Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

This weekend I had the privilege of being a volunteer photographer at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer event in Los Angeles. It is a two day walk fundraiser where each of the participants walks between 26 and 39 miles over two days. It is an important cause and draws an incredible group of participants and volunteers and I was so happy to be a part of it! Here are a few of my shots from the Saturday morning opening ceremony.

The ceremony started at 6:30 AM so when I arrived it was still dark! I haven't been up that early since my college crew days! Here is the event site in the pre-dawn glow.

The giant inflatable towers in the first photo were covered from top to bottom with signatures from walkers and volunteers and more people were signing them all morning. It was amazing to see how many people had participated!

The morning started off with some stretching

And a beautiful sunrise!

Followed by some inspirational speaking to get the crowd pumped up and ready to walk. Both of the women speaking in these photos are breast cancer survivors and their stories were so inspirational!

By the end of the speeches everyone was so excited and ready to go out and make a difference!

And they're off!

The whole morning was so emotional and it was amazing to see how breast cancer has touched so many lives. Many of the walkers were wearing tags to show who they were walking for. It was such a simple way to see into their lives and hear their stories.

And just a few more photos of the walkers in action... it was so great to see all of their energy and enthusiasm heading out! They all seemed to want to stop for a smile and wave at the camera on their way.

It was such a great event and I was so happy to have had the opportunity to take part in the opening ceremony. I actually went back to photograph the walkers arriving on Sunday afternoon and the closing ceremony as well but that will have to wait for another blog post :)

After the walk on Saturday morning I headed up to Marina del Rey to shoot a wedding with some amazing photographers. I will post that up later this week and then the wrap up from the closing ceremony of the walk... so stay tuned! (I told you I was behind on blogging!)