She's Not Just My Photographer...

she's also my best friend of thirty years.

Fran Paliotta and I met at a Girl Scout meeting in 1978. It took a couple of years, but we became best friends. Over the last thirty years, we've gone through some pretty amazing things - good, bad and indifferent - but we were always there for each other through it all. When she went to photography school in Boston two years ago, I supported her endeavor and did all I could to help her to achieve her goals. She completed the program - finishing with honors and as a Recommended Photographer from the New England School of Photography. It was a gruelling program and she paid dearly for her exhaustive work, battling pneumonia just before the start of her final term. I was incredibly proud of her and her achievements and still am. She becomes a better photographer with each image she creates. I was so happy when she had decided to get on this track because I had told her when we were kids that she should get into photography. She always had the eye for it, she just needed the technical training to hone the skills.

When I began work on this project, I talked with her at length about my plans and about how I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I knew what I wanted to accomplish. Fran, being Fran, immediately offered to help in any way that she could, whether it be with advice, photographs, music (yes, she's also an accomplished composer and pianist) or just to be there as a support net. Well, I took her up on all of those offers. Her largest contribution, though, has been her photography and it's awesome.

I have dragged this poor kid to bunches of firehouses and had her take images that I'm sure she never would have taken on her own. She's never complained, though - just shot what I needed and donated them without a second thought. You might think it's not such a big deal to take some pictures... but that's not what she does. She talks with me about what I need and then creates the very images that I'd seen in my mind's eye. Her talent for doing that never ceases to amaze me.

Fran has been incredibly generous and I am eternally grateful to her for her support of and participation in my project. See, it helps that she's my best friend because she knows... she sees into my heart and knows that this project means the world to me. It is a labor of love in the utmost sense of the phrase. She knows how important it is and even though she initially had no interest in the subject matter, she has ended up making some great friends, too. She's even donated her time and photographic talents to Local 799, having photographed a Poker Run, the Family Outing and most recently the PFD's picket in East Providence. The firefighters have been great to her and have accepted her into their circle, just as they did with me. THAT makes this all the more wonderful for me because after thirty years, she's more like family to me than anything else.

So, thank you, Frannie - you're the best friend a girl could ever hope to have. I don't know what I would have done without you through any of this.

Here are a few of her images that will be seen in the final film.