A while back, I had the loose idea of doing portraits for the residents at the assisted living facility where my grandparents live. Part of it was simple: I wanted to spend more time there, to be present in their world instead of just visiting sporadically. But there was something else underneath it too: a sense that a lot of the people there might not be seen or appreciated the way they deserve to be.
At first, I treated it like a logistical problem to solve. I reached out to a friend who works for a corporate photography company to see if we could team up. The plan was to set up a few hours for people to sign up, something like school picture day, efficient and organized. On paper, it made sense, but the more I thought about the execution of it, the more I realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do.
After talking it through, I realized I was trying to retrofit my intentions into a format that didn’t match them. The whole reason I wanted to do this was to slow down, to actually connect, to make something that felt meaningful; for me, for the residents, and for their families. A “cattle call” style shoot wasn’t that.
So I went back to the drawing board. I sat down and thought about what I actually wanted to create, and with some help from ChatGPT, I started sketching out a framework that felt right. I called it Legacy Sessions.
The idea is simple but layered: spend real time with each person, talk to them, listen to their stories, learn who they were before the world got smaller. Take portraits that reflect that: candid, personal, alive. Pair the images with snippets from our conversations, maybe even recordings or short write-ups that give their families something to hold onto beyond a single frozen image. A living record, not just a photo.
It’s still just a framework for now. I don’t know exactly how or when it’ll come together, or if the facility will go for it. But I know that this version feels aligned with who I am and what I value.
Somewhere along the way, I’ve realized that the work I’m most proud of, the kind that actually sustains me, comes from the combination of connection and creation. Taking pictures isn’t the point. Seeing people is. And if I can build a process that honors that, then it’s already doing what it’s meant to.
