Holding Space | Portland Family Photography Through Childhood Leukemia

I've known Amanda for as long as I can remember.

We played soccer together starting in elementary school. Her dad coached our team for years. We grew up side by side. I have a very specific and very vivid memory of the two of us at age twelve, choreographing an extremely committed dance routine to Shaggy's "Wasn't Me" in the year 2000. We were not subtle about it. It was incredible.

She was one of my very first clients. I photographed her engagement. Her wedding. Her family growing. And then, when her son Levi was diagnosed with leukemia as a baby, I was there for that too — through family sessions, through the hard seasons, and eventually through his final ones.

Photography is one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking privileges I know.

Levi was something else. His older brother Wyatt, when Amanda was pregnant, was asked what he wanted to name the baby. He said, "Monster Truck." When Wyatt saw the first sonogram images, he was genuinely confused about where the wheels were — not quite understanding there wasn't a literal monster truck on the way. That story has lived in my heart ever since. It is so perfectly, purely them.

I don't take lightly what it means to hold someone's memories. To be trusted with the images that will become the ones they reach for — on hard anniversaries, on quiet mornings, on the days when they just need to see his face. That trust is not something I carry casually. It is the reason I do this work.

Levi, you were so loved. You still are. Levi’s Memorial Instagram 🪶

childhood cancer family photography, leukemia family photos Portland, end of life family photography Oregon, documentary family photographer Portland, meaningful family portraits Oregon, compassionate family photographer Portland, childhood illness photography Pacific Northwest, legacy family photos Portland