By: Kelley Chester – Statesboro

Lori did a portrait of my son, Taylor Chester, around Easter of this year.
It was our first exposure (no pun intended) to a professional portrait studio.  It was a wonderful experience for Taylor.  When we drive by the studio, most times Taylor will say while pointing, “Ms. Lori took my picture there.”  He also reminds me that Ms. Lori has bunny rabbits in the studio and why can’t we stop to play for awhile.  The portrait we chose to display in our home shows my little man standing with one hand resting on a bench and the other in his pocket, such a cool little dude.  Taylor celebrated his 4th birthday this year, a birthday we weren’t completely sure we would see.

At the very young age of 6 months Taylor contracted RSV and landed himself in pediatric intensive care on a ventilator because his body was too sick and worn out to breath on it’s own.  Since then he has been in the hospital 3 more times.  His first airplane ride was on a life-flight jet from a hospital in Carrollton, GA to the children’s hospital in Birmingham, AL. One thing I will always remember about that day is that the nurse on the jet took his picture with her camera phone so that we would be able to look back and know that our little boy was safe.  That fuzzy photo is one of the pictures of Taylor that I truly cherish. 

Since his first day home from the hospital and even before he was sick, we have been “picture-taking fools”.  We must have more than a thousand digital pictures of Taylor and our family.  So, we have always had a great appreciation and love of pictures of our little one.  Lori’s portraits of Taylor mean so much to Heath and I because she captured something that we don’t usually capture when we take photos.  I can’t explain it, but he glows… It sounds strange I know, but he has this healthy and happy look about him that makes me forget that he was ever sick.  So, thank you Lori for capturing my beautiful boy at his best.  I will cherish your work always.

Kelley Chester