A photographer who offers the families of children with life limiting illnesses free photo shoots is appealing for sponsorship to help continue the service.
Shellie Wall, a professional photographer based in Yaxham, near Dereham set up Sunshine and Rainbows, a not-for-profit photography service- in August in 2018 when she was approached by a woman diagnosed with terminal cancer, who wanted to have some for photos taken with her family.
Touched by the idea, the 44-year-old photographer -who specialises in maternity and newborn photography- offered to run the session for free, and that was when Sunshine and Rainbows started.
Seven months later, Mrs Wall has photographed ten children and their families, including Sophie Taylor also known as Super Strong Sophie and Denver Clinton who became known as a 'superhero' by those who heard about his battle with cancer, and who both died earlier this year.
But, in order to continue and expand the service to be able to provide families with boxed USB sticks and a goody bag for the children and their parents, Mrs Wall is appealing for sponsorship from individuals and businesses.
She said: 'I know how important photographs are to me, but for someone looking at a life limiting illness, I cannot begin to imagine how important these images are to them.
'I think bereavement and illness is something which most of the time, people shy away from because they don't know what to say or how it's going to be received' she said.
Adding that she tries to make the photo shoots as stress-free as possible for families, Mrs Wall said: 'We have a questionnaire we send to families beforehand to see if there is anything I need to know.
'I try to make the sessions quite fun, we use lots of confetti and try to make it relaxed,' she said.
Launching a fundraising page with the aim of raising £2,000 to continue the scheme, Mrs Wall, who makes no profit from the photo shoots, said: 'I can't afford to fund Sunshine and Rainbows so we have set up a JustGiving page to cover promotional material and branded USB.'
More information about Sunshine and Rainbows or to donate visit the project's JustGiving page.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/sunshineandrainbowschildren?utm_term=RPwQBw6R6
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