The Waking Hours documents the life of an aging father and his descent into a deep sadness. Extremely personal, the events are captured through the lens of his daughter, photographer Martha Fleming-Ives, as a means of coping with this transition and is an attempt to construct a new relationship with a man she has known her entire life.

Soon before his retirement from 35 years as a minister, Fleming-Ives’ father took a turn into intense despair. The drastic change from religious leader of a large community into a less significant role brought on a fragile and childlike state within him. Fleming-Ives took to documenting the change of her once proud and stoic father. Recording some events, while staging others, the process became a way for her to personally examine and build a relationship with the new man her father was becoming.