All images protected under U.S. copyright laws © Nancy Medwell Photography

Elena, Nancy, Carlo and friends —Photo by Eric Stuhaug Biography Nancy Medwell’s passion for photography began at the age of 13 when she received a camera as a gift from her father. She spent the next 20 years studying the technical and artistic aspects of the photographic arts as a student, apprentice, curator, art dealer, and professional photographer. Today, as a portrait photographer, she concentrates on preserving the essence of loving relationships. Nancy attended the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied the basics of photography. Later, she attended the University of California at Santa Cruz, earning a Bachelor degree in Fine Art Photography and Anthropology. After graduation, Nancy undertook a one-year apprenticeship with Al Weber, a master photographer and printer from Carmel, California. With Weber, a friend and colleague of Ansel Adams, she learned the subtleties of making beautiful prints. Nancy served from 1978 to 1979 as the Assistant Curator of Stanford Art Museum’s photography collection. Subsequently, she moved to New York City and became a vintage fine art photography dealer. Through buying and selling thousands of master works by renowned photographers such as Strand, Man Ray, Kertesz, Weston, Stieglitz, Modotti, and Evans, she developed her eye for composition, subject, and print quality. Nancy fused her vast technical skills with an extensive knowledge of artistic photography and became a portrait photographer. For 26 years, she has created images that document the honesty and affection that people bring to daily life. A personal experience with illness added a new dimension to Nancy's passion. She discovered that she could work within an artistic and therapeutic framework to preserve tender moments between individuals. Photographing those who are chronically and terminally ill provides families with a treasured record of the beautiful bonds which exist at a unique moment in their lives. In 2005, Nancy was honored to have been selected as the exclusive photographer for Portraits of Healing: Celebrating the Gift of Hospice, a three year traveling photography exhibit designed to increase awareness of hospice care. Sponsored by Providence Hospice of Seattle, the exhibit uses Nancy's moving portraits to tell the story of hospice - its patients, their families and the dedicated hospice caregivers. Her compassionate portraiture encourages us to open our minds to new ways of approaching the end of life. Her presentations to community organizations and health care professionals offer a new vision of how a compassionate and loving approach to other’s grief can promote healing. Using her photographs, she inspires dialogue about how we can help those around us live and die with grace and dignity. In 2006, Nancy was accepted into an educational and spiritual studies program, The Anamcara Project, at the Sacred Art of Living Center, Bend. Oregon. Currently, Nancy is photographing elders with their children and extended families at local retirement communities. Her purpose is to show how honoring one another in the preciousness of each moment can bring comfort and renewed meaning to our existence. At each retirement community, Nancy gives a presentation open to all families in which she weaves her photographs, personal experiences, spiritual reflections, guided dialogue, and poetry into a message of hope, healing and transformation: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” (Oliver Wendall Holmes) Also, she is working with several clients to co-produce family Legacy Books. Each book is uniquely hand-bound in leather and combines Nancy's silver gelatin prints with reflections and memories written by family members. "My intention", she says, "is to offer families an opportunity to creatively show and communicate glimpses of who they are. The final result will honor your roots, celebrate your elders and preserve for others a sense of belonging to reflect upon". Nancy resides in Seattle, with her husband Carlo, daughter Elena , English cockers Echo and Charlie, cat Milo and several tropical fish swimming happily in their naturally landscaped tank. Her prints are featured in public and private collections throughout the United States and Europe.