Parading Prettily in Pink...

In case you haven't noticed, or having been living under a rock the last few years, October is breast cancer awareness month. So, for ArtWalk in Abilene this month there was a Pink Parade down Cypress Street in downtown. It was a fun little event led by the Hardin-Simmons Six White (Pink) Horses and had a nice festive feel to it.

Happy to Live Each Day...

This was a really sad story , but cool at the same time. Hawley High School head football coach Brad Schoonmaker has stage 4 Melanoma and a has less than a 10 percent chance of surviving through 5 years. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I went out to shoot practice the team had only won 2 games and was headed into their last game of the season with no chance of making the playoffs. But, when I got there everyone's spirits were high and Schoonmaker was as nice as can be. I'd met him earlier in the year when I was shooting mug shots. He was a genuinely nice guy, but pretty business-like. When I went out there to shoot practice he was a lot more loose, and pretty easy-going. So much so, to go and throw out a few jokes about photoshopping him to look younger. I gotta say, he's the kind of guy you really want to pull for to beat the odds. Staff writer Evan Ren wrote a great story you can read here.

Chilis for the Tatas...

The annual Bunco for Breast Cancer event is one of those annual events that just screams for great photos. Now if you've ever played bunco (I haven't but my wife has told me stories) you will know it's really competitive. Women just seem to transform when they play bunco. Luckily, everyone at this event is there more to support breast cancer awareness and help the cause. It's really cool who most of these ladies just go over the top for the event. Often when I cover this event I spend about the first 10-15 minutes walking around the event observing what's going on and what tables look the most outrageous outfits combined with the craziest. On this night I found some women wearing chili peppers on their heads, women with fringe-lined sombreros and women with mustaches. All were having a great time and going nuts when they threw a bunco... it sure made my life easier.

Fashion Show

Last night I shot a Fall fashion show benefitting Cancer Network Services, a group that gives emotional and financial support to those being treated for cancer. It started about an hour later than the time I was given on my assignment, but luckily I had about 15 minutes to work my way around the runway, I liked this angle the best it did a nice job of highlighting the model as well as showing the size of the crowd, which they say is their largest in the 5 years they've been doing it.