Hanne Matthews, Our last trip together (BLACK & WHITE 2025)

I took these photos on January 2025, when I went to visit my parents in Finland. Mostly I went there to say goodbye to dad, and hug him and say ‘I love you’ one more time, before his lung cancer would take him completely. Dad didn’t have so much energy left during my stay, but he could sit in the car, so one morning, when it was finally -2’c instead of -26’c, we three decided to go to see my childhood home. Mum was driving, dad on the passenger seat, and I at the back of the seat with my camera. I remember thinking about our normal trips, that we did, dad would also have his camera, and we would be walking in the nature, taking pictures of course, and talking about his canon and my sony, and how dad got me into photographing. I am still so grateful for this day. But things were different on this trip. Dad didn’t have his camera, and we were not walking, but we still could be in the nature, and we focused talking about life, how everything has changed so much, and also remembering about the good times. Once we got home, dad was exhausted and went to bed, and mum started cooking, like she always has focused on that we all are fed good. I purposely used slow shutter speed, so I could show my feelings, sadness, heaviness and a feeling of life passing by so quickly. When I got home, dad passed away 12 days later. I miss you dad

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.