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Cancer
Survivors: Calendar Shots for Gilda's Club Continued... Giffin’s
signature style is "environmental portraitures." For the most
part his subjects are not posed. They are placed in a setting that is
natural to them, lit with natural light. "The environment and the
person get equal attention in the shot," explained Giffin. And there is Kathy. When you look at Kathy’s photo it is as if she just noticed you watching–and looked up and smiled in response. Her eyes lock with yours. You notice the perfectly applied shiny apple-red lipstick curling up in a soft smile. It compels you to come in for a closer look. She is relaxed, prone, wrapped in white fabric with her slender shoulders and arms left uncovered. Her face is resting in the dip of the soft shelf of her two hands where her chin rests while someone tends to her massage. She is an image of grace. These photos reveal Giffin’s skill at making people feel relaxed and comfortable, all the while focusing his lens on them, waiting for that right moment at which time he will yank the image away and salvage the moment on film before it passes away forever. Giffin’s people just keep pulling you in. Nancy is doing that. As she looks at you from the photo, you are her audience. A grown woman, she has donned an Elmo hand puppet, hastily chalked a messy white, childlike happy face on a dusty blank blackboard, stuck her tongue out at you, and has slipped backstage behind a puppet theatre prop. The prop is in Noogieland, a place loaded with goodies for children of all ages to share. Noogieland is part of Gilda’s Club. Debra, Julie, Kathy and Nancy live with cancer and are Gilda’s Club members, as are the other men and women Giffin photographed for their fund raising calendar, the theme of which is living every second of your life. Gilda’s Club is named in honor of the late comedian and former Detroiter Gilda Radner, whose dream was to create places where people living with cancer and their families and friends could gather to support one another and celebrate life. It is a national organization started in 1995 in New York to offer free emotional support to men, women and children with any kind of cancer, and to their family members and friends. Gilda’s Club Metro Detroit is a free, nonresidential cancer support community of about 3,500 members located in Royal Oak. Giffin has, among other strengths, an established reputation as the professional to go to for headshots. He shoots actors seeking strong portfolios, executives for stock media shots, and many other requests from industry, agency, corporate and non-profit clients. "A friend approached me about this calendar project and asked if I would be interested in volunteering as the photographer for it," he said. He agreed without hesitation. He then set out to make time in his schedule, already full with commissions and teaching commitments. Volunteer jobs do not the coffers fill but they can fill the soul.
Giffin said the project fed his heart. "Sometimes you get involved with something bigger than you are. I was excited to get out of bed in the morning and go work on it," he said. And it shows in his work. The
calendar will be available by November 1, 2004. |
