Photographer Simon Bray explains why he started Loved and Lost, an online project for people to tell the stories behind photos of loved ones who have died
I lost my dad to prostate cancer in 2009. I felt a need to respond somehow, to try and understand my own grief, but also to help others understand theirs. As a photographer, my starting point was family photographs, so I began by re-staging an image of my mum and dad taken a few days after they got engaged. Mum and I then sat and spoke about her experience of losing dad. It was fascinating to see how it varied from mine, to hear her memories and give her a chance to celebrate who he was and what he meant to her.
Photography is a simple but powerful way to open up a conversation about loss, something that many people – understandably – find it very hard to engage with. I feel hugely privileged that others allow me into their stories, to take their photographs and open up to me about some of the most painful times in their lives.
Good journalism can be about good things too.
Often when someone passes away, people will ask you how you are, how you’re coping. But a lot of the time, all you want to do is tell everyone about the person who isn’t around any more: how special they were, that you miss them and that you wish you could share those seemingly insignificant moments in…
