Loss

Our beautiful, wise, dear friend Jayna Gieber died suddenly on October 18. The diagnosis of pancreatic cancer was only rendered the day before she died, and all of us who knew Jayna are still reeling from the shock, unable even to imagine how shocked her husband, her three daughters, and her closest friends must feel. One of her daughters asked me to photograph the celebration of her life, held November 11. It was a difficult assignment. I viewed the proceedings through my own tears, and I didn’t want to intrude on anyone’s private grief. I doubt the family will want to view the images often in the future, but I was honored to be invited to make them. There were nearly 300 people present, but when it was over, I found I’d made more photographs of Jayna’s two grandchildren than of anyone else (see Extras), feeling sharply how great the loss is for them, and how impossible it is for them to realize what has happened. The photograph that speaks most eloquently to me of gravity of the loss we all feel is this one.