The following photos are the last pictures he made while reporting the story of Lovelle Svart, a researcher at The Oregonian (a newspaper). Due to a terminal lung cancer diagnosis, she left work four or five years earlier. Over the years, she kept in touch with folks at the paper, specifically Don Colburn, the reporter who wrote about end of life issues. Lovelle was a strong-willed person and held deep beliefs about Oregon's Death with Dignity Act. The photos show her ending her own life by drinking a lethal barbiturate in accordance with the said act.
According to Finch:
I am trying to make this photograph as unobtrusively as possible. I am damning the sound of the shutter – which sounds more like a boom than a click. I suppose I was tense. I did not know what was going to happen. Would she die immediately? Would she throw up? Would a family member try to stop her? Looking back, it still gives me chills. I have photographed death in many different situations – natural causes, epic acts of nature, violence – but this was a totally different experience. This was the actual act of a person ending her own life. I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around it.
As far as the details of making the picture – we all talk about trying to make photos, which speak to more than just what is happening in the frame. We try to make pictures about what something feels like. That was my goal with this picture. The room, Lovelle's mother's bedroom, is a significant portion of this photograph. I wanted viewers to spend time with the photos on the wall. This act is another chapter in a family's history. I think the dimmed light plays a part in this photograph, as well as the shadowy figures in the foreground. I wanted to make it clear that there were others in the room – many who did not want to be identified. Finally, I wanted to make a photo of the significant moment when Lovelle is drinking.
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