After a little dinner Paul and his son piloted the families boat out onto the Niagara River. We headed for Buffalo and Strawberry Island. I was hoping to grab some fantastic photos of the sunset but we were disappointed as the cloud cover moved in and stole the sun.

The couple has three children, all girls. There’s Amanda who couldn’t be with the family tonight because of another commitment so we’ll be sure to photograph her at another time. There’s Audette who’s in the middle and who smiles incessantly. Audette tends to be pretty quiet but she has a devilish smile that begs the question, “What is she thinking?”  Then there’s little Alyssa. Alyssa has Downs  Syndrome and is a great kid. She smiles all the time.

This photo shoot was evidence the kids are growing older and their personality’s are growing and changing as well. Alyssa played “hard to get” with the camera. I have quite a few photos of Alyssa as she quickly moved her head and looked away from the camera. As a result we have a ghost like appearance. I was forced to outsmart Alyssa which was more difficult than it sounds. Try hiding from a very inquisitive child on the back deck of a boat. once I changed to a long lens and placed myself out of her line of sight we were able to get some really great shots. This of course didn’t last for long as she began looking for me again.

The night was enjoyable as was the company. Thanks Paul and Lisa for the invite to photograph your children. You have a great family and Nancy and I really had a great time. We’ll come up with another date and time to get Amanda’s pictures.

Alyssa being introspective. I love shots like these. These are the photos I can sit and look at for some time and ask, “I wonder what she’s thinking?”

Those who know me know I am by no means a fan of feet but I just needed to take this shot. it’s the flip flops that make the shot and not the feet. That’s what I tell myself anyway.

Audette being all quiet and introspective.

Unfortunately, this was not the first time Carly was touched by cancer. She lost both of her biological parents–Tony and Judie Cottone–to cancer during the first seven years of her life. But Carly faced her own battle with cancer with amazing courage and optimism. After all, she had goals and dreams–to go to a Backstreet Boys concert and grow up to become an interior decorator. Nothing was going to slow down this little girl who had so much living to do.

Throughout her fight, Carly was very appreciative of the support she received from her family members and friends. As a way of showing her appreciation, she decided early on in her treatment that she wanted to help other kids who were also battling cancer. Thus, Carly’s Club was born. With the love and support of her adoptive parents, Chuck and Carole Ann Collard, Carly was able to fulfill her dream of helping other families touched by the disease.

Sadly, Carly lost her hard-fought struggle with the disease in August of 2002. Little did she know the positive impact that Carly’s Club would have on the lives of the thousands of children diagnosed with cancer each year.

Carly created a beautiful legacy – and you can help us continue it for all children diagnosed with cancer, and to offer support to families across Western New York. Thank you for your generosity to help find cures and save lives!

Many thanks to the hundreds of swimmers, volunteers and supporters who made Carly’s Crossing 2009 another successful year! More than 300 swimmers turned out to Gallagher Beach on Sunday, August 16, to dive in and show their support for pediatric cancer research and patient care at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Special thanks to Olympic swimmer Kara Lynn Joyce, who swam in the 600-yard course with our top fundraisers, cheered on our swimmers and made the day extra special! Read more about Carly’s Crossing 2009 in this article from The Buffalo News.

I enjoy sharing my images with others. I hope you enjoy the images and they bring you the same calm centeredness. Enjoy!

I hope you enjoy these photos as they are a lead up to a post I have been working on that was inspired by Promise Tangeman and a recent post she published. Come back on Monday for that read. I think it will be a good one!
Thanks again for reading.

