Race For The Cure

I was able to witness something quite amazing Saturday. I participated in this year's Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure Run/Walk. I got volunteered by my wife, who, in turn, was persuaded by a mutual friend to take up the cause. I was thinking this could be fun and at the least, an opportunity to be there and take some photos, not as an observer, but as a participant.

Now I knew this was a popular cause, but I was not prepared for the number of people that were all involved, in some way. I kept saying over and over,"Would you look at all the people!"

Shortly after we started, I took a photo of the crowd ahead of us, then turned around to snap the crowd behind!





This was a really big, exciting party of sorts. While we were all glad for sunshine, I think everyone would have appreciated it being about 10 degrees warmer. Oh well, it adds to the camaraderie between total strangers. All around were cheering teams with crazy names and home made t-shirts. Some of the younger 'participants' were less enthused.


Every so often, you get close to someone that has been tragically affected by breast cancer and you feel a wave of the serious life and death struggle that is the reason for this gathering.



I can safely say we will be back next year.

Isn't Cereal Cool?

Hello! I have been extremely negligent with my blog of late. These are my excuses:

1). December doesn't count. I am reduced to something similar to the walking dead and I am not responsible for any of my actions or lack of action during that time.

2). Spent all of January gearing up marketing for my new (old) portrait business Pictures of You. While I have been frantically getting the word out about Bill Anderson Photography to everyone I meet and explaining it is a commercial photography business, it never fails that someone will ask about personal portraits. I don't want to send mixed messages to anyone, so I decided the best thing to do is market two separate photography businesses. Bill Anderson Photography for all of my commercial clients and Pictures of You for my retail clients.

3). I got an iPhone for Christmas. This thing peels your attention away from everything else! Suddenly all of your conversations revolve around the new apps you have and what new apps your friends have. Some of my friends have cut me off as they don't have an iPhone and cannot bear any more demonstrations of how cool this phone is. One good thing, everybody knows I am still around due to my almost daily iPhone picture posts to Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. Since I had the phone, I had to get Chase Jarvis' Best Camera app so I could become a complete iPhone monkey for all of my friends.

So I'm sitting here typing out all of my excuses and guilt about not keeping the lines of communication flowing and I realize I am not the only one at fault here. Where have YOU been? Are you following my blog? Have you subscribed via the RSS feed? Are you following me on any of the social networking platforms I mentioned before? Have you ever commented on anything I have posted? Few things are as difficult as a one-sided conversation. It would be nice to hear from someone now and then.

There. I have cleared the decks and I am ready to forge ahead. Stay tuned-in and check in with me every now and then. We can all get through this together.

-Bill

As If You Don't Feel Stupid Enough...

I was working in the yard yesterday, trying to wrestle a section of privacy fence into place. I lost control of it and one of the many old rusty nails in it punctured my right hand. Eesh! My eyes crossed looking at the hole right before it started bleeding. That was a big nail! Look at the hole it made! Better get inside and clean it up, maybe dump some hydrogen peroxide on it and see how I feel about it then.

So I am washing it and I give it a good splash of the ol' peroxide. I am thinking I would like it to bleed a little more, you know to get the dirty blood out. (Why do we think like that?) I decide to squeeze the pad below my thumb, where the wound is, to make it bleed some. When I squeezed it, some kind of white grissely stuff poked out! Kind of like I had popped some colossal zit on my hand. I get a paper towel to wipe it away and I dragged it out further! It was attached and part of my hand - only now it was outside instead of inside where it belonged.

That's it! I'm going to the ER. I probably need a shot for the rusty nail anyway.

After I checked myself in, the doctor comes in to take a look. "That's your fat!" he says, pointing at my hand and identifying the strange protrusion. "Thanks", I said. "Good to know I am carrying around so much that some of the guys tried to make a run for it."

He washed it and gently poked everything back where it belongs. Now it's time to close the wound. He reaches over to his little assortment of supplies and picks up a common band-aid. "No stitches?" Then he gives me this look that says "There, there, Mr. Anderson. Doctor make it all better" as he pressed the band-aid in place.

I think leaving with a band-aid is the highest form of insult from the ER. I did get the tetanus shot though. Lessons learned.

Who Will Save Us?

Our little Stevie came home with a costume and couldn't wait to assume his new character. I think it suits him well.

Whew! Big Week

There has been a lot of activity recently. Last week there was the appearance on Fox 59 Morning News (man, was I nervous! It was live, so there were no re-do's), then the awesome interview with Joe Konz and his blog Photo Potpourri, followed by the Headshots for the Unemployed event at the Fishers Library on Monday!

I got all of the photos posted to the website and word out to all the participants yesterday. I've got to say what a wonderful group of people they were. It was a pleasure meeting all of them and I hope to hear from them soon that they are back in action. You can check out their photos here.

Meanwhile, I have some ideas for micro-stock photography that I want to work on and start networking hard with area ad agencies.

Stay tuned,

Bill

Appearance on Fox59 Morning News

In case you missed it, here is the video from my appearance yesterday on Fox 59 Morning News to promote my Headshots for the Unemployed event on Monday October 26th from 1:00p to 4:00p at the Fishers Library.

And Now For Round Two!

As I have previously mentioned, last month's Headshots for the Unemployed was a great success, so now we are doing it again.

This time I will be at the Fishers Library on October 26th from 1:00p to 4:00p. As before, the event is open to anyone who is currently unemployed and looking for a job. You can drop me an email to reserve a time or even just show up.

I will take a professional business portrait of you at no charge and you will be able to go to my website the next day and download the high res file of your portrait for free. No strings attached. The picture can be used on any social networking site like Facebook or LinkedIn and you can make prints to include in your resume package.

You might ask what motivates me do a full scale professional shoot for anyone that cares to take advantage of it and then give away the resulting product. I believe the unemployment problem is not just the problem of the unemployed. It affects all of us. We all like to plunder the rewards of a fat economy. When times are lean, we then need to nurture the ground we feed on to ensure our future sustainability. (Should've warned you to put yer boots on before we wandered into that muddy field!)

In case you happen to be awake around 7:45a on Monday the 19th, I have been asked to appear on the Indianapolis Fox affiliate, WXIN 59 to discuss the upcoming Headshots for the Unemployed event. This is a first for me, so I am sure I will screw it up somehow! I would love to hear any advice anyone may have.