This work is very meaningful, and can be very difficult. We serve children 18 and under facing life-threatening conditions, as well as parents facing life-threatening conditions who have children 18 and under. Some of our sessions are 'end of life' where the child is removed from life support, and some are celebrating a cancer treatment milestone.
Soulumination is based primarily in Seattle/Tacoma and Spokane. We work with Seattle Children’s Hospital, Ronald MacDonald House, UW, Providence, Swedish, Evergreen, Valley Medical Centers, Mary Bridge, Tacoma General, Multi-Care system in the South Sound area, and Providence Sacred Heart.
Soulumination Sessions are scheduled directly through the family or a social worker/provider. They can be urgent, meaning we need to schedule a photographer within 24 hours, or non-urgent. Sessions are often in the hospital, outside at a park, or in the family’s home. At least one parent is present, and often siblings and extended family members. The child or parent does not have to be terminal for us to photograph them. Sometimes the child can move around and play, and other times where they can’t leave their bed and may be unable to move due to medical equipment. We do sessions when a child is being taken off of life-support. Our photographers may be there before removal, during, or after, or any combination, depending on the family's wishes. It can be very heart-breaking, but rewarding work.
When we get a session request, we will text you. If you are available – great! We will get you booked and send the details. If you are not available, let us know and we will try you again next time.
Soulumination has photographers who do several sessions a month and some who shoot for us twice a year.
Our photographers generally Dropbox us their 60 edited images in color and BW, or they send us an invitation to access them online through Smug Mug, ShootProof, One Drive etc. Very little editing should be done to your images. We strive to make our Soulumination Sessions a cohesive body of work so we ask our photographers to aim for timeless, classic photos in order to achieve this across the board. Once we receive your images, your work is complete. We ask that you delete all files from your sessions 2 weeks after we recieve them.