For the longest time I found my solitude in a Sunday morning kayak on the Niagara River with only the sound of the wind, the hull of my boat as it glided through the water and the gulls to keep me company. On other days it was a quiet morning of fly fishing. I never cared if I caught anything; that was a bonus, but the quiet of the morning, the steam rising off the water and the sound of my line as it flew overhead was enough to remind me of my father’s saying. When I was younger one of my favorite times of the day was Saturday and Sunday morning as I delivered the morning paper to my customers. I enjoyed the time alone and contemplated my life. That’s a lot for a 10 year-old to say but it was true. I have always thought about what I contributed to the goings on around me. I didn’t realize at the time how deep some of my thoughts were but I felt as though I were able to solve the world’s problems; or at least most of my own. I also enjoyed the times when my dad delivered the papers with me. We would walk and talk and for a few hours I wasn’t his little boy, I was his equal. I enjoyed those times.

Today I work hard every day to maintain a mindful balance in my life. There are times when that task is much more difficult and at times it even seems as though it will never be achieved.  I am reminded daily of the need to stop and reflect. To reflect on myself and what I contribute to the world. My daily task is to cultivate mindful presence.

I also found that solitude with my children, especially when they were small. If you truly want to see God’s work, watch a small child play. Look into their eyes and see the innocence of the unopened, unadulterated mind. As I write this I’m sitting in my car at the beach in Dunkirk, NY. I misread a meeting time and took advantage of the opportunity it presented to sit by the beach and listen to the gulls fight over their catch and watch the endless roll of the waves as they break on the beach. When I sit and watch such things the troubles facing us today like the economy easily fade away; even if for just a few minutes. I get lost in solitude, in silence, in my ability to contemplate the silence.

In his book “Choosing to Love the World,” Thomas Merton states, “We have more power at our disposal today than we have ever had, and yet we are more alienated and estranged from the inner ground of meaning and of love han we have ever been. The result of this is evident. We are living through the greatest crisis in the history of man; and this crisis is centered precisely in the country that has made a fetish out of action and has lost (or perhaps never had) the sense of contemplation. Far from being irrelevant, prayer, meditation and contemplation are of utmost importance in america today.”  This from a man who wrote this book in the 1960′s. This doesn’t speak highly of the society we have developed since that time.

I honor the place in you that is the same in me. I honor the place in you where the whole universe resides. I honor the place in you of love, of light, of peace and of truth. I honor the place in you that is the same in me. There is but one. Namaste.

As I sat and ate I began thinking about Seneca Lake which is the deepest of the finger lakes at 630- feet. I started to think about how the depth and length of this lake has a pronounced influence on the weather sorrounding it. I thought of a passage from Thomas Merton’s book “Choosing to Love the World.” In this particular passage he describes the “contemplative life” and through leading such a life how he has come to influence the lives of those around him.

“When I speak of the contemplative life, I do not mean the institutional cloistered life, the organized life pr prayer…I am talking about a special dimension of inner discipline and experience, a certain integrity and fullness of personal development, which are not compatible with a purely external, alienated, busy busy existence. This does not mean that these special dimensions are incompatible with action, with creative work, with dedicated love. On the contrary, these all go together. A certain depth of disciplined experience is a necessary ground for fruitful action. Without a more profound human understanding derived from exploration of the inner ground of human existence, love wil tend to be superficial and deceptive. Traditionally, the ideas of prayer, meditation and contemplation have been associated with this deepening of one’s personal life and this expansion of the capacity to understand and serve others.”

I have a hope and it is that my work, both social work and photography touch people. Knowing that someone has smiled and were transported to a “good, happy place” because of a photo I have taken is enough for me. I hope you enjoy the photos and they can take you to that same place, physically and emotionally that I was when I took them. This hope also extends to you, my reader that you can take a few minutes out of your day and be mindful of those things and people around you as well as your actions and gain a better understanding how you can impact those around you.

Enjoy a contemplative life!

I took this photo during the Summer of 2008 and was lucky enough be at the right place at the right time. The sunset was intense and the paddler was good enough to keep his pace consistent while I ran to the car to get my camera. It is this type of sunset that allows me to get through the difficult days and reminds me of the beauty that surrounds us. The beauty that is there for all of us if we are only willing to keep our eyes open and see what there is to see.