Monday, July 26, 2010

Photo Shoot Fun!

What could make for a better day than playing dress up with girlfriends in the city? Well, having super cool pictures taken, spreading awareness for Bens Friends, and helping out a budding photographer as well! That's what!



Saturday we packed up the gowns, bags, caps, and the puppy and took the short drive down to San Francisco for two reasons. Ok, well three reasons if you count the fact that Josh was seriously excited to escape the heat of El Dorado Hills and bask in the windy overcasty goodness that is typical of San Francisco :) But the real intent of the day was to do a photo shoot for Feel Good Gowns and to shoot a video with Eric & Scott from www.bensfriends.org for the Life in a Day You Tube contest.



The day started at Fort Mason's Great Meadow with a beautiful view of the city and the Golden Gate playing hide & seek in the fog and clouds. I filmed a quick monologue explaining who I was, my involvement with Bens Friends, and the upcoming photo shoot while trying to keep Hudson both on his leash, out of the shot, and quiet. Not an easy task! Lucky for me Eric came walking up and to my rescue!

I met Eric in May this year when we participated in the 5th annual Anuerysm and AVM walk with TAAF. Eric is part of BensFriends, a network of patient communities dedicated to providing support for people with rare diseases. As well as just being super awesome, Eric is the Marketing and PR lead, and did I mention awesome?!? We shot him with the Golden Gate as a backdrop while he explained the mission, early successes, and future vision for growing these support communities and reaching everyone who can benefit from them.



Up next was Scott, one of the original founders of Bens Friends and a school buddy of Ben himself. I met Scott in person the first time at the 2009 AVM Walk and have loved him since the first hug! Scott did a couple takes while shooting a quick rundown of Bens Friends. But maybe more importantly (at least to me at that particular moment!) is that Scott brough his beautiful friend Vanessa with him to be one of my Feel Good Models! Thanks Scott :)



Our photographer for the day Eliana arrived, we found a place to start shooting, and got dressed up in some Feel Good Gowns and Caps. And soon one of my besties Carrie joined us to complete the "three model-teers" for the day. We were like "real" models- randomly changing while trying not to put on a peep show, suffering in the freezing cold (it was like 65 degrees and super windy) and of course just being beautiful! :)



We had a great afternoon with the photo shoot and filming for the Life in a Day entry. Eliana and Mauro were a great photogrophy team and we are so lucky that they were available to come help us out this day! It was wonderful to see some old friends and meet some new ones. The opportunity to spread the word about both Bens Friends Patient Communities and of course Feel Good Gowns was priceless!

I can't wait to see more of the pictures that Eliana took and to edit some of our footage into some mini movies to help promote our mission of support through Ben's Friends, and happiness through Feel Good Gowns!

Shalon