Intended Patience in Observation

If I would ever get a chance to meet Preston Gannaway of Concord Monitor, the photographer of “Remember Me,” I want to ask him how many days he spent in the household of the St. Pierre family in order to get his photographs. In this story presentation of Carolynne St. Pierre and her family and their struggle toward and through her death, the pictures were so good that I thought at times the pictures could have been posed for. However, when I took a second look at the slideshow for the second time, I noticed a set of photos taken from the same angle, only with different people in them. Then, I began to think that this photographer was just awesome in an ability to wait for the right moment. I was able to find emotion in all photos, and I now definitely know that it is a very difficult thing to catch. I was able to think about and appreciate the effort of this photographer and the amount of frames that could have been pondered upon to fit the content of the story.

The story is pretty much a chronicle, which covers about two to three months of Carolynne’s life and how her family – Rich, Melissa, Brian and EJ – cope with her death. Most photos are taken within their home, shifting from the living room to each of their bedrooms, the kitchen, dining room, yard and the sidewalk – everyday places that we can all relate to. I noticed that there were several taken in the bathroom, and I thought it was very brilliant because it will give you a feeling that the photos are very personal and we feel as though we are merging into their family life. As Carolynne was ill, a lot of pictures of her lying in bed or the couch were taken, which also probably gave it that up-close and personal touch.

My favorite photo(s) is that of EJ on their last Christmas together. A series of about five photographs were taken from the same angle, and you can see and follow EJ’s excitement as perhaps his gift from Santa was opened. I thought it was just amazing how Carolynne was sitting next to him and how I was able to see her face lit up as EJ ran out with joy.

The only thing is I thought that sound editing could have been better. They did an excellent job on the interviews, but I thought some music or short audio clips actually taken from the photo shoot (like they had in “A New Dawn?”) would have been even better. However, overall I must admit am just emotionally full today at just taking a look at the award-winning multimedia projects.