Fishing with the Vets -- Project Healing Waters

Today I photographed another Project Healing Waters event at the Pequest Hatchery. It was a perfect day for fishing, but as you might already know, I'm more interested in photographing the fishing than actually fishing. So my day was spent racing arounf the educational pond at the hatchery and getting as many shots of the vets as possible. And the best shots are the one where they show off their fish for the camera.

Here is the link to see all the shots on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/starrgraphics/sets/72157624083340970/

The photo above is Colin on the left and Wally on the right. Colin is one of the volunteer fisherman and Wally is one of the vets. In fact, Wally had never fished before in his life and here he is holding his very first catch. It was an exciting moment for him and we all felt a thrill to be part of his.

I'm always grateful to my friend Bob Cohen, head of the NJ chapter of PHW, for inviting me to tag along.

Published in Nosotros -- a full page of my photos!

On 4/30/10, at the request of my boss John Wanat, I photographed an event at the Red Bank Primary School. It was an event by Generations United to showcase the importance of pre-school education and having senior citizens work with kids. Lots of local dignitaries attended and I just kept on shooting anything and everyone. Today I found out that a local Spanish newspaper, Nosotros, did a feature story on page 39 which included 9 of my photos. They even gave me photo crdit in their paper. Very nice for me!

Here it is:

Open publication - Free publishing - More red bank

Bad things can happen to good friends.

My friend Karen has cancer. Lung cancer to be specific and it has already spread into her spine and hip. Karen is not just a casual friend. I’ve known Karen and her adoring husband John for many years, and I just love them both with all my heart. That this beast of a disease has captured Karen still shocks me and everyone who knows her. She’s battling for her life every day now and that is no simple thing. Chemo, radiation, drugs, and so many side effects of the drugs. It’s terrifying, exhausting, and a fight no one should ever have to face alone. Karen is lucky – she has John and three terrific kids. She’s also blessed with very caring friends.

It takes a village to help Karen. Almost every day someone stops by her house while John is at work. We do whatever is needed. I’m off on Mondays, so I try to be with Karen then. Straighten up, do laundry, make lunch, get drinks, drive to the doctor. I’ll do anything for Karen. I feel privileged to be part of this village of caring friends. Our friendship is deep and we can easily share our feelings. There’s lots of crying because the future is so uncertain for Karen. She wants to see her middle daughter married and hold her grandchild in her arms. God only knows her fate. I’ll know more by the end of the week after she gets the results of her bone scan and MRI. The waiting and wondering is very difficult – for her family and all of us who are part of the village.

Tell the important people in your life you love them every day. Maybe you won’t have the chance to say it tomorrow.

There's gonna be a lot of baseball this summer!

The Lakewwod Blue Claws became a sponsor of the SCAN Adult Education Center this year, so we've been participating in the Baseball in the Ballpark events on Tuesday nights. That's good news for me since I'm a baseball fan! On this particular night (May 4th) the Blue Claws played a Yankee affiliate, the Charleston River Dogs, and beat them 6-3. It's always good to see the home team win. Here's a few shots I took.

You'll see that I photograph every baseball game I attend, so expect to see some more Blue Claw action here.