Cydil and Nathan Waggoner took a trip of a lifetime to Albania where they met their daughter for the first time. They had waited a long time to reach this destination and important milestone in their lives. Cydil Waggoner knew from the onset she wanted to preserve the experience in a photo book-to tell the special story of how a little girl named Ellie came into their lives and completed their family.
Expecting the unexpected
Cydil had created several photo books before their adoption trip so without knowing what to expect on their six week journey to Albania, she knew just the kind of details she would look for. “We took photos of places like our hotel which was our home for several weeks, the car and driver who took us on so many long trips, the pile of immigration paperwork on the bed.” Cydil sought to capture the whole story so she could weave together a mixture of typical ‘new-parent’ experiences like feeding Ellie for the first time and giving her a bath in addition to some unusual experiences like trips to immigration offices and getting passport and visa photos taken.
While creating the photo book Cydil learned that sometimes it’s the unexpected or unintentional pictures that carry the most visual power and significance. There is a photo of Cydil and Nathan feeding Ellie on page six. Cydil says it always elicits comments from people because, “while you obviously see us feeding Ellie, you also see her little roomies looking on, wanting to be part of the action. I am happy to report that both of those little guys are now adopted too. Their faces have been indelibly etched in my mind.”
Another powerful image is one that Cydil’s dad actually took; it is the photo of the tray of empty meal cups. Cydil explains, “After we received the printed photo book, that was the image that Ellie couldn’t take her eyes off of. It was the image that we knew triggered a strong memory for her. And to think I almost didn’t include it.” That’s why her advice is to take a lot of pictures because the more photos you take, the more likely you are to get that great shot. Cydil offers another piece of advice-take a combination of wide angle and close-ups and several in between (both horizontal and vertical). “You never know what will work for a particular layout and you can’t go back and get a do-over!”
A labor of love
Cydil admits she could have spent months completing her photo book for Ellie but she gave herself a deadline to finish it while her memory was fresh. The book is organized by major milestones: the journey, the first meeting, a ‘typical’ day of visiting Ellie in the orphanage, the long journey home. Cydil confesses, “I still occasionally go back and rearrange some of the pages—that’s the beauty of a digital scrapbook!” She goes on to explain that finding a good ending point proved to be a challenge. But she decided that ending with an extended family gathering upon their return to the United States was a great way to mark what was essentially the beginning of Ellie’s life as part of the Waggoner clan.
Cydil had two copies printed of Bringing Ellie Home—one for Ellie to read now to remind her of familiar people and places and ease her transition and another copy that is safe from grubby toddler hands that Ellie will have when she’s older. “It was important to me that I take photos of Ellie’s orphanage, of the ladies who took care of her, of her little roommates, of the toys she played with, the kind of food she was fed, etc. because I knew that someday she would want to fill in the gaps of her life before she came to us and I knew I couldn’t describe those people and places as well as a photograph could.”
A mother’s lens
In telling Ellie’s adoption story, Cydil felt a great responsibility for being the lens through which her daughter would form her first impressions of her birth country and her heritage. She wanted to represent an accurate portrayal of orphanage life in a developing country without focusing on the negative aspects. Her careful selection of images resulted in a piece that’s anything but negative. In her own words, “Albania is a land of contrasts, of the modern existing side-by-side with the ancient. It is a land of great beauty but in the middle of great transition which isn’t always pretty. But we want Ellie to grow up with an appreciation of her heritage because her country gave us an incredible gift: the opportunity to become her parents.”
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