The Dad Project


  • Photographer
    Briony Campbell
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    2009

This is the story of an ending without an ending This is a relationship I'm still exploring. This is my attempt to say goodbye to my Dad with the help of my camera. Being a good daughter to my dying dad was tricky. I struggled to find the balance between dedication to his needs and distraction from my grief. At first the idea of introducing a camera into this equation seemed unwise, but eventually I think it became the solution.

Story



I had a conversation about optimism with my dad in hospital. He chose to go in for drugs trials after the doctors found, that The Whipple operation had not, in fact, whipped out the cancer, and there was no further treatment for his terminal, and very rare type of bile duct cancer. Dad seemed to feel the need to justify why he had tried to paint a rosy picture for us all. In his own words; ‘some people will always assume the pessimistic position, and some will take the optimistic one. I like to take the positive position because I think it’s a waste of energy and goodwill to assume the negative… He described a glow inside him that had always been there, and that reassured him everything would be ok. I have the glow too, and this was a huge influence on my desire to photograph dad’s journey towards death. Firstly, because he gave it to me - the glow. I don’t think there are many greater gifts you can give your child, and I wanted to thank him somehow. And secondly, with the glow inside me, I knew it would be ok. It wasn’t that I thought he would defy the medical prognosis and live, but by doing The Dad Project we could look at the half-full-glass together. That seemed to me the best we could do with our time. And even more importantly, this was my first and last chance to work with my dad.

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