They lost their family photos in natural disasters. They're grieving the loss of treasured memories. - chof 360 news

Irene Bautista tried to take matters into her own hands by spraying water on a brush fire that appeared outside of her Pacific Palisades home on Jan. 7. But when her garden hose ran dry and smoke overtook the sky, she knew it was time to evacuate.

“I told myself I had to get inside the house to get my purse because my green card is in there,” she tells chof360 Life. “Then I saw the picture frame of my family on my nightstand, so I immediately grabbed it and ran out as fast as I could.”

The frame holds a collage of five wallet-size photos: There’s Bautista at her college graduation, her late parents and each of her three kids. “Whenever I see that picture frame, it is a testament [to] the resilience of the people in that small frame,” she says. “How my parents made it to 50-plus years of marriage and [brought] up six kids when times were tough; how I finished college with three kids and was able to provide for them as a single parent; and my kids growing up to be good citizens and finishing college with bachelor’s degrees.”

Bautista is especially grateful to have those five photos considering they’re the only ones she has left. She’s one of thousands who lost their home during last month’s California wildfires and, with it, countless keepsakes. “The baby pictures of my kids didn’t make it,” says Bautista. “Those were the only pictures that reminded me of them when they were little. The only picture of me carrying my two boys in my arms at the same time, during a trip to Boracay [an island in the Philippines]. My little girl smiling in front of the camera when she was only 8 months old. Those are irreplaceable pictures. Sadly, with just a blink of an eye, everything is gone.”

Amid the devastation of the fires, the loss of photos can be particularly difficult to bear, says Patricia Dixon, a clinical psychologist in Tampa Bay, Fla.

“Photos are among the most irreplaceable treasures we possess, especially if no copies exist,” Dixon tells chof360 Life. “They serve as gateways to memories, capturing emotions and moments that might otherwise fade from our minds.”

And when those images are lost or destroyed, the memories attached to them become harder to hold on to. Here’s how Bautista and others have dealt with that loss, why mental health experts say that loss can trigger grief and what photographers are doing to help.

What it’s like to lose photos in a disaster

Jenna Muscat was 21 in 2017, when her family lost everything to Hurricane Harvey . She was away from their Kingwood, Texas, home for college at the time but says her mom, dad and brother had to evacuate by boat.

“They were able to salvage some physical pictures, but the majority of them were on our family laptop,” Muscat tells chof360 Life. “My mom tried to carry the laptop out of the house when they evacuated but dropped it in the floodwaters.”

The laptop was physically recovered, but what was on it could not be restored. “So all of the tens of thousands of photos of me and my family are just gone, and that loss has honestly been devastating,” says Muscat. The handful of photos that remain are those that were posted on social media platforms or previously saved on her phone. “It feels like losing a piece of you.”

Molly Jazz experienced the total loss of her home in Marina Del Rey, Calif., in 2023, when a fire broke out in her apartment complex. The 29-year-old recalls working from home with her partner when they heard loud noises outside. “We went to go check and saw glass exploding from a window on the second floor with heavy black smoke and flames following it,” she tells chof360 Life. “We both knew we had less than a few minutes to get out.”

The couple only got a hold of their dog before evacuating, leaving behind everything else. Despite all that was lost, Jazz was fixated on a keepsake photo and picture frame she received when her younger sibling was born. “I’ve kept the frame with me since I was 5 years old,” she says. “Becoming a sister was such an amazing moment in my life and losing the frame that symbolized that hurt tremendously.”

The loss adds to a list of others — tangible and not — that Jazz is still working through. “You lose your sense of safety, you lose everything you’ve worked hard for and you lose memories you’ve acquired your entire life,” she says. “Most, not all, material things can be recovered in some way or another. The hardest part about losing photos is that nothing can bring them back.”

Grief is an appropriate response

People often dismiss material items as “insignificant,” Dixon says, but “the emotional weight they carry can be profound.”

“The emotional toll of losing photos can be overwhelming, as it often signifies the loss of precious memories and connections,” she adds. “Each photograph carries a part of our story, and when they’re gone, it can feel like a piece of our past has vanished forever.”

Losing a tangible reminder can affect a person’s ability to recall those special moments, says Brianna Paruolo, therapist and founder of On Par Therapy. “The grief of losing those pictures represents accepting that those physical memories are unable to be accessed anymore, and relying solely on our mind's eye can feel distressing,” she tells chof360 Life.

The power of photographs is something that grief coach Jock Brocas teaches in his workshops about managing the loss of loved ones and the things that remind you of them. “Losing these precious heirlooms causes a deeper sense of disconnection not only from the moment in time, but the moment in your mind and so you also become disconnected to yourself,” he says. “It is not just about losing photos; it's about losing you and your identity.”

How photographers are helping families recover

Lost photos can’t be replaced, but photographers like Storm Santos are stepping up to offer California wildfire victims the next best thing: free photo sessions.

Inspired by industry peers and eager to help his L.A. community, Santos posted an offer to take new family photos for any residents who lost theirs in the fires. He’s had more than 500 responses. “I want people to feel seen,” he tells chof360 Life.

“I hope that these folks feel that other people have their best interests at heart and that there’s community surrounding them,” he says of the opportunity to help those trying to pick up the pieces. “You may have lost everything, but we will help you get everything back. I think that's what I want people to walk away with.”

That’s a powerful gesture, Evon Inyang, a therapist at Forward Us Counseling, tells chof360 Life. “They’re giving people a way to reclaim something that feels lost,” she says. “It won’t be the same. It will never be the same, but it’s a start. A new thread in the tapestry, a way to say, ‘We’re still here. We are still standing. We still got each other. We shall overcome. And we can make new memories, even after the ones we’ve lost.’”

Looking ahead

Jazz’s 2023 loss still feels fresh, but she’s taken steps to recover and rebuild. “I try my best to take it one day at a time, to lean on family, friends and therapy, and to focus on the fact that new memories can be made,” she says.

While what happened feels entirely out of her control, she’s doing what she can to avoid history ever repeating itself.

“Immediately after the fire, I purchased a fire safe. That purchase makes me feel a lot more secure, just knowing that my documents and most of my newfound keepsakes are stored there,” says Jazz. “I am slowly working on digitizing my photo albums that I have at my mom’s. It’s a major work in progress.”

As for the idea of capturing new photos and memories, she understands the solace that can bring to families like her own. “It’s hard to have a sense of what’s next after a fire — even when you slowly begin to gain your bearings again, even when you get a new place and when you start over. There are so many small reminders of what was,” she says. “The toll of losing photos is devastating beyond words. I love the idea of new family photos to truly remind us that there is a chance to begin again.”