The Strange Ones – A Mother’s Story by Her Son #celebratephotography
We were thrilled to come across this series by Tony Luciani on feature shoot. The Strange Ones is stunning and will take you on an emotional rollercoaster particularly if you have any experience with dementia
Fast-forward by one year, and Tony’s ninety-one year old mother was no longer able to look after herself. She had suffered a fall and broke her hip the year Tony had bought his first camera, this occurred around the same time that her dementia began to set in. Unable to look after herself, she moved in with her son. How best to rekindle her inner spark and make her feel her presence in his flat was meaningful? Tony showed his mom sketches and encouraged her to engage in make-believe by acting out what she saw; eventually she was comfortable enough in front of the camera to pose without any prompting. Tony elaborates: “The subsequent sessions began to get more complex as my ideas developed. Her recollections and her feelings became a beautiful story to tell”. Photography was the medium that sealed this new connection between Tony and his mother and brought everything together.
Aside from his objective to rekindle his mother’s inner spark, through The Strange Ones Tony wanted to document the story of one person’s experience of coming to term with ageing, memory loss, and physical decline. At ninety-three years old, his mother still has the energy to live a happy existence; the collaboration between the pair provided Tony a new sense of meaning in his own life too. Tony explains: “The more I reflect on Mom’s story by posting these photographs on social media, the more people who see the pictures express a profound association by relaying their own experiences with age and dementia. These images have struck a chord with many individuals. Life is not about waiting to die. It’s about wanting to live”.
We #celebratephotography here at Adafruit every Saturday. From photographers of all levels to projects you have made or those that inspire you to make, we’re on it! Got a tip? Well, send it in!
If you’re interested in making your own project and need some gear, we’ve got you covered. Be sure to check out our Raspberry Pi accessories and our DIY cameras.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: New Thonny and Git Versions, Plenty of Projects and More! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
