl 5/6/12

Tasmania / Smithsonian Magazine

I was recently asked by the American publication The Smithsonian Magazine to shoot a cover story featuring Tasmania and Tasmania's world famous MONA Museum. I was asked to document Hobart, shoot the Mona museum and some portraits of its notoriously camera-shy owner David Walsh and then afterwards make my way up to the Freycinet Peninsula to document the award winning Sapphire Hotel, Wineglass Bay and the incredible surrounding landscapes. The article can be read here.Unfortunately due to the location agreements I had to sign with MONA and the Sapphire Hotel, the pictures I took were only allowed to be published in the Smithsonian Magazine so I've just put in a few landscape shots from the trip.

David Walsh- MONA Museum Owner

Brian Ritchie

Tasmania landscape shots- a wooded path.

I had no idea what to expect before I met David Walsh, owner of the MONA museum in Hobart. I couldn't find much about him before I went to the shoot except that he had created his wealth as a professional gambler and that the museum was actually his personal art collection. I also knew that he hated meeting photographers and having his picture taken and that his persona, at least in print, was that of a recluse. His assistant Delia had warned me that I might only have 10 minutes tops to shoot him. When he finally arrived I immediately took a liking to him and I had one of the most interesting conversations I'd had in years and we ended spending almost 2 hours talking and shooting. We talked about the spirit and energy behind collectors and collecting and the function of art. The conversation bounced around from game theory to physics to ancient seafaring and trade and I left the shoot wishing I could spend a lot more time listening to him.

Afterwards I got the chance to meet former Violent Femmes bass player, Brian Ritchie, who now lives in Tasmania and coordinates music events for MONA and for much of the Hobart music scene. He and his wife Valuni Kulasakera own the best tea company in Australia, Chado Tea, and they welcomed me into their home so that I could shoot a portrait of Brian for the story, drink some tea and reminisce about our favorite Milwaukee haunts.

I only had a few days to shoot in Tasmania but it was so beautiful and the people were so friendly that I definitely plan to return soon.

Joe Wigdahl 24/4/12 Joe Wigdahl 24/4/12

Mazda BT-50 Shoot: Zoom Zoom Magazine

Last month I was asked by the UK's Redwood Media Group to shoot a story featuring Mazda's new BT-50 model for its award-winning online presence, Zoom Zoom Magazine. They wanted to tell a story about a day in the life of a BT-50 owner with a natural, reportage feel- showcasing its versatility by following the owner through rough terrain, a surf trip, a trip to the zoo "glamping" (glamorous camping) with his nieces and capped with a night out on the town.We had a looonngggg shot list for the 2 day shoot and I was working alongside Jefferson Grainger, from Corporate Video Australia, who was shooting the motion segment of the piece for the web. Working alongside a motion crew on the same production can be pretty challenging for a still shooter because it can significantly cut into the time there is to shoot- especially if the motion crew is shooting sound or if they don't want to give time to the still shooter (which happens a lot). Thankfully that wasn't the case in this shoot as Jefferson and I both realized that we were going to have to really work together to make sure that each of us got what we needed and it was actually a lot of fun bouncing ideas off one another as to how to get as many good shots as we could in the time that we had. The client was really happy with the results and I just finished shooting a second feature in Sydney for Zoom Zoom Magazine last week. I've included the tears and just a few of the images from the shoot here.

Joe Wigdahl 17/4/12 Joe Wigdahl 17/4/12

AFS Construction

I was contacted by the firm Strategy Design & Advertising about shooting some reportage-style imagery for a company profile booklet for their client, AFS Construction. The goal was to make an ordinary, heavy-duty construction site feel like something interesting and dynamic so that they could really showcase what was unique about the equipment and crew of AFS.

A few months ago I was contacted by the firm Strategy Design & Advertising about shooting some reportage-style imagery for a company profile booklet for their client, AFS Construction. The goal was to make an ordinary, heavy-duty construction site feel like something interesting and dynamic so that they could really showcase what was unique about the equipment and crew of AFS. I had only 4 hours to get as much imagery as I could and it was my first time on an Australian construction site so I was pretty surprised when I had to spend the first 2 hours of the shoot in safety and regulations training, multiple waiver and release signings and pass two mandatory breathalyzer tests before I was allowed to even step foot on the site. While I was learning about evacuation points and procedures during fires, chemical spills and natural disasters I was watching the sun move and I was losing light. I was relieved to finally get on site with 2 chaperones and less than two hours left and was luckily able to get quite a good range of images. I was thrilled to see the final designed booklet and website that Strategy Design had come up with and these are the results:

