BENNY WAS A GOOD BOY

I thought Benny Was A Good Boy was about losing my dog. And to some extent it was, we were a pair, he was my unconditional friend for 14 years. Through photographing the last year of his life, I realized that the end isn’t really the end. It doesn’t matter if it is losing your pet, ending a friendship or relationship or the loss of your parents, I found through this series that you never really lose something, you always have the memories. I didn’t know it at the time but, in some ways, it also prepared me for the loss of my mom. All of the stages of grief you go through during a loss, having experienced them with Benny in a small way and ultimately realizing that I’ll never lose the good memories, helped me understand in a bigger way that I will never lose the wonderful memories of a loved one. They remain snapshots in our mind.
 

Benny Was A Good Boy series includes a hazy, grainy, closed-in mood that embodied what I was feeling at the time. Presenting the images as diptychs intensified the close relationship that existed between the two of us.