Reborn

These photos represent the story of Charlie. Drug addiction found her at the tender age of 17. She was interested in doing a shoot to celebrate 1 year of sobriety,  When we talked about her addiction, she mentioned to me that when she was in her active addiction, it felt like she was "drowning", the moment she said this I had an idea come to me. I wanted the photos to represent the story of her addiction and the struggles she overcame. I ran my idea by her and she was so excited by it. When I mentioned to her my idea about the water, she told me there was a spot that she used to visit by the water when she was early on in her sobriety and all through out this past year.  

When we got to the location, I had her start in the water. With my story sessions I try not to pose a lot and just give prompts that relate to the emotion behind their intention for the shoot. I asked her to visualize how she felt at her lowest, and then as she rose out of the water I asked her what it felt like when she began to rise out of the depths of active addition, and she said powerful. That is the emotion I had her tune into the the remainder of the shoot and you can see it in her eyes. Her journey is a reminder that, even in the darkest of times, there is always the possibility of emerging into the light.

"Before she became fire, she was water. 
Quenching the thirst of every dying creature. 
She gave and she gave
until she turned from sea into desert.
But instead of dying of the heat,
the sadness, the heartache,
she took all her pain
and from her own ashes became fire." 

-Nikita Gill