Helping families facing cancer
If the saying is true that a picture is worth a thousand words, than Brendan Klem has written masterpieces.
A Calgary photographer, Klem has turned his craft into a very personal gift to families struggling with cancer.
His Family Comes First project gives them a memory of a time before all the appointments, treatments and loss.
“I want to create images that can showcase everything that is good about their family despite whatever situation is going on.”
In 2012, Klem began donating his time and talents to families and couples affected by cancer. In shooting their portraits, he captures times of love and strength and devotion. It’s deeply personal, and it’s healing, too.
In 2001, Klem’s father underwent a quadruple bypass and through followup testing was diagnosed with acute leukemia. The subsequent years of battling cancer took its toll on the family and Klem only has one photo of his dad during that time — and it isn’t exactly a typical portrait.
The image of his dad lying on the floor by a heat register to stay warm is stark and riveting and deeply touching, much like the rest of Klem’s work.
Regret on a variety of fronts led to the creation of a stirring video — Portrait of My Father, created by Brock Mitchell — and Klem’s decision to photograph others going through the same difficult process.
“I want to stop that time for others so they can just be a family. They don’t a have to be a family where someone has cancer,” he says.
Klem has recently relocated to Toronto and hopes to continue his Family Comes First portrait project while there.