Ashanti Neverson - Weekly Artist Post 5

Renée C. Byer

1.) Renee Byer chose to take these intimate pictures of a mother and her son as he battled cancer. The photographer uses black and white images, generally leaving the subjects centered. She uses the natural lighting and is standing away from the subjects ranging from two to six feet.

2.) Since the photos are black and white we can only focus on the subjects which is the point of these pictures. Byer has captured some very intimate moments within the Madsen family making us as the viewers feel like we were on the journey with them. The first photo we see Derek very upset while the doctor gives him news. The way Cyndie is over him shows how she has to be strong and take control of these situations for her family. The second and third photos show Derek trying to take some control of his life by doing what most adolescent boys do. In the second photo he is playing around on the wall as his mother tries to lure him down into safety. In the third photo his mother is letting him drive as she knows he won't have that opportunity later. The last picture shows how he is a champion and how much his mother will do for him in order to make him as though.

3.) As you can tell I couldn't just choose three because as I looked at the photographs I felted as if I was watching a documentary. These four caught my attention the most as we see them struggle but still fought to enjoy life while they could. We get to see how strong Cyndie was for her son and family even though she clearly wanted to breakdown. Derek was only ten and we got to see how much he had to grow up but still want to participate in regular childlike behavior. We saw the emotional roller coaster these two went through but most importantly we saw how much love was between them.