
Meet Janet. She is one of 16 graduates from a special needs school in California where I was contracted to do their graduation photos. I had no idea what I was walking into when I agreed to do the school’s photos. Figuring out how to get pictures of those with wheelchairs, moods, muscle control challenges, and intense reactions to their surroundings was something I had to learn on the spot. As an experiment, I took black and white half-face shots of every student. Little did I know that the school took those shots, blew them up and had them hanging on the gym wall representing each student at graduation. They were given as a gift to the parents after the graduation. Janet has one of the best smiles I’ve ever seen.