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MIAMI – For greater than 40 years, Mark Potter was a Miami-based veteran of community TV information, an investigative journalist on the entrance strains.
“I covered everything from you know, Pablo Escobar, the Colombian drug war, Mexican drug war, the border wars and on and on,” he mentioned.
In 2016, Potter launched into a well-earned retirement, however that would not final lengthy.
“One month after my retirement, my wife Judith and I got the catastrophic news, that she had high-stage ovarian cancer. We went right into full-time cancer care,” Potter mentioned.
That most cancers care lasted three years till she handed away in 2019.
“It was usually a 14-hour day. I was a full-time caregiver. I gave up everything because it was an honor to do it. But it took a toll on me too,” Potter mentioned.
He mentioned Judith noticed it too.
“Judith said ‘listen, if you’re going to survive this, in your attempt to help me survive, you need to get out of the house a little bit each day to get away from cancer’,” mentioned Potter.
He took on a every day pre-dawn passion, capturing Florida’s lovely sunrises and wildlife in images. Soon one thing occurred that he did not count on.
“When I started to post my photos just for something to do on Facebook and Instagram, I started getting a reaction from other people who said ‘Wow, these photos help us. Can we have some more?’,” Potter defined.
It quick grew to become a symbiotic relationship between Potter and his Facebook buddies. He did not even know a few of them and but they needed extra, asking him to publish an precise picture ebook.
“I would say I ain’t doing no ‘fufu’ photo book, I’m a hard news guy. But then I grew up, I matured, and I realized, wait a minute, they’re asking for something,” he mentioned.
The result’s his simply launched ebook “Sunrise: A Photographic Journey of Comfort, Healing and Inspiration.”
That title, he says, sums up the challenge for him.
“My photos, which are upbeat and colorful, all started from tragedy,” he mentioned. “They started from tragedy but they didn’t end up that way, miraculously.”
One picture of two birds flying by way of a golden dawn brings him peace.
“I see in that photo, Judith and me together. I see us flying past the sun,” he mentioned.
CBS4’s Lisa Petrillo requested him how he was doing now.
“I’m good. But as you can hear in my voice it’s still an emotional topic,” he mentioned, his voice barely cracking. “This was a huge loss. But the response that I’ve gotten is also a cause for emotion. But it’s happy emotion.”
Potter nonetheless goes out each morning ready for the second when darkness turns to mild. He calls it ‘Magic Time’ and says nobody ought to miss it.
“It’s a technicolor movie in the sky. That’s just magic How does that happen? I can’t fathom how anybody would want to sleep in and miss that,” he mentioned.
“Sunrise. A photographic Journey of Comfort, Healing, and Inspiration” is now out wherever you purchase books.
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