This was my 8th year shooting the Philadelphia Susan G. Komen Race for the cure and every year it gets better and more rewarding. This year they added something new “Kids for the Cure” you know I was in heaven since taking pictures of children is really my true calling. Capturing the children’s pride in helping with something so important and their joy in just being outside with so much going on is second nature to me. I’m not sure I can even put into words what the experience is like for me but I will try.
My favorite moments are always on the stairs of the art museum with all of the survivors as they are getting ready to walk arm in arm in the “parade of pink”. After 8 years; I have developed real friendships with many of these incredible survivors. I know their stories, I know their families and year after year when we see each other on those steps it’s an affirmation of everything unspoken. We just about run into each others arms with a big heart felt hug and more often then not tears start flowing. The knowledge that another year has passed and they are still here is not lost on any of us. These women are still fighting for their life, still beating this terrible disease and still living every moment with a new kind of appreciation.
Who am I? Just the photographer who try’s to capture what they are feeling, their vulnerability,their strength, their hopes and their fears. I’m also a women with family members who have also fought cancer and I’m all too aware that I am not immune. Aware that in my own lifetime, myself or someone dear to me will have to face what they have. These women stand for strength, courage and beauty to me and hopefully they see in my eyes the respect, admiration and genuine caring I have for each of them. I’m a mother myself and on mothers day rather then sleep in and spend the time with my own children… well truly their is nowhere I would rather be then with all of these survivors who inspire me daily. I only hope that if my feelings aren’t shown in the tears in my eyes as they descend the steps or in the exchange between us as we meet again year after year; that somehow they are shown in the images I take.
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