Portrait Recipient Becomes Photographer

Rebecca Bartlett, Wilmington, DE, USA

The most amazing moment of the day came late in the afternoon when one of the photographers was outside speaking to a young woman walking down the street. She had no intentions on getting her portrait done that day. This young lady came in alone and nervous. She was very soft spoken and shy. She stated that there has never been anything like this in our city before. We talked for a bit and she decided to get her picture done. No hair, no makeup.

She developed a close bond with another one of our volunteers, Renee, who took her under her wing and walked her through the event from start to finish. After her portraits were done, we all stood there looking at them in awe on the screen ready to be printed. This woman had so much beauty behind her eyes. Her smile lit up the entire room. We printed those photos, continued talking, and decided to do another shoot on a different background. While shooting the second time, we had Renee jump in there with her. What a beautiful friendship developed on the spot. We did pictures with her and Leo, the photographer who did her shoot as well. It was at that point, she opened up and began telling us that her dream has always been to be behind a camera. She dreamt as long as she could remember of doing professional photography.

That time was here. Leo gave her the ropes of how his camera worked. Then placed it in her hands. At that moment, she became the photographer. She was in charge. The smile on her face was amazing the entire time. We gathered all of the photographers together and she did our photo shoot.  We laughed, and we cried. We felt her joy and her happiness at that moment. It was that moment, that one special little moment that was so big. We didn’t change her life, she changed ours. We walked out of there that day feeling accomplished. Feeling as though we didn’t take her picture but gave her the opportunity to reach her goal. We helped her experience her dream come true.