Several weeks ago photographer James Houston came to our school and gave apresentation about his photographs. He works with a wide range of subjects. He takes photos for organizations and magazines as a photo journalist and also works on his own projects. He’s been to Africa and Asia, but also photographs in Western Massachusetts documenting artists working in a wood fire kiln. He talked to us about where he’s been, how he takes his photos, and how he got into photography. I’m going to focus on one of his series “Dying Beautifully.”
“Dying Beautifully” is a series of photos taken of a close friend, Chet Cahill the day before and after he died of cancer. His wife Billie Best invited Houston to the house to take pictures to document the time. Most of the pictures were of Cahill in his hospital bed, or of his wife with him.
For me this was particularly moving because it reminded me of when my grandmother lived with my family when she was dying of colon cancer. Like Cahill, she was in my living room in a hospital bed. The pictures captured the mood of the time; quiet, sad, and contemplative. In the images of just Cahill in his bed reminded me of how my grandmother looked. In one photo a yellow flower sits in the foreground reminds the viewer of the small beauties in life, and how they come into focus in when something is ending. The images with his wife are also moving. You can see her painfully letting go as she sits besides her husband’s bed. Houston subtly shows the process; a blown out candle breaks up the photographs before and after Cahill’s death, Best watches as they take out the box. None of the photographs are too cliché, they are simply there taking in the moments.
Houston is a photographer with many subjects he explores. I’ve only shown you a glimpse of one. If you want to know more, please check out his website: www.jasonhouston.com
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