Flashes of Hope!

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go to UCLA Hospital and photograph children with cancer and their Mom's for Flashes of Hope:

"Flashes of Hope is a nonprofit organization that changes the way children with cancer and other life threatening illnesses see themselves through the gift of photography and raises money for pediatric cancer research.

The portraits, taken by award-winning photographers, help children feel better about their changing appearance by celebrating it. For families of terminally ill children, it's especially important to have a portrait that preserves forever the beauty, grace and dignity of their child."

I was rather nervous about photographing the kids because I thought it was going to be an emotional day, and I also wanted to do a great job! Luckily, I do not have a heavy family history of cancer, and I have not been around too many people who have had cancer. I was a little unsure how to act around the kids.

My girlfriend Allison took the day off from work, and assisted me. In fact I was so nervous, we got to the hospital an hour and half early. I could tell, I was getting on her nerves just a little bit....

Once we set up the lighting, and the first kid rolled in with a huge smile on his face, I was put at ease. My jaw was literally hurting at the end of the day from laughing so much. I ended up photographing 14 youngsters, and kid after kid came in with an I.V., and all of them were smiling. I thought I was going to have tears of sadness rolling down my face all day, it ended being tears of laughter!