Photographs of Folks Who Took A Chance On Me

 In this story you will meet the many people I have been working with for the past two years. Some of these folks have either passed away or moved on. You will see photos of my dog Caera with her patrons and my rescue kitten turning therapy cat work her magic as well.

I have been a caretaker my whole life. I was raised on a farm in Lyndonville, Vermont and then became a horse trainer that then took up photography. For 17 years I took care of my father who was schizophrenic. Not only did I take care of him, but I was also at the time a single mother. I was working my own animal training business working with everything from wild animals to all sorts of barn animals. I work with Positive Reinforcement Training and Clicker Training. I have been training animals for 40yrs. I still work with animals on a part time emergency basis. My main goal with animal training is working with my dog and cat. I was also working up to 3 farms at a time with all different size of animal on their farms. I worked 7 days a week. Sometimes not getting home until 8 at night. When I moved to North Carolina in 2014 I moved down there to help take care of my 2 nephews, one is on the low end of the autism scale. I also started taking care of injured animals. Doing all of this while I was battling Grave's Disease and Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue. I almost died that December of the Grave's Disease. My thyroid levels were 5x's higher than normal. My doctor down there asked me how I was even still alive. Apparently, my levels were higher than someone who had full cardiac arrest. He told me I shouldn't have been walking. I just smiled and told him, "I'm a Vermonter!"  Besides the pain that I'm in everyday being able to relieve someone else's pain in so important to me. I love to make people laugh and I really enjoy bringing peace and comfort to someone. Even if it's just to make them a sandwich or change their sheets for their bed. I listen to their problems and help out where I can, but most of the time I just sit and listen. I wipe tears away and hug them when they need it.

I never really understood how much I meant to my elderly friends until my friend Carrie, who I met in the spring of 2020, worked with her all summer and she passed in November of 2020. When my car broke down we were right in the midst of Covid-19. Luckily we have a public transportation so with all precautions made I continued to go to her house. Eventually she had to go into the hospital and I wasn't allowed to go see her. Her daughter though would keep me in the loop and Carrie would ask about me everyday. She would ask about my dog and cat. We would write to each other through Facebook messanger until she no longer could do so. I killed me not to be there with her. I grew very fond of that woman and she was doing so well until she got the pneumonia. Then it didn't take long after that and she had a rare lung disease on top of that, but she didn't die of Covid so there was that blessing. One of the last things Carrie said to her daughter was to give me a message. Carrie told her daughter that I was to continue doing what I do because without me she would have died a lot sooner. She wanted me to know that I was an Angel on Earth and that the world needed more people like me.

To hear words like that come from a person is hard to take. I don't go looking for praise, I just want to help. I'm in so much pain all of the time I know the importance of being pain free and stress free. If I can help make some one's life easier even if it's for a hour I know I've done a good job.

This is my dad and I. This was taken a couple of years

before he died. 17yrs of care.

My friend Carrie who passed away November 2020. The bottom photo is 

the last photo taken of her before she went into the hospital. Little Bean

is sitting on her chest. Little Bean was 4 weeks old in that photo.

My friend Merritt fishing. I met Merritt the same time I met Carrie and quite

often I would take the both of them out with me doing photography cruising.

Here is Carrie with Merritt and a friend of mine from high school and Caera. 

This is Little Bean with my current Elderly person Memere. Memere has Alzheimer's

and she has known Little Bean since her rescue. Little Bean is 7 months old and comes

with me every morning to make Memere breakfast.

Jenn (Above) and Ada 

Jenn was my only Senior Photo Session in 2020 and

now she comes to me for help with her photography homework.

Ada is a relative that I met this past summer. She wants to get into

photography so I took her out for the day and I lent her one of my cameras

and we had an awesome day. 

Here are some other portraits that I have done over the years.

My daughter on the top, a friends daughter who is now almost 4 and

my daughter with her best friend who because of me has turned into 

an awesome photographer in her own right.

Taking photos of people, places and things are memories shared and history made to stand still in time. I'm so honored to have found this avenue of creativity in my life. I not only get to share the beauty of the world with people far and wide, but I also get to create memories for people whom have been forgotten by those who have gotten to old to contribute to the community.

If you would like to see more of my work here are some links to my major social media avenues.

https://www.instagram.com/sierrastfrancisphotography/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sierrastfrancisphotography

Thanks for coming by!!!

Sierra

Self Portrait