The Greatest Gift of All

A monumental day of giving.  These are the kinds of days where I value my job, the people I work with and the beautiful children and families I meet.  I remember the first time I ever photographed a young girl with cancer she looked at me and said, "My name is Ashleigh and I have cancer."  I set down my camera and tried to hold back what felt like tears about to unravel.  I looked at Ashleigh and said to her, "That makes you one of the strongest people I know Ashleigh."  We starred at each other for a moment longer before I took another picture of her beautiful blue eyes and warm smile.  She then leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I beat it."

On Sunday, December 13th 2009 The Bottomless Toy Chest and Live To Give Foundation reached out their hands to help seven local families with a child fighting cancer this holiday season by suprising them with the greatest gift of all...giving them a holiday to remember.
Not only did I have the pleasure of attending this wonderful day but I got to capture moments between the donors and the families, children and friends.  I was able to portray their beautiful souls through my lens for the world to see the essence of these families and love they have for each other and for us, the donors who made this day, the best day.

2 year-old Vanessa Goley rests her head against her mothers while waiting in line for brunch during The Bottomless Toy Chest and Live to Give Foundation 2009 Holiday Party, Sunday, December 13, 2009 at the Detroit Golf Club in Highland Park, Mich., 17911 Hamilton Rd.

The Yahia Family and members of The Bottomless Toy Chest gather around Santa Claus after opening gifts during The Bottomless Toy Chest and Live to Give Foundation 2009 Holiday Party, Sunday, December 13, 2009 at the Detroit Golf Club in Highland Park, Mich., 17911 Hamilton Rd.

The Bottomless Toy Chest Administrative Assistant Whitney Coulson helps 3 year-old Breanna Massey, a cancer patient, open one of her gifts at brunch during The Bottomless Toy Chest and Live to Give Foundation 2009 Holiday Party, Sunday, December 13, 2009 at the Detroit Golf Club in Highland Park, Mich., 17911 Hamilton Rd.

6 year-old Isaiah Burris picks out toys from 'The Bottomless Toy Chest' for himself and 9 year-old brother Darren Burris, a cancer patient, during The Bottomless Toy Chest and Live to Give Foundation 2009 Holiday Party, Sunday, December 13, 2009 at the Detroit Golf Club in Highland Park, Mich., 17911 Hamilton Rd.

11 year-old Zakaria Yahia, a cancer patient, takes a moment to read the card given to him by his stocking donors during The Bottomless Toy Chest and Live to Give Foundation 2009 Holiday Party, Sunday, December 13, 2009 at the Detroit Golf Club in Highland Park, Mich., 17911 Hamilton Rd.

4 year-old Perla Perez, a cancer patient, enjoys one of her gifts from The Bottomless Toy Chest during The Bottomless Toy Chest and Live to Give Foundation 2009 Holiday Party, Sunday, December 13, 2009 at the Detroit Golf Club in Highland Park, Mich., 17911 Hamilton Rd.

Smiles Heal.

Excellent work to both teams who contributed to making this day so special. 

Give yourselves a pat on the back! 

                                                

"Beauty is skin deep. A tattoo goes all the way to the bone." - Vince Hemingson

BOOYAH.
I finished my final JRN220 project compiled of sweat, tears, audio and of course...PICTURES.  Well, maybe not tears exactly.  I will say that I really enjoyed working on this project and learned so much about what I can improve on.  I think that is one thing I love about working with photography and other photographers around me is that we are constantly helping each other and constantly giving each other feedback.  I figured that as exciting my project was, my subject matter was hard to capture.  Now, a tattoo convention would be unreal and that is something I would really like to attend at some point in my life and most certainly would love to document as well.  Anyways, enough of my rambling.  What you are about to see is my final project composed of audio and pictures, a soundslide all property of me.  I did my project on a tattoo artist named Eric Ochsenkehl, licensed tattoo artist and manager of Heritage Tattoo in Mount Pleasant Michigan, 1222 S. Mission St.  Check it out!

clickkkkk

To see pictures from my project, look at my flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/clapyour_handz

