How Photography became my passion?
About Jackie Allender
Sep 14 Written By Jackie AllenderFor the longest time I’ve had an interest in photography. Unlike some other photographers who have had family members who were or are still photographers and have brought up around it, I just came to love capturing photos of my kids and family. My love of photography started with everything around me.
Every moment I had free, my camera would be out.
At that time, I was busy working as a full-time mum. I worked a lot of hours and spent a lot of time at work putting in my all. I loved what I was doing. However, as the years passed, my photography became less and less due to a busy work and home life. I am sure most can relate to the real struggle of achieving that work/life balance.
In 2012, my life changed forever. I actually became unwell with a sore throat and swollen gums. I was tired and put it down to working too hard and not taking care of myself. I took a couple of days off work, went to the doctor, and he put it down to a virus. He gave me some antibiotics for the gum swelling and sore throat and told me to go home and rest. I did, as I was so tired—a tiredness I had never experienced before!
Still, I wasn’t feeling much better. A couple of days later, I noticed some bruising on my legs. I continued to look for reasons and justifications for it, attributing it to our dog jumping on my lap for some pats—she was a big heavy girl.
The next day, I was getting ready to go to work. After my shower, I noticed some red blotches on my tummy. I thought that was strange but continued to get ready and left for work that day.
On my way into work, I consulted with Dr. Google as you do. It came up with Leukemia. I thought to myself, no, it can’t be. I would be a lot sicker than this, wouldn’t I? So, when I got into work, I made an appointment with the doctor for that day and, as I walked out the door, I said, ‘I’ll be back after my appointment’.
Well, I didn’t go back. I received a phone call from my doctor and was told to get myself into the Royal Adelaide Hospital immediately as my blood results showed I had Leukemia. I had a little meltdown and needed to get things organized. I made some phone calls and needed to find someone to watch our son, who was only 9 at the time. Our eldest son was away interstate, and my mum had just left a few days earlier to go to Scotland to visit my sister. After I pulled myself together and was driving into the hospital with my husband, I thought it would be fine. They would give me some chemo tablets or something, a couple of weeks off work, and I’d be good to go again…
How wrong was I…?
That was the start of several tough years fighting a very nasty aggressive blood cancer.
During treatments and my long stays in the hospital, my doctors recommended that I try and find a hobby to occupy my time. Photography came back front and center, so my journey back into photography started right in the hospital!
On good days, I read all the theory I could get my hands on, desperate to get well enough to get my camera in my hand. On bad days, I could only dream about it. Once I did, I realized that I didn’t know how to put it all into practice. I was determined to get it right. I took online courses, joined clubs, and YouTube was my friend. I photographed everything!
You might ask, ok but why do you photograph people?
When I was looking for photographs of me that my children could remember me by as I was having to plan my funeral, I realized that there weren’t too many. I promised myself that if I survived my Bone Marrow Transplant and was able to, I would make sure that would change for me and others.
That is how, after a long time, Jackie Allender Photography came about.