Saturday night at the Fort Collins Hilton, 400 or so people came to watch a fashion show that was less about the clothing and totally about the models. All of the models were beautiful, strong, amazing breast cancer survivors. The 400 people came out this evening to support them, and the wonderful organization that is Hope Lives! The evening started off with a cocktail hour featuring yummy pink champagne and a silent auction.
I got a quick shot of Lydia Dody, who founded Hope Lives after her own recovery from breast cancer. I think she’s just gorgeous!
After cocktail hour, there was a lively Live Auction, an awards ceremony, and finally… the fashion show!
The show was kicked off by Kim Shore in that fabulous violet gown, and Bonnie McBride-Berry in her kicky skirt and smart red jacket.
Another shot of Bonnie, and Anne Cagen was next!
Rose Marie Studer, in this stunning teal gown is a personal friend of mine. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house, and when Rose Marie came out I was relying on the ole’ auto-focus because I got all teary-eyed too.
Elana Serrano and Jeanne Brien came out and had an absolute blast on stage!
Jan Rachid danced on stage like a person truly celebrating life. Robin Tujillo was a bit more reserved, but clearly glowing and thrilled to be there.
Jessica Adair was the youngest of the survivors to grace the stage. So she and Dana Dunlap were proud to show off their guns!
Jennifer Entner and Shari Robinson came on stage, almost floating.
And lastly, we had Julie Jones, Marylin Jones, and Patricia Moore. Julie and Marylin are a mother / daughter survival team. Talk about inspiration!
You can read more about these fantastic women, and what they have to say at Style Magazine.
I’ve blogged about Hope Lives! before, and I’m still running my fund raiser for them. What I love so much about Hope Lives! is that it’s a local organization dedicated to helping women around me in very tangible ways. The large research organizations have their place, but it’s hard for me to LOVE them the way I do Hope Lives!
I look forward to working with them more and huge thanks to all the people who came out that night to support and cheer on the models.
People enjoy being in front of my camera. My clients say I have a "happy" lens. Over and over, I hear people say they're nervous and don't like having their picture taken, and yet when our photo session is over they say how surprisingly fun it was. Your comfort is extremely important to me; after all, how "perfect" can a photo really be if you're nervous about having it taken? I make people feel comfortable, and their photos reflect it.