As Big As The Sky: The Days That Followed pt 1

The bedroom was adorned with a mirror that had been in my mother's family for generations. As the sun began to rise, its rays gently illuminated the room and reflected an image of my future wife, Ellie, in the antique glass. We were in the midst of my mother's final days, yet we were trying to maintain some semblance of routine. Two days later, my mother would pass.

On the day of my mother's funeral, my sister-in-law requested that I capture a family portrait of my brother and their children as we gathered to bid our final goodbyes. Despite my best efforts, the lighting and setting were not ideal, resulting in an underexposed image with their bodies appearing as silhouettes and slightly blurred. However, upon examining the negative, I realized that the focus had instead been on the sky and the tree in the background. This made me smile, as I thought that perhaps this was not meant to be a portrait of them, but rather a picture of mom and where she now resides.