My favorite from the NCAA III Womens Finals this weekend. It wasn't an RIT Game (Middlebury vs. Gustavus Adolphus) so there were more photographers than fans there so for once I didn't have the crazy corner crew to rely on. I shot this game differently than I have shot any hockey game before, it was a good thing.

Defining Family

I keep hearing "Shoot what you know, you know it better than anyone" in all of my classes. So, this quarter I'm going to take that advice and photograph my sorority. When I tell people I am a sister in a sorority I get the same confused looks or questions "Why would you ever do that? Why would you pay for friends?" and while this is an arguement I hate getting into, I cannot blame them. Greek life has always had this weird shade of secrecy but when people ask me what it is, I simply respond with they are my family. So I'm trying to define family.

Its strange how much the things that used to mean the world to us slowly change over time. I used to have dreams of being a ballerina and a fashion designer.

My new beautiful 9 day old niece, Natalie Rose. I will forever find myself obsessed with baby hands and feet.

Xpolse

Final Doughty Edit

After a quarter of shooting, at least ten hours of editing, five or six nights spent sleeping on a chair, and an immense amount of hours with this family I think I have complied a story that does this family justice.

The Final Doughty Edit

Raise the Roof Dance-a-Thon

The more time that I spend with the Doughty Family, the more I fall in love with this story. Tom and Kris endlessly sacrifice their own personal lives to take care of Scott. They change a 27 year old man's diapers, day in and day out. Tom has to physically move Scott onto the bus to go to his program in the morning. Kris must watch from the sidelines sometimes, Scott is getting too strong for her to handle. Not only have they given up their own lives for the care of their son, they do so willingly.

The Doughty Family

(1.15.2011) Phillip Amsler breaks into cheers as the national anthem ends, signaling the start of the RIT Men's Hockey Game.

(1.22.2011) The Dynamic Silver Bullets, an all-star cheerleading team based out of Rochester, New York, perform at the Section V Winter Classic cheerleading competition.

(1.22.2011) Morgan Lapresi, KC Klopfel and Ali Garver watch their competition at the Section V Winter Classic Cheerleading Competition. It is Morgan's first time competing, and seeing cheerleading of that high caliber.

How is a family defined? This is the question that runs through my mind when thinking about the Doughtys. What makes a family special or different? I have only spent two days with this family, and the love they share is clearer than that of any family I have ever seen.

When Scott Doughty was 9 months old, he went into a hypoglycemic coma that stopped the progression of his brain. He is now 27 years old and cognitively, he is the same as he was at 9 months. He has no verbal skills and his only way of communicating is through physical force.

In a situation where the majority of families would have the child institutionalized or put into a group home, Scott's parents, Tom and Chris have not only kept him and cared for him themselves, but they have gone above and beyond. In 2001, the Doughty's added Julia to their family. Julia is a 63 year old woman with severe down syndrome and is currently in the early stages of Alzheimer's.

I have not spent nearly enough time with them to truly understand their situation, but I am more than just excited to. I have never felt this inspired by a family or subject in my entire life and I cannot wait to learn their story.