More Than What I Capture

Welcome to Through Casey's Lens

For a long time, this blog held words from one of the hardest chapters of my life. I originally used it to share updates while my dad was battling cancer. Those posts hold memories, grief, love, and a part of my life that changed me forever. They will always belong here, because losing my dad shaped the way I see the world and made me even more aware of how important it is to notice and hold onto the beautiful moments while they are here.

But I’m ready for this space to hold more now.

I’ve wanted to start blogging again for a while, but I kept getting caught on what it was supposed to be about. Photography? Business? Adventures? Creativity? Life?

Eventually, I realized it doesn’t need to be only one of those things, because neither am I.

A Little About Me

I’m Casey, the photographer and designer behind Casey Olson Designs.

I’m based in Arizona, but my passion to chase beautiful light and landscapes takes me far beyond one location.

When I’m not photographing for a client, there’s a good chance off on another adventure in nature. And you betchya I’m chasing the sky with my camera in hand. I'm tad sky obsessed and love to capture the sky in my work.

I photograph everything from families, seniors, couples and weddings to events, branding, products and properties. I also create branding and websites for businesses that want their online presence to feel like a true reflection of who they are.

I’m inspired by nature, skies, art, creativity, music, connection, emotion, and the moments that make us feel something and get away from the world, for a bit. I love to capture those moments and inspire others with them. It's my passion.

Why “Through Casey's Lens”?

The name felt right because a lens can mean more than the piece of glass attached to my camera.

It can also mean perspective.

Through my camera lens, I notice light, emotion, movement, details and fleeting moments that might otherwise disappear. Through the lens of my own life, I see creativity, business, motherhood, grief, healing, adventure and gratitude. Sometimes all tangled together.

This blog will be a place where I can share both.

I’ll feature some of the client work I’m especially excited about, along with the experiences and ideas behind it. I’ll take you along on sky chases, photography adventures and the sometimes-questionable decisions that begin with, “There's a crazy storm headed this way.”

I’ll also share things I’ve learned through photography, branding, web design and running a creative business. I want to offer helpful ideas for other business owners, photographers and creative people trying to build something that genuinely feels like them.

Sometimes, I may write about life itself. The harder chapters, the healing, the lessons, the people I love and the ways I have found light when life has felt especially dark.

What You’ll Find Here

• Favorite client sessions and recent creative work

• Light chasing, sunsets, landscapes and photography adventures

• Behind-the

• -scenes moments and the stories connected to certain images

• Photography, branding, website and creative-business tips

• Thoughts on life, grief, healing, growth and gratitude

• Anything else that feels meaningful enough to share along the way

It might be a little bit of everything, but that feels honest to who I am and what I do.

More than anything, I hope this blog becomes a place for connection. Maybe you’ll find inspiration for your own photos or business. Maybe you’ll discover the story behind an image in my print shop. Maybe something I share will help you see a familiar place, or a part of your own life, a little differently. Or maybe you’ll simply enjoy following along as I chase another patch of light across the Arizona desert.

However you found your way here, I’m glad you did.

Welcome to my new blog. A place for the images I capture, the things I create, the lessons I’m learning and the perspective I’ve gathered along the way.

I'm stoked you're here. I have many beautiful things to share!

Our Dearest Clark

I'm sorry that it has been so long since I have updated the blog. When my Dad started treatment on September 26th at Mayo Clinic our whole world was turned upside down. He was hospitalized day one and never left the hospital. As radiation went on he became weaker and more things began to stop working in his brain and body. The radiologist said it could take weeks after treatment for radiation to show it's benefits and reverse some of the symptoms my Dad was having. 2.5 weeks into the 3 week long radiation treatments the radiologist came and said he usually sees some improvement by then and he didn't think my Dad was going to get better. My Dad finished the radiation on Friday October 18th and became unresponsive by Tuesday October 22nd. They then told us they thought he only had a few days to live and we have been waiting for his time to come since.

The past month has been the most traumatic time in our family's lives. We tried day and night to help my dad feel safe and loved and supported through this experience. There were so many times he cried and said how grateful he was for us and how he could feel our love and that's all we could really do. It pained us that we couldn't help him more and save him from this horrible cancer, but we do know we did all we possibly could.

Our Clark is the absolute sweetest and silliest soul to walk the planet. He made those close to him laugh and feel loved and important. He was an extremely smart mechanical engineer who could engineer just about anything (including my parents massive pond and bog system in their yard and their entire home). He is a lover of sports (especially football and basketball), and lover of nature and plants, a lover of birds and animals, and a lover of his family most of all. We are all forever changed to have known him and have him in our lives and will keep him with us in our hearts forever and ever.

We will be having a celebration of life for him at my family's home. Time and date to be announced later on.

Again, thank you for all of your words of love and support to my family and for the donations to cover the costs of this family emergency.

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Standard Care & New Symptoms

A lot has happened since I last posted. Things change every day with my dad and when I am able to be with him I don't want to be writing blog posts. When I am unable to be with him I am constantly researching, talking to people, and trying to find the right answers and connections, so that we can quickly make the very best choice for my dad.

Sadly, on our trip to CA every place we visited told us we have to do the Standard Care (chemo + radiation) and then have the cancer begin growing again to be eligible for any trials in the future. They also said it was unlikely he would even qualify for those due to the leptomeningeal spread. They all urged us to begin full brain and spine radiation at Mayo immediately. They said that tiny tumors are beginning to form through my dad's brain and spine and even a tiny amount of growth from these in the spine can be major symptoms for my dad. Since Mayo has proton radiation we are going to begin this radiation on Thursday at their facility. There are only a few proton radiation machines in the country and Mayo has one! This radiation is known to have far less symptoms than Photon radiation and won't go past the spine to his organs like the Photon does. He will be doing chemo along with this daily radiation.

Over the weekend my dad has gotten worse. It is so painful waiting for the care to start. We requested Friday to start on Monday, but they said Thursday was the earliest they could start. Each day we wait is scarier and scarier.

Over the past few days he began to have double vision in his left eye, along with the worsening vision loss. He requested to start wearing an eye patch to cover this eye and we are hoping this will start to help with the migraines he is getting. He is now saying that even his right eye isn't processing sight right. He says he can tell it's his brain not processing it right and that it is hard for him to explain.

He is having increasing confusion and it has become very hard for him to walk, even assisted by us, starting yesterday. We got him a wheelchair and are working on buying him a nice walker for when he feels like trying to safely walk (still with our help). Walking brings him so much joy. We are devastated about this new symptom.

The trouble swallowing is still a big issue, as well. We have been trying to get him into a swallow study for a week now and they say they sent the order to TMC and to call and schedule, but no one calls us back. We decided to just go to ER there yesterday to say he needs one done and they said he could do it. We waited hours and after calling him fully back from the scan they said never mind they couldn't do it anymore. It was such a waste of time and so much energy wasted for dad. After that is when he started to not be able to walk well.

Another new thing is he seems unable to regulate temperature. He will be absolutely freezing and unable to get warm out of no where, etc.

The other night he suddenly seemed unable to talk and started just nodding, shaking his head, and holding his throat in pain. He did this the rest of the night. We were so scared this symptom would stay, but it seems to have left and he can talk again. PHEW. This cancer is so up and down with different symptoms, we never know what to expect at a given moment.

In his confused state he remains so brave and sweet and caring. He blows us all away being such a great example of strength and we hope we are able to keep making him feel as comfy, loved, and happy as we possibly can.

My Uncle Robert came to visit over the weekend and we all took this photo right before he left to go back home. We loved having him.