Fall River photographer presents makeover and photoshoot to native nursing dwelling residents

A Fall River photographer who wished to memorialize her grandmother on her birthday not too long ago held a photoshoot for different seniors at a nursing dwelling.

Megan Rego, 36, mentioned six years in the past in the course of the pandemic, she and her grandmother, Maria Olivia Correia, had taken a drive to the seashore.

During the journey, Rego, who was driving, suffered a panic assault however did not need her grandmother to know what was occurring.

A digicam she had not too long ago bought was in her again seat.

“So I pulled over and as a distraction I was like,’ Let’s get out here, I’ll take your picture,'” mentioned Rego. “It was like woosh, like, all the panic went away. It was the wildest thing, I got so happy and that’s the picture that I took. That’s my first photo.”

A Fall River photographer who wished to memorialize her grandmother on her birthday not too long ago held a photoshoot for different seniors at a nursing dwelling.

For so long as Rego can bear in mind, she has all the time been extraordinarily shut together with her grandmother.

She was a proud Portuguese lady from Nordeste Sao Miguel whom she known as Vavu.

As a baby, the pair took many journeys to close by nursing properties to go to her different grandmother, whom her household helped deal with.

“Then when I was 25, she was my landlord. I moved to the third floor and she was on the first floor,” said Rego. “I saw her every day of my life. She was a part of my everyday life.”

Rego and Correia grew to become greatest buddies after that.

Rego usually filmed the pair on TikTok, sharing funny videos and photos with the world so that they could experience the same joy she had while with Correia.

“She was very sassy and spunky,” said Rego. “She was a really humble lady who labored tremendous exhausting, very household oriented, however she didn’t have an amazing life. But, I really feel like as time when on together with her grandchildren she began residing.”

Rego mentioned having developed a ardour for pictures, she had all the time liked the beauty facet of issues too which she shared together with her grandmother.

“I did her nails every two weeks for years then I started doing her hair,” she said. “It would be a random Tuesday and I would be like, ‘Let’s do a photoshoot. I would have her get her best dress on, I would do her hair and makeup and we would take photos. She loved it but she was also helping me. I think that’s how she saw it too.”

Eventually, Rego constructed a enterprise round her pictures Megan Rego Photography.

She opened a studio in New Bedford.

She has grow to be extremely popular and her work is beautiful.

One day three years in the past, she had been driving to a photoshoot when her cousin known as her to inform her that her 87-year-old grandmother had handed away.

To honor her reminiscence, that very same yr, she collected donations all through the group and donated objects to an area nursing dwelling.

“She would go to nursing homes everyday four-five times a day with her friends they had this little group and they would do Portuguese prayer service,” said Rego.

Rego had tagged along a few times and saw the difference that her grandmother’s presence made for people who had no one.

Following that effort, each year on her grandmother’s birthday, she would gift a free photoshoot to someone who wanted to take pictures with their grandparents, and offer them to others at discounted prices.

She calls them Olivia Sessions.

“It’s like people only focus on newborns, and first birthdays, and weddings, but if you have a grandparent and you’re close to them, it’s like this person has been in your life since you were born and they have been in your life your whole life. Maybe you’re close to them and you know how time works, and that’s supper important too, so I try to really push that so that’s what I was doing for her birthday.”

This year though, Rego wanted to try something different.

“This year I was like I want to do more, for more people,” she said.

Rego decided to reach out to staff at the Catholic Memorial Skilled Nursing Home and asked if she could bring some of her friends for a day of pampering and photoshoot fun.

Shana Viveiros and Tanya Cabral who are freelance artists volunteered their services.

Shaunna Carreiro, a bridal freelance makeup artist did too, as did Chelsea Medeiros from Bella Moda Hair Studio and Michelle Oliveira from Salon812.

Alda, Oliveira’s mom, also came for support.

“We had a makeup station, and a hairdressing station, and as soon as they came in we had music playing and we went right to it,” she said. “Their energy and the way they came alive, it was so nice to see. It was beautiful.”

Rego took pictures of the 16 girls who obtained free hair and make-up too.

She documented every thing utilizing movies from the day and her telephone to create quick spotlight movies that she shared on her social media pages.

“A spot like that, it may be very miserable and somber however that room wasn’t. It was very completely satisfied, very optimistic,” she said. “There should be more days like this for them. They’re in there and they feel forgotten and they don’t feel seen.”

Rego’s videos of the event have captured the attention of tens of thousands of people online.

She said her grandmother would have loved to have been a part of it too, and she is so appreciative of everyone who pitched in to help memorialize her birthday.

“I brought her glasses, which she always wore, and I had them wear them so I made a series where they’re all wearing her glasses so it was like a little touch of her being there that day,” mentioned Rego. “I simply love the truth that prefer it all sort of got here collectively and I might use one thing that I like to do, to assist another person. It simply made me actually completely satisfied.”