Quantcast
Channel: Captain’s Blog » Photography
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

A Veteran Named Lew

0
0

matiI spent all morning at a coffee shop with a photographer named Mati. We met at the 2014 Boise Squared Photography contest. She found me on the pedestrian bridge over the Boise River right after I had finished my first Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep portrait session. I was in desperate need to process my feelings with another person. I needed a good cry. Mati, even though at the time still a stranger, just hugged me and listened.

Today was my chance to hear her story – to hear how she moved from being a designer to an iPhoneographer. It all happened because of her neighbor next door, Lew.

Lew was a retired Veteran – he spent his whole life in the military serving our nation. He married a woman that he didn’t really like. When asked why he shrugged and said, “Because, that is what you did in those days.” When she died he simply boxed up her belongings and put them in his basement. He was, from then on, alone.

Mati didn’t really like Lew. He made sexist comments that frustrated her. One day she was watering her lawn when he made one of those statements over the fence. She turned the hose on him and gave him a good drenching. It could have started a neighborhood war, instead it melted Lew’s heart and he laughed. He found a new respect for Mati.

One day Lew asked Mati a tough question, “When it comes time, will you pull the plug for me?” Mati agreed to be the family that Lew didn’t have. The reality is, she plugged in.

A week later Lew fell and broke his shoulder. Mati took him to the Veteran’s hospital for care. The doctor asked if he needed anything else while he was being treated. Though Lew said, “No,” Mati asked the doctor to look in his mouth. The doctor took only moments to give the diagnosis of what all of the Lew’s hand-rolled cigarettes had left. Lew had cancer.

Over the next year Mati and her husband Johnny cared for Lew. They went through surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, recoveries, and finally hospice. Mati kept her promise to Lew and when he died she was holding his hand.

It has been three years but the tears are still so visible when Mati shares her story. The book that she created of the photos of Lew’s last year is touching, loving and haunting. It includes the backstory on the photos, sometimes with just a single word. It was that journey that moved her into the role of a soulful photojournalist with a minimalistic approach.

Lew left his house for Mati and Johnny. It was more of a project than an asset. They donated his belongings to a cancer charity and then gutted the home. They rebuilt it and now use it to provide an inexpensive place to stay for people who come to down for medical procedures.

They call it, “Lew’s Place.”
#2Cancer diagnosisJPG

Click here to see more of Mati’s photos of Lew.

 


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images