Alex

These are photographs of my autistic son Alex. He lives in a world of his own. I try to understand and enter his world and I try to bring him into ours. I see these moments when I think he represents all of our childhood innocence and vulnerability. These images are "Fleeting Eternal Moments".

“Kindness is a language the deaf can hear and the blind can see”
Mark Twain

My son is autistic.
No parent can ever describe how difficult it is to have a Special Needs Child.
Alex does not like to make eye contact nor does he liked to be touched- ”Dad, when you hug me it feels like red ants are crawling all over my body.” He prefers to be by himself twirling an object and murmuring outloud to himself.
Yet there is something sacred about him and his innocence. There is something “big” about his very small world.
I finally figured it out. What he was saying to me in his behavior was this: “Dad, I don’t care if you are a good parent who gets me to school on time or takes me to all of those doctors or feeds me and clothes me well...I only care that when you are with me that you are 100% heartfully and emotionally present and connected to me. If you are, then I will become less symptomatic and if you are not, I will become more symptomatic. That is my only deal.”
I got his lesson. I mean I really got it.
Why would I not want to be this way with everyone!!!!
My professional New York photographer friend loves these images because he says besides being great shots of Alex, they speak to our father-son relationship. He wants to see me put together a n exhibition of all Alex images.