"I hope others can see Loved&Lost as a conversation starter or a forum to talk about things that people don't want to talk about, because actually, if we talked about it, it might be easier to cope with afterwards." - Will

Participate

The Loved&Lost project is designed to help you engage with your loss, regardless of what it looks like. Having experienced loss myself, I began this project to help others approach their grief and use photography to respond to how we are feeling. 

I have put together this simple participation guide for you to use, to allow you to take part in the project yourself. You can then submit your story to be featured on the Loved&Lost blog if you’d like. 

• Find a photograph of yourself with a lost loved one. Take your time to look through the images, and allow yourself to recall memories from those occasions. This might be an enjoyable thing to do with family and friends. 

• Ask someone if they will go with you to return to the location of the original photograph. 

• Return to the location to replicate the original photograph with your camera or phone. This might be a positive way to mark a particular anniversary or occasion. Take your time to remember the day that the original photograph was taken. Acknowledge the sights, sounds, smells and textures of the place. What is the same? What has changed? 

• You can also take other photographs of the location and of each other. 

• Once you’ve taken the photographs, find somewhere to sit and talk together, preferably somewhere warm with a drink, a piece of cake or over a meal. Give yourselves time and permission to talk about the day, the experience of going back, share memories and recall your favourite things about the person who is no longer with you. What might they have wanted to talk about? Would they have chosen the same meal as you?

• Again, take your time, it is a chance to think back and remember, for you to tell your favourite stories of the person that you have lost and dedicate some space to remembering how special they were.

• Afterwards, you might want to write down some of the things that you talked about. If you’d like to, you can share the project on social media and tag Loved&Lost Project.

• It’s important that you take your time and return to the location when it feels right. If you change your mind, don’t feel up to it, or it takes a long time to arrange, that’s fine. My hope is that the process will bring back happy memories and the experience of returning to a special place will be comforting and positive. It’s also good to talk, and this is a way to make space to share with those closest to you.