By Juanita McDermott
sugar monsters attacking my pancreas, painting on whiteboard by Desmond McDermott, photograph by Juanita McDermott, © 2007, all rights reserved
Cure Diabetes, photograph by Juanita McDermott,
with assistance from Dezy McDermott, © 2007,
all rights reserved
Reflection Of My World, photograph by Juanita McDermott, © 2007,
all rights reserved
Prickly Little Fingers, photograph by Juanita McDermott, © 2007,
all rights reserved
About Photography: I’ve been taking photographs for about a year. I only recently discovered what a passion I had for it after someone showed me how to use flickr to drag and drop photos into my work blog. flickr is like an adult MySpace; it allows you to share your photos with people all over the globe. Now my work blog is extinct, replaced by my photography and flickr.
Since my six-year-old son is Type 1 diabetic (he was diagnosed at the age of two), I decided to start shooting photos of diabetes related topics. I formed a group on flickr called Diabetes Art for people to express what it’s like living with Type 1 diabetes and its complications. Type 1 diabetes is serious in and of itself, but it can lead to other serious health issues.
My goal was to create art pieces with used diabetes supplies –syringes, test strips, insulin vials, infusion sets, finger prickers, etc. These supplies were such a part of my son’s life and my life -I wanted to create something out of them other than what they really stood for. I was amazed to see that many people quickly joined the diabetes art group on flickr and began creating art pieces of their own to shoot and post. I was soon interacting with people all over the world and learned how diabetes is treated and managed in developing countries.
My son, Dezy, got very excited about the new group and created a few pieces of his own. He loves helping me when I’m working on my pieces. When I was ready for a new one, I gave Dezy my first digital camera, a Canon Powershot S30. I upgraded to a Sony DSC-H5 camera, which my husband researched and purchased. There’s a lot I don’t yet know about the features on this camera, but that’s OK. I’m having a lot of fun as it is.
Dezy was invited to represent the state of New Mexico in Washington, DC, for Children’s Congress on June 17th-20th. My family and I are completely dedicated to finding a cure for diabetes, and my son dreams of a day when he is free of this disease. We’re looking forward to sharing with all the US senators and congressional representatives what Dezy’s life is like living with Type 1 diabetes. Dezy and I will take plenty of photos and share them with all of you on my flickr account.
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