Headshot and branding clients come through my studio door for a variety of reason, most commonly they are transitioning with their work. But not Kristina. Currently, she is a Medical Science Liaison specializing in solid tumor oncology (specifically breast cancer) at Novartis Pharmaceuticals in the Medical Affairs department. She has been in this role for 2 years, having spent the previous 12 years as a Clinical Oncology Pharmacist, most recently at Emory's Winship Cancer Institute.

So why the headshot now? She’s been invited to be a panelist at a national medical conference, and they require a headshot for the program's marketing materials.

View fullsize

My greatest appreciation to one of my best friends, Evi, for making the connection. Rooting for Kristina, that she crush the conference!

Jules enters my world and turns it upside down. She likes to do that. Tell it like it is, make you laugh, shake things up a bit. She moved to Atlanta less than a year ago with a vast knowledge of an insane number of industries, from arts to medical. She made instant friends, and whittled her family into the fabric of the community. Just as she was getting the family settled, her husband was finishing his first year teaching at a new school, she was switching companies, and she was about to jet to Israel for her son’s Bar Mitzvah, her own world turned upside down.

Despite how busy she was, she couldn’t ignore her difficulty breathing, her cough. A scan revealed a 10 cm mass from middle of her chest: lymphoma.

Her community immediately rallied, and you can, too. Will you please daven (pray) for Aviva Ariel bas Dafna?

Her three week Israel celebration for her son was switched to one week, so she can go between chemo treatments. They had planned to take pictures while there, but she felt an urgency to capture this moment, before the start of treatments.

View fullsize

We’re printing it as a 18x24 floating matte metal, to hang over the mantel in the living room.

Her treatment schedule is brutal, but her diagnosis comes with a 90% CURE rate. Give this lady everything you’ve got!

Dana reached out looking for a last minute photographer, wanting to capture the moment with her family before her mother was scheduled to begin Chemotherapy that week.

My stomach lurched. Both my mother and mother in law are, thanks to G-d, cancer survivors.

Dana’s mother is battling stage 4 pancreatic cancer. But she wanted to keep it quiet during the session, because her brother still didn’t know about it. He has Fragile X, and she wanted him to enjoy the session.

I wondered if I would. I wondered if I would keep it together.

It was an expectedly emotional process. Both the session and when we viewed the images and came up with a plan for them. I am so grateful to begin the process of creating an album for her, one that she will be able to pass down to her daughters.

I wish Dana and her family a lifetime of health and joy.

Update: