Sara Louise Petty's Fashion Blog

Sara Louise Petty Photography - Our Veterans / August 20, 2020 by Sara Louise Petty

I’ve always loved to create things. I feel so happy when I’m creating, so it should not be surprising when I’m not working in creating things - I’m also creating things! My joys outside of Fashion Design, Trend & Concept and Color forecasting - my chosen career - mostly center around Photography. I love to shoot, and I shoot from the heart. It’s a passion of mine. When I say I shoot from the heart, it’s because I’m the kind of person who can’t do anything unless it has meaning and value in my life. I’m kind of an ‘all in’ type of person (is that Ride or die?).

Photography for me was another opportunity to branch out into creative work that allows me to do some good in the world. It’s not a paid position. It’s a calling. My job in Photography, just as it is in my Fashion career is to be a visual storyteller. With one photo, you can glimpse a persons soul in their eyes. You can tell their story. It invites the viewer into their world, and voyeuristically wonder about that persons life, or have empathy for their sadness or joy for their happiness.

One of my favorite photo stories I have worked on was several years ago I approached a Westchester nursing home called The Osborn to work on a series of their Veterans who reside in the home. This was a particularly rewarding experience for me. On my free time, I would head over with my equipment and meet with a different Veteran each time. I photographed 25 Veterans which were exhibited at a Charity Veterans Day Ball, at their beautiful location. It was so much fun. I will always remember the joy that the men had being able to talk to me, reminisce and feel special. A few of them had Parkinson’s and Dementia. I held their shaking hands and my voice comforted them. One spritely 92 year old, was a newlywed and played tennis daily! I must admit to shedding a few tears during the process. They showed me maps and medals they'd kept from the war, one German was an American operative undercover and had many amazing stories and his German papers. Another still had, and fit into, his uniform.

The joy of taking the photos, was on par with the joy of making these brave, noble men happy and celebrating their importance in our nations history.