Who: Brandon Thibodeaux 

Client: NBCnews.com

Story: After losing children to a tornado, grieving parents in Oklahoma crusade for storm shelters.

Read what Brandon had to say about the shoot below.

It really made me look at parenthood in a completely different light

“I’ve worked for NBCnews.com (formerly MSNBC.com) for a few years now.  As you would expect the portrait sessions were pretty intense.  For some of these families it was the first time they had spoken to the media, and among the group of 5 families I photographed one, the McCabe’s had lost their only child.  That one was especially difficult having to photograph Mr. and Mrs. McCabe sitting on their son’s bed with the door closed. It was intense and quite emotional. In all we spent three days photographing portraits of the families and documenting the aftermath of the storms. It really made me look at parenthood in a completely different light. The McCabes pointed out that, “If you lose your parents, society knows you as an orphan. If you lose your spouse, you’re a widower, or widow.  But if you lose a child, well, mankind never has developed a word for that. It’s just not supposed to happen.”- Brandon Thibodeaux 

Click here to read the story and view a slideshow of Brandon’s images.