Have been diagnosed with blood cancer and need help!

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kutitta

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Hey folks

Last Friday I diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer at the age of 39 and have recently started chemotherapy treatment. I am just posting this message to seek help and advise not for my health issue but for something I want to do before it is too late.

Like all of you here in this forum, I am very much into photography and have an extensive collection of cameras and lenses. Apparently my 5.5 year old son will inherit my collection at an early age. This weekend I am going to start teaching him photography, especially film photography so that he can make a good use of my stuff in the future. But apart from that, I want to give him a kind of present that it would make him remember my love of photography in the form of dad's achievement...

So I just thought a photographic exhibition would be a perfect option, but I have no idea how to achieve this. I believe (or want to believe) that some of my works have the potential (or quality) to be exhibited but of course I am not an objective assessor at all in this regard.

So I very much appreciate if you could give me tips and suggestions as to how this can be done, and it is perfectly fine to tell me that this is something almost impossible to achieve given the quality of my work or lack thereof.

And for the Aussie crowd, if you think this seems to be an achievable objective and you have any contacts in Australia, especially in Sydney, that can be of help, I really appreciate if you could let me know....

Thank you and don't forget to enjoy the life that is full of surprises - good or bad!!!

Cheers
Kutay
 
Sorry to hear of your condition. In tune with the urgency of your post, I believe the next best step is for you to compile a body of works to be presented. I would say it is critical that is of your own decisions on what to potentially exhibit and not the decision of others, that then can be presented to a curator or such.

Best of luck with your therapy, warmest regards.
C
 
Kutay: Sorry about your bad news. I certainly wish you the best.

But, would you consider a limited edition book of your photos rather than an exhibit? That is something that you can totally be in control of and not have to rely on the whims of others. Most importantly, it would be something tangible that everyone would have forever if the worst scenario comes to fruition.
 
Hi Kutay, i´m so sorry for this bad surprise. My sincere solidarity for you in these troubled times.

As said before you should gather your work and try to look for one theme in it then start to consider your best shots to make a collection.
Go for galleries and other places where you might show your work, perhaps community places and so.
I thnk someone near you will appear with this call and will be very glad to help you.

A big hug for you Kutay!!!
 
Kutay, hang in there as tough as it may be. I think an exhibit and or a book of your work is a good idea. Organizing your photos and editing them is the first step. If you can, contact museum and gallery curators that you can physically get to and see if you can meet with them to show your work. You may not get a show out of it, but you'll get some really good advice and help with further editing. At least that's what people do where I am.
My very best to you and I hope to God the treatments work!
 
Don't underestimate the power of a good editor. Put together your best work, then get the opinion of someone your trust and/or respect who has teaching or editing experience to critique your work. That person may also have ideas as to where your work can be displayed.
Best of luck.
 
With my limited experience I would also like to add that your work most probably may not be able to be displayed in a gallery since they are run with shows on schedule years in advance. All local/official galleries that support community artists have an application process (usually in Oct) for a local artists show program.

In this case you can check up the any local galleries, clubs or theatres for such a program, best in outer areas of Sydney and not the CBD. I am unsure of what type of exhibit you want but it will most likely be very casual and nothing too official as that is a lengthy process to set up, the other thing you can do is do it all yourself and rent out a space for a show.

I very much like the idea of a book, as your son is quite young to perhaps remember the show later on, a book would have much more of a throughout connection later on and as said it is tangible; it will outlive everyone.
 
I sincerely hope you respond well to your treatment.

I agree with the idea offered by others regarding a high-quality book or even books.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your health. To address the urgency, I would suggest a three-pronged attack:

1) Pursue the gallery exhibition per you post

2) Build a photo book, as someone suggested.

3) Create a website that documents not only your photos but also your life.

My prayers are with you and your family.
 
a couple of thoughts

1. Don't assume the worst, you can survive this and barring that, you can live a long time
2. 5 years old is pretty young to teach him all you know. If you really think you don't have much time, make a library of videos for him, explain what you do, why you do it, the process, the equipment, maybe show some examples.
3. Edit you best work and explain why you like it, how you took the picture, what you were thinking
4. Allow for the fact that he may not be into the same things you are. Explain about the joy and satisfaction of doing something you like, and getting better at it, and the personal reward and sense of accomplishment you feel - then make it universal, whatever his interests eventually are.

5. Best of luck at this difficult time - take a deep breath and think, get the best advice you can and stay positive as much as possible.
 
I wish you the very best possible,. One of my professors was diagnosed with Leukemia many years ago. He was a runner, and he was asked to stop running. He refused. To the surprise of tne Oncologists, his running helped in getting him over this frightening disease. Now, and over thirty years later, he is still going strong.

Each case is different, but it is good to know that there is hope.

As for your wish for an exhibit, I also wish you success.
 
