Relay for Life of Clinton County 2011

It was an honor to be asked to capture images at the 2011 Relay for Life of Clinton County. I am working on getting my candid shots together (and, of course, I got a little shutter happy and took a ton of frames, but I'm so happy with what I have!) and weeding down the team group photos, but wanted to share a few of my shots from the evening. The first two are straight out of the camera images of the sunset over the Relay, and the other image is from the Luminaria. I haven't been to Relay in 2 or 3 years, but had done it several times in the years before that. It was nice to be back out at the event and participate in the fellowship of the evening.

This was my first time attending the Opening and the Survivor's Lap, and I was taken by how moving it was to watch these men and women at various stages of their fight coming onto the track with their medal on and proudly step out in front of the crowd in a statement of strength and courage. I was tearing up at the Luminaria as I was thinking of my very special Great Aunt Magda, who was taken from us in late 2009 after being diagnosed with Stage IV Ovarian Cancer, my husband's two deceased grandparents who had also been through long treatments, the all too numerous aunts, uncles, and other relatives on both sides of our family that are either survivors or currently in treatment, the fighters and survivors that I know in the community... What better reason to celebrate, remember, and fight back?!? Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of this year's Relay!