These Two Brothers

A few months ago, Laura reached out to me. She had a special request for a portrait session. She wanted to celebrate a one year anniversary. A year since one of her sons saved the other one’s life through bone marrow donation.

Rather than posting a few teasers on my Facebook page, I thought these boys and this family needed their story told. And Laura very kindly obliged, when I asked her to tell their tale.

Blake got sick out of the blue on Easter Sunday 2018. Before all of this he was a completely healthy kid. He was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis. He probably got a virus and his body went crazy and started attacking his liver. About 6 months later whatever was attacking his liver started attacking his bone marrow. He was diagnosed with hepatitis induced aplastic anemia and had to have a bone marrow transplant. He needed to have a sibling match in order to go that route. Both his twin sister and younger brother were tested and his brother was a complete match. There is about a 25% chance for a sibling match. Jack was more than ready and willing to do this. On December 10, 2018 Jack came to the hospital for the bone marrow harvest and Blake got his cells that day. Blake is now 1 year post transplant and is doing wonderful! We see more and more of Blake’s normal personality every day.

I wanted to have these pictures done to show the significance of what Jack did for Blake and to truly capture the bond they will forever have. We also surprised our family with the pictures and gave it to them at a party to celebrate Blake’s one year anniversary.

When I arrived for their portrait session, I was greeted by three smiling kiddos: Super Hero and bone marrow donor, Jack; curly-haired, big brother to Jack, twin to Ashlyn, marrow recipient, and Survivor, Blake; and Ashlyn, Jack’s big sister and Blake’s twin. All three were ready for their close-ups (even Ashlyn, who was fresh from her soccer game.)

Super Hero, Jack

Super Survivor, Blake

We had a few giggles and made a whole bunch of awesome.

This was one of those wonderful days.

-Lindsey

Making Strides 2017

October 28th, 2017 started off as a cold, rainy day; with a little bit of snow mixed in. It was a beautiful day to capture the annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk, created by the American Cancer Society.

As with previous years, I was joined by several of my friends and colleagues to help me capture the event for the American Cancer Society. And while the day started off really dark, really wet, and really cold, walk participants and volunteers came out in large numbers. There were umbrellas, ponchos, winter coats, hats, gloves, and mittens; along with thousands of people to model them.

Please enjoy some highlights from the day:

To view all images from the Making Strides Walk, please click on the following link:
http://www.eclecticallyforyou.com/acs/strides2017

A very special THANK YOU! to all of my generous and talented colleagues for helping capture this beautiful day. To learn more about these wonderful people, please check out their work:

Tiffany, TSI Photography
Lisa, Hezlep Photography
Pamela, Stevens Photography
Steven, Steven Kohus Photography
Liz, Liz Lipton-Photography
Melissa, hobbyist
Shelley, hobbyist

Making Strides

This year, I changed things up a smidge. This year I did not cover Susan G. Komen’s Race for the Cure. And if you have scrolled through my blog or my website, you know that that event was one that I always looked forward to. I missed it. I missed the community and the familiar faces. I missed the atmosphere.

Enter the American Cancer Society and their Making Strides Walk!

Yep. On Saturday, October 24th, I returned to the community that I was missing. At 5am, my alarm was going off, and by 6, I was hitting up Dunkin Donuts for some much-needed coffee with some of the members of my shooting team before heading down to cover another amazing event.

The Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event is held at Yeatman’s Cove in Cincinnati, Ohio. The route takes walkers across 2 bridges and along the Ohio River on both the Ohio and Kentucky sides.

I had the privilege of shooting alongside several area photographers. Some of which had covered events with me previously, and a few new faces joined in on the fun as well. Everyone had a great time and captured some amazing moments!

So, without further adieu, please enjoy some highlights from the day…

The entire image collection from the Making Strides Walk can be found here: http://www.eclecticallyforyou.com/strides2015

Thank you to Carrie, Hannah, and the other amazing individuals at the American Cancer Society that invited my friends and I to cover this awesome event.

