When her mother’s breast cancer returned after 12 years of remission and her father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer just months later, Nancy Borowick picked up her camera. It was a natural thing to do as a professional photographer. What followed was an emotional journey of documenting the last months, weeks and days of her parents’ lives. Two weeks after her wedding, her father passed away and the following year (one day shy of the anniversary of her father’s death) Borowick lost her mother as well.

Borowick channeled her grief into a book, The Family Imprint: A Daughter’s Portrait of Love and Loss. The tragic story ended up being more about life and love than cancer and death. We caught up with Borowick on her book tour in Washington D.C.

“Life and Death, in Focus” won the gold world medal in the human interest category at the 2019 New York Festivals TV & Film Awards.