Cystic Fibrosis Cycle for Life Event | Minneapolis Event Photographer

As most people know, my son has Cystic Fibrosis.  After I started up my photography business almost 2 years ago, one of my personal, as well as business goals, was to donate as much of my time and talent to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to help raise money for the research that goes into finding a cure for this disease.  I donated 2 canvas gallery wraps to last year's annual gala's silent auction, and I'll be doing so again this year with 2 canvases ordered and on their way for delivery.

In May I shot the Great Strides Walk at Lake Calhoun and last month I was honored to have had the opportunity to shoot the first ever Cycle for Life Event in Burnsville, MN, which turned out to be a great success given the cool and cloudy day.

The event started bright and early at 8:00am, which meant I had to get up at 6:00am to get down to the event by 7:00am to shoot the goings-on before the cyclists were scheduled to start.  They had coffee, juice and breakfast for the cyclists.  Good thing for the coffee because as luck would have it, in all my early morning drowsiness I realized about 20 minutes into my drive to the event I left my nice piping hot thermos of coffee sitting safely on my kitchen counter back at home.  It made for a very long drive.

Once I arrived at the event with 2 cups of coffee now warming me up from the inside, I began shooting the pre-event festivities.  Cyclists having the air in their tires checked, registration and of course, getting in that last cup of coffee before heading out.

I really do love shooting these events for a variety of reasons, but first and foremost it's the positive energy and vibe from all the participants and volunteers that gives me the hope and encouragement I need to keep me and my family going in our fight to battle this disease.  I love speaking to other families and friends of loved ones with CF, the workers at the foundation and of course, the Vertex rep who always has encouraging news of new drugs in the pipeline that are on their way to the masses (roughly 35,000 people in the US have CF).

Please enjoy these photos from this wonderful day and if you have a chance visit www.cff.org to educate yourself on this disease and/or donate money to the foundation. :)