RUNNING A BUSINESS AS A YOUNG WIDOWER WITH KIDS
Tim DeMaio is a U.S. Navy veteran, U.S. Diplomat, and former Pentagon and oversees contractor who has struggled with over five traumatic brain injuries. It was his wife, Tabitha, who lifted him out of his depression and helped him battle the demons haunting him from his service. Sadly, Tim had yet to face his toughest battle, as Tabitha was diagnosed with stage four cancer in August of 2024. After a courageous battle, Tabitha passed away on September 4th, 2025. Tabitha and Tim not only built a life together with two beautiful children, but also a business they were both passionate about. Now, Tim must move forward on his own while balancing taking care of kids and honoring both his and his late wife’s dreams of creating a business that helps others.
Tim settles into his workday, but is easily distracted by his kids as they play loudly next to him.
Sawyer, Tim’s oldest, arranges his cars in a line on the windowsill. He finds peace in organization since his mom’s passing.
Tim’s youngest, Liam, cries for his father who is taking a work call.
Photos of Tim’s late wife, Tabitha, line the home. Her presence is felt throughout the day.
Tim takes a break from work to play with his sons.
Sawyer cuddles with his dad, which makes going back to work a bit more difficult.
After playtime and a diaper change, Tim is hard at work again.
After a long day, Tim shares one of his recent creations through his business Berserker Built, where he makes functional art as a beacon of hope for veterans and first responders battling PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, anxiety, suicidal tendencies, depression and beyond. He hopes to continue this journey through a nonprofit his wife and him built, Operation Path Forward. One day, Tim plans to move his family to Montana where he will build a retreat to help others who are struggling.
THE PROCESS
Tim’s story is a story I have always wanted to tell. When I found out we were creating a photo essay for school, I knew this would be the perfect opportunity to do so. When it comes to storytelling, photographs are the most effective way to tell a story and express emotions words can’t seem to. These pictures allow the viewer to connect with Tim on a more emotional level, and we get to see this way of life through his children’s eyes, too.
Photo narratives provide a deeper understanding of the subject being photographed. It’s different than a portfolio or album, because it follows a theme and tells a bigger story. According to Terry Eiler, a photographer at National Geographic, there are three ways to tell a story through pictures: photo essays, photo packages, or photo stories. While all these methods are similar in which the photos tell stories through a theme, there are small differences that impact how the story is being told. When I began thinking about this project, I knew I would be creating a photo story.
CREATING A PHOTO STORY
Unlike photo essays and packages, a photo story focuses on one specific person, place, or situation. When learning about this way of telling stories, I was heavily inspired by this photo story of a 94-year-old rural Missouri farmer. The images were striking, and while my photography skills are novice level at best, I knew I wanted my pictures to evoke similar emotions. When looking at the images, it was like I could physically feel his devotion to the farm. The years of hard work bled through the photographs, and his story tugged on my heartstrings.
So, where do you start when you have a story to tell, a camera, and the subjects right in front of you? For me it was with a single moment. When I walked into Tim’s apartment, I knew I had to look for the important moments. In chapter one of Seth Gitner’s book, we learn that capturing moments is crucial for bringing out emotions and empathy in the viewer. In order to capture the moment, I had to be patient and wait for them to come to me. I couldn’t force Tim’s kids to play a certain way. I had to be still, and let the moments play out in front of me. This allowed everything to feel much more authentic and real, which is equally important to telling a good story.
Essentially, there are four principles of visual storytelling that I wanted to follow closely:
Authenticity: The photos aren’t staged and everything is happening in real time.
Sensory: Make the audience feel strong emotions when viewing the images.
Relevancy: The images are relevant to the story and the audience feels connected to that.
Archetype: The character being portrayed is one an audience can identify with.
On top of combining these four principles, I also tried to focus on creating a 3-act story. In a photo essay about an Elmo impersonator, I noticed there was a very clear beginning, middle, and end. I was able to follow a simple 3-act structure like ones featured in comic strips. In the beginning, I set up the fact that we are following Tim over the course of a working day in his life. The middle features him breaking to spend time with his kids, and in the end he’s back at work doing what he originally set out to do. Even though his days are so altered because of a tragedy, we see they must go on. And his family relies on him to do so.
Since I was telling a more dramatic story, I wanted to showcase the fifth picture, because it captures Tim’s life before tragedy when his wife was still alive. This helps paint the underdog narrative, and lets the audience in on the conflict. According to Bo Bergsterm in his book Essentials of Visual Communication, “In order to hold the audience spellbound, the director has to introduce a basic conflict with the lead role placed in the position of underdog (the protagonist) and can identify with the situation…”
When telling Tim’s sotry, I was ultimately telling the story of the underdog and using moments, a three act structure, and basic visual storytelling principles to do so. In the end, I think photojournalism is essential for telling stories. Pictures have a way of speaking for themselves. They can haunt us or inspire us. I think Andrew Losowsky, award-winning journalist, said it the best when speaking on successful visualization and stories,
“It stirs emotions, it encourages action, it equips us, it inspires us.”
If I have done just one of those things, then I feel like I have succeeded in telling Tim’s powerful story.
SOURCES
Photo Narratives. Defining Picture Stories, Essays And… | by Eman Shurbaji | Ideas: Journalism + Tech | Medium, medium.com/learning-journalism-tech/photo-narratives-d77b812f99dd. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. (Module 5)
Crowder, Nicole. “The Last Farmer: At 94, One Rural Missouri Farmer Continues to till His Land.” The Washington Post, 20 Oct. 2014, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2014/10/20/the-last-farmer-or-from-the-missouri-photo-workshop-twlight-on-bradley-farm/.
Gitner, Seth. “Multimedia Storytelling for Digital Communicators in a Multiplatform World : Gitner, Seth : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, New York : Routledge, 1 Jan. 1970, archive.org/details/multimediastoryt0000gitn. (Module 1)
Montalto, Mike. “The Four Principles of Visual Storytelling.” Amplifi, 25 Jan. 2024, amplifinp.com/blog/4-principles-visual-storytelling/. (Module 1)
“A Day in the Life of a Times Square Elmo Impersonator.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 1 Aug. 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2014/aug/01/time-square-elmo-day-life.
“How to Use 3-Act Story Structure in Comic Strips.” Tim Stout, 3 Sept. 2011, timstout.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/how-to-use-3-act-story-structure-in-comic-strips/. (Module 2)
Bergström. “Essentials of Visual Communication : Bergström, Bo, 1946- Author : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, London : Laurence King Publishing, 1 Jan. 1970, archive.org/details/essentialsofvisu0000berg. (Module 1)
“Visual Storytelling : Inspiring a New Visual Language : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, Berlin : Gestalten, 1 Jan. 1970, archive.org/details/visualstorytelli0000unse. (Module 1)