Early on I went to her with an idea. I was working on a story about a local man with Cerebral Palsy and I wanted to present this story as a no ad tabloid-sized section.
No ads?
Nope, 'never going to sell this idea.' I was told.
But I did sell it because Jeanne listened (and the newspaper industry wasn't in the toilet yet!) I had respect for her willingness to showcase strong photo work in a different way.
We did several stories over the next few years and, though, I never asked for no ads again, many times 2 pages would be opened up for excellent layouts of strong photographs and good stories and 2 or 3 day series.
Now, she and I also butted heads on a few occasions over the years and there were times a less strong individual would've probably fired me. But she didn't.
Notice I've mentioned her strength a couple times already?
One thing we disagreed on was when she implemented a policy about photos that strictly forbid us to use a picture if someones head or top of their head was cut off. She thought it looked like a mistake and that we shouldn't use an image that looked like a mistake. I argued that its never what 'isn't' in the picture, but what 'is' in the picture that matters most.
She was the boss so you can guess who won. But I would still bust her about it and push the envelope many times and even get passionate(my way of saying I'd yell) about my arguments. Again, she never fired me. And we still got along just fine.
Strong.
She left the paper many years ago and we'd occasionally run into one another. Her son and daughter worked in town and we'd see each other a few times a year and exchange what we think of pleasantries, meaning we'd bust each others chops and laugh. I was surprised she would mention a photograph I had taken and I knew she was still paying attention to what was going on with the Tribune.
But I really thought that was the extent of our relationship, nothing more than that, a couple people who just knew each other from another time and we could just enjoy seeing each other..
I was surprised when she asked me to photograph her son's senior portraits. I agreed but told her i couldn't promise her anything and that perhaps I would make pictures chopping her sons head off, or at least the top of his head.
She gave me a classic Jeanne look of disapproval, then smiled and we laughed. I made the pictures and we had a business relationship, we talked about the Tribune and who was still working there and just had a good time.
We then became friends on fb and a few likes of posts and comments of posts and again we just had this sorta friendship that was comfortable but not really close.
Fun to see each other, chat with each other, bust each others chops and part our ways feeling good about each other.
Then I get this message earlier this year.
"I was diagnosed with cancer."
My heart went to my throat as I read on. She was about half-way through chemo and had lost her hair, but was showing very positive signs of beating it. She went on to say "I want to take photos of this phase of my life, just a little bump in the road."
Strong!
Now this friendship just took on a whole new meaning. She trusts me to make these pictures of an extremely emotional and delicate time in her life. What an honor!
We met at her home and we made a few pictures with her daughter and there were tears. Good tears, beautiful tears. Tears that give understanding to life.
We then made a few pictures of just Jeanne. My favorite part of the day was when we went out into this field beside her house and just sat on the ground and talked. I made pictures as we sat about 10-15 feet apart. Some of my favorite pictures were from this conversation.
Before we sat down we were trying to figure out what kind of pictures we were going to make and were just horsing around. It was awkward because we wanted them to be meaningful and not cheesy. Thats when she started to dance around the field and laugh at the absurdity of us being out there wondering what to do.
I love this picture above because to me it shows Jeanne's personality that says 'I'm me and I don't care what you think' and it shows her joy for life that she might not have fully realized until this entered into her life.
I think it also shows her determined strength to get over this "bump" and plow forth! It may not be the best picture in the world, it may not even be the best picture of that day, but it signifies something about her moment in time as she was about to transition away from that ' bump in the road' to the future endeavors awaiting her. As of now her test results have been very encouraging that she has beat the cancer!!!!!
And so you all know, early on in our conversations when she said she was bald, she said "this might be the first time I'll be ok with you chopping off the top of my head!" and we laughed.
Strong!