Tag: volunteer work

  • A Visit From Henry the Monkey

    A few months ago, I signed up as one of the photographers to participate in Hugs From Henry, Love Lucas, to host a visit from Henry the sock monkey who is traveling around the world from photographer to photographer. You can read more about this wonderfully amazing heart-warming project here. In short, a collection of photographs documenting Henry’s travels around the world will be compiled into a beautiful book to raise money for a very sweet and special boy, Lucas. I am absolutely honored to be a part of the project. But go read about it on Faith’s blog – she tells the story better than I do!

    Henry the monkey arrived at our house during a very rainy season in the D.C. area. I had all kinds of plans for taking Henry out sightseeing, but I wasn’t sure how he would do in the rain (I assume sock monkeys don’t love rain all that much) and we just haven’t gotten a break from it during his stay so far. He has a lot of other photographers to visit in the upcoming months and had to be on his way soon. After all, I’m sure he wants to see the world AND get back to his friend, Lucas! So we did what anyone else would do on a rainy day: rainy day activities! Here is a story for Lucas about Henry’s visit to see Susan and Chris in Virginia.

    To start our schedule of rainy day fun, we played classic games like Connect Four, where Henry won three games in a row.

    Henry, we see you! You’re so silly!

    Next we played Jenga, where we all stacked the blocks higher and higher…

    …until I placed a piece on top that made the tower come tumbling down. So Henry won!

    Here we are playing a card game that I think Henry made up. I’m not quite sure of the rules, but Henry won again. He’s good at everything!

    Chris and I are both pretty good at Wii Bowling, and I thought maybe one of us could win a game for once, but Henry pretty much rocked at that, too.

    My most favorite activity lately is exercising, so Henry and I pumped some iron. Henry is very strong!

    Playing all of those games and exercising made us hungry, so we headed to the kitchen for a snack. Another favorite rainy day activity of mine is making chocolate chip cookies. But lately I’ve been trying to eat a few less cookies, so we just pretended, which was almost just as fun. We ate bananas instead, since bananas are a very healthy snack and they’re one of Henry’s favorites!

    And one of Chris’s very favorite indoor activities is rooting for the Washington Capitals, so we watched some playoff game highlights together. Go Caps! 

    Lastly, we wrapped up our rainy day fun by reading a book about some of the sights in Washington, D.C. that Henry would like to visit next time he is in the area on a sunny day.

    We are so happy you came to visit us, Henry! Please give Lucas a big hug from Susan and Chris when you arrive home again. We hope you enjoy the rest of your travels and have beautiful weather! (But sometimes a rainy day can be so fun, right?!) xoxo, Susan and Chris

  • Fire School Live Burn

    Today I had a unique opportunity to photograph something very different and new to me. My new friend, Corey, (who is dating my very dear friend, Coelle) had one of his “final exams” this morning and I volunteered to take some photos for him and the other students. Final exam to me usually means a pencil-and-paper test, but Corey’s final exam happened to consist of entering a burning house and extinguishing a fire. Corey is a volunteer firefighter in the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department, and today was their live burn practical exam. I totally love that photography allows me to learn more about various things – to be honest I had never really thought about how fire fighters practice putting out fires. Today I gained up-close insight as to exactly how that practice takes place. I hope the company enjoys having these photos, and I hope that in a very small way I was able to give back to these brave men and women who put their lives at risk for the good of the community.

    The live burn took place in Vienna, at a home that was scheduled to be demolished.

    Dozens of firefighters and EMTs were involved in the activities.

    Students (in the red hats) took turns working on teams for each burn.



    This is Corey, hamming it up a bit for the camera:

    Corey, explaining the various pieces of gear:


    This was one of the last burns of the day:



    Coelle pointed out this cool silhouette in the doorway:

    All smiles during clean-up:

    “And these are my gloves…” (I love how the kids are completely in awe!)

  • MS Ambassadors Ball

    Last night I had the honor of participating in something different and very special. I attended the National MS Society Ambassadors Ball as a volunteer photographer and witnessed an amazing charitable event. The ballroom of the Hilton Washington was all decked out for the ball:


    So many fabulous items were up for bid in a silent auction, and so many people opened their hearts and their wallets to try to win the items and to raise money for a great cause. I know what Chris would’ve wanted to win:

    And I know what I really wanted to win! (Yes, that’s a real yellow lab – she’s 10 weeks old!)

    A few international performances provided entertainment for the evening:

    How cute is this little one?!


    Once the dance floor was open, The Wright Touch had everyone out on the floor for the rest of the evening, showing off their best moves.


    I’m thrilled to have been able to help out in some small way, so thank you to Sarah, Hilary and Abra for inviting me out! (And it was nice to meet you too, Emily! Please do email me anytime about photography. You’ve got a good eye, girl.)

  • MS Walk – Reston, Virginia

    Today I had the pleasure of hanging out with and photographing for the National Capital Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in Reston for their annual MS Walk fundraiser. Unfortunately it was raining the entire time (at least for the four hours that I was there), but fortunately everyone brought their smiles and high spirits in addition to their parkas and umbrellas. I was so touched and amazed to see so many people turn up on such a cold dreary day and with happy faces to boot. Rain covered my lenses all morning which was a bit of a challenge, but I was still able to get a few great shots of the walkers and the course. Just a few photos, including my favorite umbrella of the day, and my favorite victory pose:




    And as a total bonus to the day, this adorable couple approached me to take a we-just-got-engaged photo. He proposed to her after the race! Congratulations and best wishes, you two!

  • Giving Back

    The National Capital Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is having their annual MS Walk in the Washington DC metro area, and I’m so excited that I’m going to be covering photography for the Reston event on April 6th. I’ll be there bright-eyed at 7am, so if you know me and how much I’m not a morning person, you know this is an extremely important cause! If I can get out of bed that early, you can too. So if you’re in the area and you’re interested in volunteering or walking, you can find additional information here. It’s going to be a lot of fun!