Like A Virgin

I was assigned to shoot the basketball game last weekend.  I haven't shot sports, ever.  The reason may be because I was never presented with the proper equipment to capture the action or because I just never really thought about.  As my editors keep telling me, "It's a whole other animal."  I took my NikonD40 to Rose Arena where the lighting just happens to be awful with another staff photographers 1.8 lens so I could attempt to not look like a total amateur shooting the basketball game.  Well here's the kicker, the lens would not auto focus when I switched it onto my camera so I spent each minute manual focusing players, a basketball, the hoop and the sidelines.  Under the circumstances I think it wasn't too shabby.  Yeah, a lot of my photographs came out blurry but my eye was anticipating the moment.  I enjoyed the photographs I took apart from the basketball game, the ones I could take the time to focus my lens on and also get close to them, get a nice frame and composition on my subject.  I ended up using the images I took on Saturday for my fourth assignment in my JRN220 class.  This one was used for my sports feature.  I would have liked to get more players in the circle and back up a bit but between the players height and the intensity of the timeouts I practically had to squeeze between peoples legs to get my shot.  Better luck next time!


Central Michigan University Basketball Head Coach Ernie Zeigler goes over team plays during a time out in the second period against Indiana University-South Bend Saturday, November 7, 2009 in Rose Area, Mount Pleasant, Mich.

His House Christian Fellowship

Service is what makes our country strong. 
His House Christian Fellowship spent their weekend providing their hands to the community with projects like leaf raking, walking dogs and playing with cats at the Animal Shelter and preparing meals at the Isabella Community Soup Kitchen.  To see the picture slideshow me and Jeff Smith put together for the newspaper, click here.

Reading senior Adrianna Neuenschwander, right, flattens raked leaves with a stick to create space for more leaves while Battle Creek senior Julie Wright, right, holds the garbage bag open Friday as part of a volunteer project put together by His House Church. The volunteers raked the front and back of five yards on Bertshire Street.

South Canton senior Jasmine Wilson places a dish of squash in the oven for lunch Saturday morning as part of a volunteer project put together by His House Church at Isabella Community Soup Kitchen, 621 S. Adam St.

Open Mic Night

Open Mic Night in the Towers basement!  My two suite mates were singing together in the show so I thought I would come to show them support and of course to be obnoxious with my camera.  I enjoyed the comedy and a majority of the music/covers played.  I think I'll consider busting out some Fiona Apple at the next open mic night :]

Mount Morris sophomore Morgan Kuzava sings, "At Last" by Etta James during Open Mic Night, Thursday November 5, 2009 in the Towers basement, Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

Livonia freshman Nick Szpond preforms, "Woe" by Say Anything during Open Mic Night, Thursday November 5, 2009 in the Towers basement, Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

Royal Oak senior Kirk Wilcox preforms his comedy routine during Open Mic Night, Thursday November 5, 2009 in the Towers basement, Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

Heart of Michigan Clown Graduation

I love clowns. 
I will start off by saying that I find them in no way scary, creepy or weird.  I think they are a riot and I enjoy the positive energy they provide to children.  With that being said, I have volunteered for many events and service projects on campus and throughout the community this semester where I seem to always spot a clown present.  I have photographed them, played with them and even received my own balloon animals from them.  I also got to talk to them as normal human beings regardless of how much face paint and polka dots they were wearing.  Let me tell you, each one of them has a story to tell.  During my volunteer hours at the Disability Awareness Fair I ran the face painting tables with another volunteer and of course the more experienced Heart of Michigan Clowns.  After a few hours of painting faces and hands I began talking to a few of them about my passion in photography and my plans to pursue a career in photojournalism.  As they questioned me about various experiences and jobs, one of them mentioned their graduation coming up next month that would be a great event to attend. 
Well, I did just that.

From right to left:  Lulu, Cha Cha and Marillie wait outside before preforming a final skit fulfilling their last requirement to become a Heart of Michigan Clown, Thursday November 5, 2009 at the Commission on Aging in Mount Pleasant, Mich., 22 S. Lincoln Rd.

Marillie, left, and Hattie-Hattie, right, preform their a skit during the Heart of Michigan Clown Graduation, Thursday November 5, 2009 at the Commission on Aging in Mount Pleasant, Mich., 22 S. Lincoln Rd.

To see more from the graduation, go to my flickr account

www.flickr.com/photos/clapyour_handz