I am feeling particularly nostalgic this evening…
Maybe it’s the snow and the soft cloudy days nestling me…
Maybe it’s my delayed reaction to a new year, a chance to trace my time and reorient my compass…
Maybe I’m savoring a sense of completion…
Maybe and most likely, I’m simply grateful.
I hear my husband and my son bantering in the next room, snippets of laughter and ever~so~earnest questions waft like the chocolate chip cookies I baked. Homework is done. Folded laundry rests. Neat white reminder bundles stack on the stairs. And the slideshow below…it rests, at home on this journal, complete.
Shadow and Grace chronicles 22 years of my photography. It starts with the first worth~a~darn photograph I made as a student in Kentucky. It ends exactly this time last year after my husband received his new kidney. What you might want to know before viewing this lengthy piece it this…some find the content challenging. I offer a very personal no~holds~barred collection of photographs. I trace time by revisiting my years at newspapers, my challenges of coping with my now 14-year-old son’s Cowden Syndrome, my husband’s Polycystic Kidney Disease and running a small business. Some folks have asked how I photographed my family, particularly my son’s early years. My answer? I knew then and know now, one day these images would be needed for him to trace his time.
What I see now, a year later, are beautiful laundry piles on the same steps lulled by the gentle snores of my family.
love ~ amy
{ music: courtesy of Triple Scoop Music }
[...] her work, and compelled me to seek her out to see if she’d address our Inspire community is this slideshow that Amy compiled from 22 years of her work. Every time I look at this show I cry – this is as [...]
Oh, Amy, I don’t know why it took me so long to find this but these pictures are amazing. I’ve watched it over and over and over. Now I’m on a crying jag. The story you can tell with one picture is beyond belief. I love you! I hope to see you one of these days.
I don’t know why it took me this long to see this, but at least I did. Thanks for sharing the journey.
Dear Amy, your work is so wonderful..thank you for being such a bright light and your willingness to shine and share and love
Oh, Amy, what a wonderful gift to us all. We are blessed to have our family photograph on the wall. I hope to see you in the fall when I return from my summer sojourn.
Janet
beautiful amy, i’ve watched it 3 times
Who knew that honesty and trust could be so beautiful? The honest emotions captured, combined with the trust that made these photographs possible, creating beautiful scenes of life.
Dearest Cynthia,
Artist. Wife. Mother-to-be-any-minute-now. Dancer. Lover. Friend. Bodacious Incarnate. It is so good to hear from you. I remember your wedding week as if it were yesterday. I remember your ease and beauty and delight, your elegance, tears and laughter. Thank you for your beautiful words and for sharing your gifts. I am so hoping to see you in San Francisco soon. I wish you were my neighbor. lots of love ~ Amy
oh, amy. thank you so much for sharing this. I am in tears and so so moved. your work is incredible, as always. it truly touches the heart of everything you look at. i have watched the slideshow a few times now and feel it has fed my soul, somehow. what a phenomenal gift you have. and what an amazing mother and wife you are.
The quotes are so inspiring and powerful. I had to tweet them! Are you on twitter? I can’t find you. Also, do you have any upcoming workshop? I think you might be THE mentor I am looking for!
I love quotes as they remind me when my own words jumble themselves. Thank you for visiting. ~ Amy
Hi Ali,
I appreciate the time you took to send me a message. Thank you for your sharing your kindness. ~ Amy
Hi Melissa,
Good Morning. Thank you for your beautiful message. I am humbled by your kindness. ~ Amy {note: The first song is Wa He by Larisa Stow and Shakti Tribe available at Triple Scoop Music.}
Hi Jenika,
I am smiling as I write to you. Your words precisely describe what I aspire to do with images. I send you many blessings. ~ Amy
Hi Mark,
So wonderful to hear from you. I ran into our teacher Dave Labelle at the Nashville DWF convention. It was the first time I had seen him in almost 20 years. Thank you for visiting Kentucky with me. ~ Amy
Hi Jenny,
I am so glad you have visited. Thank you. ~ Amy
Hi Sandra,
Your words touch me beyond telling. I am sending you a hug right now. ~ Amy
I am in tears. I couldn’t sleep tonight. So at 4:37am I do what any photogs do at this hour, I surf the internet. Whatever site I was on before, I’m glad it brought me to you. Your images are beautiful. I viewed the slideshow, rewinded it and viewed it again pausing and absorbing each image and quote. Thank you, for sharing with us.
I have an ever growing list of photoblogs. Something drew me to yours today. I’m blown away by your slideshow, your work, your eye. Thank you.
You have beautiful photos on your website, but thank you for the chance to see again the visual poetry of “Kentucky Amy” again. Wonderful, open, honest Amy pictures. What a treat. Thanks.
I was captivated by your ability to tell stories through still pictures. Far more powerful than moving pictures, it requires the viewer to grasp what is happening and fill in the blanks for themselves. Thank you for sharing these pieces of your life with us. Only a wonderful heart could have put this together.
Truly stunning work. I was mesmerized. The first song, in particular, really brought out the emotional content of the work. I would love to know the name… beautiful, Amy.
Simply stunning. What incredible work. I am just in awe.
[...] lovely friend bonnie sent me a link to a slideshow of beautiful work by amy deputy and among her photography she integrated several quotes and one in particular made me pause. it [...]
Hi Ed. Thank you for posting. Thank you for guiding me through the world of online video embedding. love ~ Amy
Oh Good Morning Bonnie. I’m sipping hot coffee. The skillet snaps with bacon. Morning bathes herself in pink and blue light. And I smile, reading your post. until Texas ~ Amy
Thank you for sharing this beautiful and moving body of work, Amy. So glad you were able to get vimeo up and running! See you next week at FW8!
Oh Amy. What an amazing legacy. I have tears streaming down my face as I write this. What a brave and strong, woman, wife and mother you are to not look away and to give your family the gift, as your son so eloquently stated, of being seen.