Cosmic stargazing, magical forests, super light trails and amazing wildlife were all part of our Ross Cancer Support Group July meeting, held at St Mary’s Hall, Ross on Wye.
Steven Gregory, photographer and cancer survivor shared his story with an audience of local people affected by cancer and presented a portfolio of his amazing work that spanned several years.
Steven said “after my cancer treatment and surgery, the MacMillan special nurses (Claire Harding and Sharon Nash) suggested that a number of activities, such as knitting, painting and photography could help as a therapy as part of my recovery. I chose photography and over the past seven years, I have self taught myself. Before cancer, I was an engineer fixing and servicing farm machinery, now I am a photographer and love it with a passion, a blessing and gift that was given through adversity”
Steven is a member of the Forest of Dean camera club and also teaches at the Herefordshire Photography Group as well as taking students out in the field.
Steven went onto to say “living in the Forest has provided an amazing opportunity to photograph the nature on our doorstep, I lived in the forest all my life and now I am really getting to know it through the eyes of the Lense”
It was great to see new faces at our group meeting who expressed an interest in photography, the group had many questions and saw the benefit from doing something you love to act as a therapy.
Paul Middleton, group Communications Manager said, “our group meetings are not all about just talking about cancer, it’s about providing a safe environment for local people affected by cancer and providing them support from people who have lived, or are living through their own cancer journey”
The group will be introducing more guest speakers who can share their stories at future meetings and ones that can offer therapies of different kinds to support our local cancer community.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday 2nd September at St Mary’s Church Hall at 18:00-20:00. All are welcome and the kettle will be on!
A small sample of Steven's work, hope you enjoy, they are amazing!
