project tomorrow, a young photographersinitiative photographic project
The 2008 PROJECT: TOMORROW was similar in many ways to the 2007 project. There were nine participants were nine children between the ages of 10 and 18. However, it was their parents who were under treatment for cancer. They all were all from the Massachusetts General Hospital's Cancer Center where they were enrolled in the hospital's Marjorie E. Korff PACT (Parenting at a Challenging Time) Program.

young artist takes a photo Again, the mission of the project was to expose the children to the magic and power of photographic images they could create while enabling them to build self-confidence and a sense of self-esteem. The project created an environment in which the children who shared a common problem within their respective families got a chance to work together toward a common goal and share that experience with one another. There was also a unique bonding opportunity for each child and his/her parent throughout the project.

The children were given Holga cameras, shown how to use them and taught some of the rudiments of still photography. The portrait assignment: "An image is forever. Capture an image of your parent TODAY that will inspire you to remember what is special about who he/she is TOMORROW".

After that portrait was shot each Parent had a writing assignment to complete: "Describe one thing that you learned about your child while your portrait was being taken and what it meant to you to be photographed by him/her".

The project finale was an Exhibition of the images at Boston Children's Museum. Each child had TWO images in it. One was the portrait of the parent (it was accompanied by the child's Writing Assignment). The second image was the parent/child portrait (this was accompanied by the Parent Writing Assignment).

As was the case in 2007 this Exhibition was really an emotional culmination of the project for both the children and their parents. It was a particularly poignant moment for all in attendance in that one of the parents succumbed to his battle with cancer a week before the event.