After the shoot was done I was left a little exasperated by what seemed like an overabundance of caution. After thinking about it a bit more I had a change of heart when I started to realize how little caution was exercised on similar shoots I had been on in the U.S. When shooting on top of a skyscraper under construction in Chicago a few years ago the site foreman handed me a helmet, said, "Just don't fall off the side and you'll be okay," and then let me roam around on my own for several hours. I've been on work sites where I've seen fork lift operators drinking vodka before a shift at 7am, contractors rewiring a room with bare hands on live wires, and my own (unwise) safety decisions like shooting in a helicopter in the beginning of a massive electrical storm. The more I thought about how the Australians approach workplace safety the more I'm surprised that Americans seem so laissez-faire about safety- especially with the cost of healthcare and number of lawsuits there.

Project Credits: Agency- Strategy Design & Advertising.

Creative Director/Designer- Dan Mercer. Designers- Geoff Courtman & Christina Perry.

Photos of booklet and website courtesy of Strategy Design & Advertising.

Joe Wigdahl 5/4/12 Joe Wigdahl 5/4/12

Sick Kids

Good Weekend had an assignment for me a few weeks ago to cover a story about several families with children who are critically ill and have terminal illnesses. In two cases the children were born with a devastating disease that made it unable for them to develop mentally and physically as a normal child would. In the case of the third child, Kirrilee had led an active, vibrant childhood and then when she was 12 suddenly suffered a mysterious brain illness that left her profoundly impaired and gravely ill for the last 6 years. Her illness requires 24 hours of constant observation and care, most of which is provided by her mother. Update: a few months after writing this article Kirrilee sadly passed away.

Often when I'm asked to shoot something for an assignment it doesn't occur to me how odd it is that I'm a total stranger that people let into their homes. I chat for a while, maybe set up some lights, take some pictures and then leave. It's rare that I get to read a story before I have to shoot for it so I often walk into a shoot situation not really knowing exactly what it is I'm covering. Usually the people I'm taking pictures of aren't familiar with shoots so they don't have a lot of time set aside for me to take pictures and it's pretty hard for me to impose more than an hour or two of shooting so I often have to work fast and thoroughly while trying to keep the subject relaxed.

In each case when I met the families for this shoot I knocked on the door with a sense of apprehension about what I was walking into. How sick would the child be? What would the families be like? Would they be sad? Angry? Would I have to tiptoe around certain subjects? Do they really even want me to take pictures?

As I walked through the front door I was thoroughly surprised at how welcoming and loving each family was and I immediately felt a warmth that I don't often get right away when walking into a stranger's home. I heard stories about 24 hour care, constant trips to hospitals, emotional turmoil, exhaustion and alienation but I also witnessed deep love, acceptance and thriving senses of humor. I was surprised at how often the parents and siblings of these sick children were saying things that had me cracking up. They seemed glad to have me come take pictures so that other people could learn about their stories. I felt lucky to get to meet these families and I really wanted to hang out all day with them. I've posted a video of a Kirrilee's brothers performing a dance routine that they do to keep the family entertained.

http://vimeo.com/39806546

At the end I felt like it was a tough story to shoot because my wife and I had just given birth to a daughter a few weeks before and we had been going through all of the ups and downs of new parenthood. We were dealing with the massive adjustment in sleep loss and lifestyle change and that feeling that we had no idea what were doing. I know that both my wife and I would look at our little girl and feel an enormous sense of love, responsibility and hope for the kind of parents we would be and the type of person our child would become. Seeing these sick children made me think about how families adapt when plans suddenly change and how they deal with the bumps and bruises of a life they didn't expect.

All of these families have needed the professional and medical support of Bear Cottage, an institution in Manly, NSW Australia dedicated to serving children and families of children with life limiting illnesses. Donations to Bear Cottage can be made here: https://support.bandagedbear.org.au/donation-bear-cottage

For more information about Bear Cottage, please go here: http://www.bearcottage.chw.edu.au/

UPDATE 21/05/2014: Several news outlets who have picked up this story have erroneously stated that Kirrilee was dying or on her deathbed when this image was taken and this is not true. She was at home and healthy at the time of the photoshoot. It is true that a few months after I shot this image Kirrilee passed away at Bear Cottage.