And a HUGE THANK YOU!!! to my friends/colleagues that donated their time and talents to helping me capture every nook and cranny of this event!Team Photographers:
Tiffany S. with TSI Photography
Pamela S. with Stevens Photography
Steven K. with Steven Kohus Photography
Kasie F. with Kasie Fisher Photography
Tara F. with Tara Fahlberg Photography
Monica J.
Lindsey D. (that’s me!) with Eclectically for You Photography

Relay for Life of the Soul 2015

I spent my Friday evening with volunteers and participants of the Relay for Life of the Soul event at the Woodward Career Technical High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. The event is held by the American Cancer Society, in support of cancer survivors and those that have been lost to the disease, as well as their caretakers. And as you can probably guess, this was a variation of the well-known Relay for Life events put on across the country.

Relay for Life of the Soul is an overnight event, featuring the survivors’ walk, dinner, dancing, Zumba, and many other activities throughout the evening. The event helps to bring more awareness to the African-American communities about early diagnosis, treatment, and support.

I had such a wonderful time photographing and meeting so many amazing individuals! “Thank you!” to Carrie and Bev for inviting me.

To view all of the night’s images, please visit my Relay for Life of the Soul gallery on my website. And Please, PLEASE help to pass along this information!
Event website
Facebook page
NJBC Mime website

My PINK Saturday

My Saturday began at 4:30am with a pick through my pink hair, a pair of pink Strawberry Shortcake knee-high socks, pink capris, pink earrings, nose ring, pink mascara, pink eye shadow, and a purple team shirt.  PINK overkill?  Nah.  Just the perfect look for a perfect day at an amazing event.Saturday, September 14th marked my 3rd year photographing the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I shoot for all of the survivors, their family and friends; but most importantly to  honor my Mom, a 13 year breast cancer survivor.  I take great pride in what I do and I love that I have the ability to share it with so many people.

Each year, I am joined by other local photographers that are awesome enough to donate their time and talent to covering this HUGE event.  This year, I had the privilege of working with these 4 amazing individuals: Sarah R. of Sarah Anne Photography, Samantha G. of SJG Photography, Lisa H. of Hezlep Photography, and Adam G. of Gabbard Photography.

L-R: Angie, my camera and human wrangler, Lindsey (me,) Sarah, Samantha, Lisa, and Adam.

Not only did I have a great shooting team to work with, but I was fortunate to have my Grandma K. graciously manning my booth space for a 3rd year.

And if that wasn’t enough, my favorite henna artist, Jill Jaiswall hung out at my booth too; offering up some free henna to race participants.Prior to all the running and walking, people congregated around the GABP for some breakfast at the Komen Kafe, takeaways throughout the sponsor expo, and a Jazzercize warm-up on the main stage.This year’s event consisted of a 10K run (8am,) a 5K run/walk (9am,) and a 2K family fun walk (9:30am.)THIS is the 5K crowd and THESE images do not do this crowd justice.
(And the purple shirt with the cutest kid in the world on his shoulders… those are my boys.)Did I mention that I love making new friends?The route took participants across and along the Ohio River, via two bridges and along the Newport Levy.All culminating at my absolute favorite shooting spot… the finish line.And if I could post all 700+ images from that spot on this blog, I would. (But, for those that do want to check out ALL of those finish line shots, I offer up this link.) The smiles, tears, hugs and high-fives were never-ending.  And I do not lie, my human wrangler, Angie has to drag me, kicking and screaming from the finish line every year to make the next deadline in the stadium.

So, what happens inside the Great American Ball Park, you ask?  First, the kids take to the field (well, the brown dirt part around the field) for the Annual Kids Fun Run!And then, every year Komen gets a group shot of all of the survivors in a creative way.  For the 2nd year in a row, this magic was created in the stands (baseball is apparently still happening.)  And along with the group photo, survivors and guests are entertained by performers and speakers. The speakers are amazing. The performances are amazing. The crowd is amazing. The survivors are amazing.  And the entire day (though it is over before noon) is beyond amazing and I cannot wait for next year.

