Through the years with the Tiny Tim Center

As journalists we often count the passing of time in our careers not in years, but by how many times we have covered an assignment.

I was first introduced to the Tiny Tim Center in February of 2007 when I was assigned to photograph Jordan Summers, a three-year-old with Arthrogryposis – “Frozen Joint Disorder” – for a preview article on the annual fundraiser the center holds. The disease limited her mobility but not her spirit. This was the case, and has been, for each child and parent I’ve ever met at the Tiny Tim Center.

From the first time I stepped through those doors I’ve been in love with the place, the philosophy and of course the children. Usually, when working for a daily newspaper, time doesn’t allow us to go back to get it right or grant us the time to capture more storytelling images. So, I’ve always been blessed to be able to return to this special place time and again. In that time I have been fortunate enough to learn more about the children we were profiling and also really witnessed how this school operates.

Although both students and faculty face challenges everyday, there has always been a feeling of hopefulness, evident through the sound of laughter.  There were accomplishments made everyday, like being able to communicate a simple need to learning how to walk.

Through the years of photographing Jordan Summers, Adam Roth, the Gaccetti twins’ and finally Brenna O’Connnor last month, my goal has always been to try and capture the happiness that students feel at the Tiny Tim Center,  even if their disability made that challenging.  By capturing the smiling faces in the images, I feel as though I can give something back to a school that gives so much.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 7th, 2010 at 11:16 pm. It is filed under Blog and tagged with Jill P. Mott, Tiny Tim Center. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.