Through the Eyes of a Nurse
What would you hold in your hands if you were asked to hold something that told the world all about you?
Elaine Zelker is a photographer who was working as a hospice nurse a couple of years ago and began to ask hospice patients and residents of long term care facilities that very question and photographed the responses. I found one her photos on another website and immediately stopped everything to find out more about her.
The pictures are amazing.
I contacted her and asked if I could share on the blog and she graciously agreed. She didn’t make it easy though. Click here and on the top you will see a link to her galleries. As you run your mouse over ‘galleries’, six options will appear. The last one is ‘these hands….’. Click it and sit back and be inspired.
After you have done that, come back here and tell us all, what would you hold in your hands that best described you. Better yet, take a pic and email it. I’ll post it.
Elaine is going to publish a book with this collection around the holiday season. I will keep you posted on her progress. I don’t know who would appreciate it more – a nurse working with the elderly or better yet, a non-nurse who doesn’t always understand a nurse’s devotion.
Kind of interesting that I just posted an entire blog about the work of someone I didn’t even know existed until a couple of hours ago.
NOTE: I found the above photograph on another site. I noted that Elaine’s photographs were protected and not downloadable which is a good thing for a professional photographer. I was the one who put the tacky watermark smack in the middle of the photo. Her website is free and clear of tackiness.
Wow. You can learn so much about someone that way can you. The particular one that made me tear up a bit was the one holding soil. Gardening was obviously important to them. Lots of thread and yarn and religious iconography. It says what’s important.
For me, at this point in my life, people would probably say it would be a coffee cup, or a bag of well roasted coffee. I think it would probably actually be my eReader. Because books have always been such a part of my life and I’ve been digital … well, this is my third one, and I’m sort of staring a the new Samsung Galaxy Nook.
Thank you very much for sharing.
I honestly had the same thought. I have all of my books, my music and photographs on my ipad. The thing is that a large part of photography is visual. (I crack myself up, sometimes.) My iPad looks just like everyone else’s. I think I am going to put the question as a recurring question on my birthday. This year, it would probably be my camera. Who knows what will happen in years to come? That’s why I get up in the mornings – to find out what happens next.
Hi all….thanks so much for “finding me” Julianne!! Here is a better link to see some more pictures and stories! 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/TheHandSomeJourney
Enjoy!! and thanks
Fondly, Elaine Zelker
Thank you for allowing me to share your work with the healthcare workers who read this blog. Soon it will be back to fraud and abuse and October is the month for new regulations, blah, blah, blah.
This was a much needed break. I put a link to Elaine’s FB page on my FB page and The Coders FB pages.
I can’t wait to pass this on to my family and friends. It makes you think!
Yes. It does. I think we should ask ourselves the question once a year and see how what is important to us changes over time.