KATE SMITH (12)

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO DO THIS PROJECT? Because I was interested in photography. I was also curious to meet kids like me.

WHAT ONE WORD DESCRIBES YOU BEST. Outgoing and fun.

IF YOU WERE AN ANIMAL, WHAT WOULD YOU BE? A dog.

IF YOU WERE MAROONED ON AN ISLAND, WHAT THREE THINGS WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Matches, my cell phone and food.

WHAT IS THE ONE THING THAT PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO FIND OUT ABOUT YOU? I have five different sides of me.

WHAT IS MOST "SPECIAL" TO YOU ABOUT YOUR PARENT? My mother is very special to me... she is always trying to help, whether it's helping me find something or helping me through something, she is always there. It is not only me that she helps. It's family and friends. She is very special to me.

IN WHAT WAY HAS HAVING A PARENT WITH CANCER CHANGED YOUR LIFE? It certainly has changed my life. In a way it has shown me how lucky I am. I figure that I have so many more blessings than some people and I am really very lucky! Having a parent with cancer has made me conscious of EVERYTHING!...the poor, homeless people with no place to live or get food, kids in orphanages with no families...even global warming!


SARAH SNYDER (KATE'S MOM)

DESCRIBE SOMETHING THAT YOU LEARNED ABOUT YOUR CHILD WHILE YOUR PORTRAIT WAS BEING TAKEN AND WHAT IT MEANT TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED BY HIM/HER.
I actually did not learn anything new about Kate that I already didn't know. But this project was a great illustration of something that I did know: that she has the ability to overcome initial doubts or stress and make a situation work for her. After our first three pictures, we realized that she had not advanced the film.... she got annoyed with the whole situation. We both felt stressed by it. So we decided to take it less seriously and just have some fun. Once she made it her "own" thing, she completely took command and knew where, when and how she wanted to shoot.

The potential hazard of Project: Tomorrow was a child shooting a "sick" parent in an unspoken but sad context, as in.... when will she be well again? That would have been down right gloomy. Instead this shoot showed how our relationship has barely been touched by cancer. Except for her occasionally criticizing my hats and checking in on me when I am resting, we have the exact same relationship we always did. In the same way none of the pictures she took had anything to do with whether Mom was sick or well. They had to do with what we love-roses, beaches, Nantucket and each other.

WHAT IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT LEARNING EXPERIENCE THAT YOU HAVE SHARED WITH YOUR CHILD, SINCE BEING DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER?
No such thing. Here's what's true: Since being diagnosed when Kate was six (she's now 12 and I was cancer-free for four of those years) the most important things we've learned together have had nothing to do with cancer. They were things that you learn between those ages- about friendships, teachers, classrooms, team sports and how to have the most fun. Cancer never got in the way of any of that. We made sure of it and I feel we did a stupendous job!

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