Living With Ben

This is something that I've been working on over a long period of time with more still to come, though now it is limited to whenever I go home. The following are a collection of images of my brother, Ben. Ben was diagnosed with Autism when he was 18 months old after his DPT vaccination.
This personal narrative depicts Ben in daily life doing his normal activities in mini-stories throughout. I wouldn't consider this a documentary at all, but rather my take on how Ben impacts my life, my family's lives, and how we try to include him in the real world as much as possible.
Luckily, Ben is familiar with me so it was no problem shooting, which other photographer may encounter. If it were anyone else, he probably would have been very uncomfortable. But since I didn't have that problem at all, I think I captured the essence of my brother, who is one of my favorite people in the whole world.
Enough blabbing, here are the photos.


Music Therapy

Swimming Lessons


Working out at the YMCA, a weekly tradition for my dad and Ben








Just some daily activites - he likes his music.



Inclusion with holiday festivities


Bingo night at home (he likes us to repeat sounds and faces he makes)


Eating his most favorite food: potatoes


Pressure on his body is necessary so he can feel himself in space. It makes us laugh.


He's very good at puzzles
Something else I'm thinking about:
What if I made it all black and white?

Family Time

As my family did every year when I was younger, we drove up to the Twin Cities area in Minnesota for Christmas. While we were there, we caught up with some old friends, too.

The drive up

This is Andrea. She owns a chocolate shop.

Minneapolis Skywalk.

How to tell you're in Minnesota: they call it a ramp, not a garage.

Family friends and family

Playing games

Uncle Dex making dinner

Opening presents

Grandma helping a friend at the Nursing Home

Visiting Grandpa's ashes

Our only family friends in Minnesota that aren't Lutherans

Holiday Cheer

Even though the holiday season can be stressful, it definitely makes for nice pictures. These are from the past week at the Western Springs Holiday Walk, where all the businesses and different associations have some sort of holiday activity.

The Historical Society of Western Springs had ornament making, letters to Santa and story telling in front of the Ekdahl, an historical landmark.



Western Lights Sweet Adeline Chorus at the Harris Bank - more to come on these ladies.


Waiting for Santa to light the Tree


The Western Springs Garden Club decorated the library for the season