And if you were at the race and would like to find yourself in the crowd OR if you would just like to see all the fun that was missed, please visit my website for the complete collection of images from the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 2013.

I will end this post with a series of photographer action shots. ❤ Lindsey

Race for the Cure 2012

Last Saturday was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Cincinnati, Ohio.  The event is both the largest and the most inspiring event for me to photograph.  This year I teamed up with another 5 photographers, 4 of which are fellow FILM Project photographers.My shooting crew (left to right): Adam Gabbard, Gabbard Photography; Lindsey Driscoll (me,) Eclectically for You Photography; Pamela Stevens, Stevens Photography; Sarah Richardson, Sarah Anne Photography; Amanda Davidson, Amanda Davidson Photography; and Samantha Gunning, SJG Photography

Our morning started around 7am down at the Great American Ballpark and we spidered out from there.

The mainstage provided check presentations as well as the National Anthem, sung by Eben Franckewitz (American Idol.)  Frank Marzullo, from Fox19 acted as MC, along with Jeff and Fritsch from Q102.

8am began the first ever Race for the Cure 10K!  And 9am led the way for the 5K (survivor/family walk.)  Leading the walk, as they’d done many times in the past, were the girls in Pink from Fox19, Sheila Gray, Tricia Mackey, Stephanie Woods, and Katy Morgan.  Once the crowd passed by (which, by the way went down several blocks and wrapped around the corner) we hopped off of the scissor lift and headed straight for the finish line.   This is by far my favorite location to shoot.  The high fives, the tears, the success! Words cannot describe the emotions underneath the big, pink inflatable finish line.  Runners, walkers and survivors were greeted by Jay Kruz with Rewind 94.9, cheerleaders, and bunches of cheering spectators.  Survivors were given medals as they crossed their finish line.

(I don’t normally prefer to show off my backside, but…) I’d like you to meet Josie.  I photographed her last year as she danced in the flash mob.  I met her again this year.  She’s been through it, going through it again and still always with a smile on her face.Photos by: SJG Photography

Immediately following the race, came the Kids for the Cure race inside of the GABP.  The finale is the Celebration of Hope Survivor Ceremony.  Awards are handed out to some of the race finishers, as well as some of the amazing teams and individuals that raised an outstanding amount of money for the cure.  Our MCs for the event were Frank Marzullo with Fox 19, Brian (a fellow Kings alumni and photographer) and Laura from Q102.  Eben also returned to sing “What a Wonderful World” during the balloon release.And for my finale, I climbed onto a knuckle truck (I’m getting pretty good at knowing my lifts) and grabbed some shots of the amazing sea of pink, smiling and waving at me from the stands.  Again, no words…And now you’re thinking, “Seriously, 6 photographers; 19 thousand attendees and that’s all the images you’ve got to post?!”  I have tons, literally TONS of images to go through.  I am working as fast as I can and will have EVERY SINGLE IMAGE posted as soon as possible on my website.  Please check back for new additions: www.eclecticallyforyou.com/Events/Race-for-the-Cure

A special shout-out, hugs and kisses to my mother.  A 12 year breast cancer survivor!  Looking amazing in pink.  Photo by: Amanda Davidson Photography (ground-level)

Big hugs and thank you’s to my family and friends for being there.  And to my bestie, Angie for carrying the clipboard for the day. 😉

Survivor Portrait Sessions
I am hosting my 2nd annual day of mini-sessions (family portraits) for breast cancer survivors and their friends/family on October 20th at the Heritage Village, inside Sharon Woods.  For more information, please click this link or visit my website, under the “EfyP Events” tab.

Race for the Cure is Coming

This gallery contains 3 photos.

Two weeks from today is the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Cincinnati.  This will be my second year photographing the event and I am beside myself with excitement.  My mother is a 10 year+ breast cancer … Continue reading →