Hi Kutay,
I wish you the best results with your treatment... As a father of two 5.5 year old twins, boys, I really understand how you feel, and I hope you'll find the way to share with them your love for photography, now and in the future: you're being brave, and a great father.
About the exhibition, for sure it will be done... Just put your images together, and show the group of prints (a lot better and more comfortable than screen use) to a few photographers, and then to a few relatives and friends: you'll see what people like... Two different groups of people... What people like is important... Apart from their preferences, put inside the chosen ones two or three you like and were not chosen by any of both groups...
One last comment: there's one thing about exhibitions that I enjoyed a lot, but only recently... For my last 2 exhibitions (street b&w, 2012 & 2013) I gave the curators total control on what was going to be exhibited... I had never done it this way before... On both occasions I gave them close to 60 prints (exactly the same ones) and told them you decide what to exhibit, and I don't care about which ones, nor how many... One of them decided to hang close to 40 images, and the last one used 20 of them, and what was really interesting to me, was finding the ones in common for both exhibitions were just a minority: less than 10... It was really relaxing for me offering them that freedom, and stepping totally aside... You might enjoy it...
By the way, I am sure the fact of organizing your images and having them together for your son, is the real important part, and having them at hand will make him in the long term a lot happier than the fact of an exhibition, and through your cameras and your images he'll grow his love for photography more than any other way...
Best wishes,
Juan
 
Things to think about:

Your kiddo is pretty young, so don't stress out with the teaching part.

Your treatment might make you feel like crap for an extended time, so don't waste the good days pursuing an exhibition space... instead...

Pick some selected images, frame them up, and throw an exhibit up in your house!
Invite people, make it a real do - and the images will remain for you and your family to appreciate long after the exhibit is over.

(I also like the book idea)

Keep up your attitude, which is pretty awesome given the circumstances.
 
First of all keep your mind focused and be determined to overcome the illness.
Then start with sitting in front of your computer, selecting your most interesting images, and printing them on smallish paper, like 13x18cm. Stick the images on a wall and start looking at them. After some days you will start selecting the themes and best pictures for blowing up. Then, as suggested above, you can decide to make it a book or a show, anywhere this will be possible. Never give up.
 
So sad to hear such a thing from such a young person. I hope that it all works out well in the end. Do not give up the fight for life, laugh a lot, and take it all one day at a time.

I think the idea of doing a good book is more powerful than an exhibition and lasts longer. A book ... a book has staying power. You can use Blurb.com to create excellent books. Do an exhibition too if you can, of the same work. It's fairly easy to find a space to hang a short exhibit ... get friendly with a couple of local cafes and see if they will allow you to do an exhibit and a reception in their facilities.

As others have said, start looking at your photos, seriously, and thinking how they fit together. What tells a story, what the story is. How they fit together, which to put in, which to leave out. You'll have fun doing it.

Remember to laugh.

G
 
Thank you all for sending your ideas and suggestions and also for your best wishes. Very much appreciated!

To those who have come up with the idea of a book...

That's a great idea that can be achieved much more easily and within a process that I have full control. It also leads to a much more tangible outcome. Many thanks for the idea!

To those who have shared their tips and suggestions in regards to my idea of exhibition.

Again, very much appreciated. The book idea is great but I am not ruling out the possibility of exhibition. I will keep doing my own research on the issue, and will contact the local galleries after I have a selection of photographs ready... And also thank you Calebarchie for the information on Aussie galleries and how they work. Given that they receive submissions in around Oct, I don't have much time but let's see how it goes.

The idea of website documenting my photos as well as my life is a great one well. Also the suggestion of videos about photography even though I am a bit camera shy and always prefer behind it rather than in front of it! 🙂

And those who has commented on my idea of teaching photography to my son. My aim is actually not to teach him photography, but make him remember that I did so. I am not after any tangible outcome given his age, but I just thought this might be of help to trigger his interest into photography - not necessarily now but in the future through this particular memory of us.... But following marcr1230's suggestion, I will try to make the experience more universal! I really liked it, many thanks!

Thanks to each of you again for your time and support!
 
Having boxes of prints of photos at home that you have done over the years for your son to see whenever he wants may be a lasting enjoyment for him and hopefully for you. My son recently re-kindled my love of photography and classic film cameras after I had moved to digital. What motivated him I think was the boxes of black and white prints I had from years ago. I taught him how to process his own film, and now we share a '77 Hasselblad and time taking photos with it.
 
Very unfortunate and I pray for your recovery. As told here before, start taking a day at a time and live life happily w/o thinking about this! Don't give up the best parts of life too easily to the negative things surrounding us. This attitude has kept going many unfortunate - I had a friend in UK who had the same, but he moved to live to another place in France, completely changed his lifestyle to spend his last days doing what he likes, completely forgot the bad side and didn't even prepare to wait the end - and some time later the blood tests showed nothing wrong to his own surprise.

I'm in Europe though if you're interested I may "chip in" my part if you'd like to have some of your best film frames drumscanned. Note the drum scanning isn't some cheap and mass scanning - one scan takes me average 30 minutes with wet-mounting, scanning and demounting - fair amount of handwork. So you could consider sending me selected best frames you think have a high potential "landing" into your book or exhibition, in case you're interested in having some of your film work included.

Margus
 
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