Last weekend I had the privilege to volunteer at Mosaic Bay’s Family Portrait day where Saturday was dedicated to offering free portraits for families in the community. It was such a great day and many families were blessed. One family I photographed thanked me and said that they had never had a family portrait taken before!

At the end of the day before I packed up my gear I shot some photos for a graduate project Nikki is working on called Shared Pain. From Nikki:

Shared Pain is a set of communication bands that aim to strengthen relationships between those who have chronic pain and those who don’t such as family, friends and caretakers. It brings relief to those who are suffering by: providing a visual way to engage an invisible illness; bringing external validation to a private experience; and allowing people in pain to express themselves in a creative way. For supporters, it empowers them to: give relief to the suffering by acknowledging their condition; develop empathy during a challenging time; and have a meaningful way to help those they love.

The idea is that the person with chronic pain can push a button on their band that corresponds to a level of pain intensity based on the Wong Baker scale and it will register in some way on the corresponding band, reminding them to pray for that person. It’s a neat idea and she has some cool designs for the bands (currently only mockups). You can read more about her project here.