Chief was the only brown dog in a litter of otherwise black puppies born two years ago—a special dog right from the start.
Teddy woke me up Easter morning and the first words out of his mouth were “Dad, I had the strangest dream. I dreamt that I found Chief.”
Chief was the favorite of their cousins’ dogs who live across the road from grandma’s house. She vanished mysteriously over two weeks ago. Coyotes roam the woods at night in upstate New York and there was an article in the paper about some dog thefts. The worst was assumed; two weeks is a very long time not to see your dog in farm country.
Later that day Alexander spotted the resident bald eagle across the pond and kayaked over with Teddy and cousins Rocco and Benny, to get a closer look. The Eagle kept diving into the water to nibble on something. They assumed it was a fish but, sadly, it was Chief’s body. Everything indicated that she had fallen through the thinning ice and drowned. Teddy ran all the way back to the house yelling for Linda. “Grandma, grandma, get all the grown-ups! I have bad news!” It was finally decided that Uncle Greg would row the boat across to pick up the body and bring his dog closer to home for an appropriate burial.
What you see here are photographs of a group of young boys coming to grips with the inevitable. Their reactions were as varied as their personalities. Alexander was unhappy with me for taking pictures. Little Benny suggested that it would have been better if this had happened on Halloween and not Easter. All of them didn’t want to look at Chief’s body but did. The two other cousins chose not to go to the site. The boys built a cairn to memorialize the spot; they tried as best they could to follow Uncle Greg’s example and be helpful and manly.
I was clearly aware that I was telling an important family story with my camera. I shot overall pictures to establish where it happened, details, reaction shots, and pictures with mood taken with heartfelt respect for everyone else’s feelings.
In hindsight, I’m kicking myself that I didn’t shoot a group shot of the five boys to show what everyone looked like on this very unforgettable day. Next time.
I would love to know your thoughts on photographing difficult emotional situations.
Alexander was drawn to Chief’s body when he saw a bald eagle repeatedly diving into the water near the shore on the other side of grandma’s pond.
As we waited for Uncle Greg to row the boat across the pond to pick up the body everyone was quiet and serious. Alexander was clearly alone with his thoughts and not happy with the idea of photography, by the way.
All of the boys built a cairn to commemorate the spot where Chief died.
The comments among the boys ranged from serious to silly, as they waited for Greg and Rocco to arrive. “At least we know what happened now.” “Nature took it’s course.” “It would have been better if it had happened on Halloween and not on Easter.”
All of the boys were worried about their cousin Rocco’s feelings as the boat approached the body.
The boys are only human; they had to look as Uncle Greg lovingly wrapped Chief’s body in a blanket and placed her in the rowboat.
Uncle Greg rowed the boat with Chief back to their house for burial.
Alexander and Rocco took turns with the wheelbarrow on the way to the burial site.
Alexander was working on the gravestone when we were all called to dinner for Easter. He put the finishing touches on it at the dinner table.
Alexander’s finished tribute to Chief that would later be placed on the grave.
