Friday’s fundraising event for cancer research and awareness, organized by the Canadian Cancer Society, was a huge success. The Society’s event has become so popular there are now multiple, same-day locations in Toronto: Forest Hill Memorial Park and Centennial Park. On the 25th June two more Relay for Life events will be taking place in Scarborough and North York.

Above: Cancer survivors gather to participate in the Survivor’s Lap during the Relay for Life 2010 Central Toronto.

The events run all night long, ending just past sunrise the next morning. And they raise hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Above: The Insurance Bureau of Canada is one of the many sponsors of the Relay for Life 2010 Central Toronto.

Above: Cancer survivors write about their “Superhero” on the Superhero Wall, Relay for Life 2010 Central Toronto.

As a photographer it’s a touching event to cover. It’s admirable to see many superhero-volunteers donating their time and experience to make these events successful. Everyone at the Relays has been touched, somehow, by cancer.

Above: The Japanese Taiko drummer group, Yakudo, entertain during the Relay for Life 2010 Central Toronto.

By the end of the evening, as the luminaries are being lit, there are a lot of teary eyes, some with happy tears, some with sad tears. But, all filled with hope because every year research progresses and one day a cure will be found.

The Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life is largely about Hope.

It was impressed upon me early on during this weekend’s Relay for Life the difference in personality, compared to last weekend’s event. Toronto’s multiculturalism really shone through. It’s poignant to witness people of diverse backgrounds working as a team – in one location – all night long, full of hope. It’s an evening where the human spirit shines.

I came up with this spec promotional campaign on behalf of the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

Last summer I photographed the Relay for Life, an awareness and fundraising event for the Canadian Cancer Society.

The Relay for Life events raised about $600,000. While I covered the event, I also did a midnight shoot using long exposures and candlelight. Lately I’ve had a few conversations with people interested to learn more.

I think the best way to share this experience is to migrate my original blog post from our previous blog on blogspot.

My father was taken by cancer, so I have a vested interest in cancer research.

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy it.

June 29, 2008

Shooting for the Canadian Caner Society’s Relay for Life last weekend was a touching experience. There’s an intangible quality surrounding the event.

Picture the scene: an outdoor field, much like that of a school’s outdoor field, with a quarter mile track around the circumference for track & field competition. Bleachers off to one side. A stage at the foot of the track. Several big-top tents scattered around the track, housing such things as a place to register for the relay, food, cancer survivors, massage therapy and more.

In the middle of the track participants of the relay have set up their own tents. They’ll need them because they’re camping overnight as team members take their turns walking and running around the track ALL NIGHT LONG.

On the entire inside circumference of the track are luminaries: specially designed paper bags with a lit candle inside. Each luminary is a tribute to the lives of loved ones who have been touched by cancer. The track can barely hold all of them.

On the bleachers the word “Hope” has been written with even more luminaries. Seventy-five luminaries for four letters. And indeed, there are many elements of Hope this evening. As well as another four-letter word: Love.

Now imagine pitch darkness. “Hope” can be seen from every corner of the field. It can be seen from overhead as well, as many residents watch from their apartment balconies.

Hundreds of people are here. Most, if not all, are volunteers, both young and old, freely giving of their time and expertise to help raise funds for cancer research. Many are cancer survivors.

As I spend time documenting the event with my camera, I speak with many of the volunteers and survivors. This is where that intangible quality I mentioned earlier starts hitting me. A few ask me to take a photograph of their luminary, so they can send it to loved ones: those still living, those still fighting and those whose lives have been touched by cancer. They start telling me their stories. I provide my business card and ask them to follow up with me, so I know where to send the prints.

During all of this, I’m thinking of how I can do something special for The Brides’ Project. I want to photograph them. They’re why I’m here in the first place. These girls rock. How small a world it is that the wedding industry has brought me here. Wedding officiant Roben Goodfellow is participating as a team member of The Brides’ Project. Operated by Helen Sweet, TBP is set up to raise money for cancer charities. It provides an opportunity for brides to make a contribution via the purchase of their wedding gown. And I have to tell you, the selection Helen offers is impressive.

Before the relay, via six degrees of separation I was introduced to volunteer Lucy Chan who organizes the Relay for Life. A conversation later, I was scheduled to photograph the relay for the Canadian Cancer Society.

I photographed just before midnight (though I’ve included a couple shots from earlier in the day). The idea of something angelic came to me after speaking with so many of the volunteers and participants. They’re all angels. And I’m sure we were surrounded by the angels of those who lost their life to cancer. I thought it was fitting. I shot using a combination of candle light and long exposures.

For those touched by cancer, I’d like to refer you to an excellent book entitled “Cancer is a word, not a sentence”. It demystifies the first few weeks after being diagnosed, and is written for those just diagnosed and their families. I read it while my dad was fighting the disease. Written by oncologist Dr. Robert Buckman of Toronto.

The 280 page book is available via Amazon Canada for only $17. Additional info on the book can be found on this page of the Women’s College Hospital: Women’s Health Matters website.