What a Photo Shoot!

Photos by Phil Kramer

An early but HOT September in Manayunk… a magazine photo shoot takes place.

First of all, photo shoots, though I’ve been doing them for decades, are always surreal for me.  I say “Wait, is this my life?  How did I get here?”  There’s a make-up artist, an art director, photographer and assistant and the publisher of the magazine.

And, my friend and long time colleague LuAnn Cahn.  We’ve been asked to be on the cover of 50andbeyond.com (Thank you to anyone who is thinking “They don’t look 50!” We are both proud of our longevity.)  We were invited to be in the magazine’s October issue because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  We both belong to the club that no one asks to be in, but once you’re there – you feel an immediate sisterhood.  Luann’s story goes back many years and my cancer diagnosis was discovered in January of this year.  We both count ourselves lucky to be able to say we are *survivors* of breast cancer. I have great respect for how LuAnn has chosen to live her life and help others with her advice and encouragement.

Many times during the shoot, I reflected back to hearing my diagnosis. My two immediate thoughts:

First – I get to *choose* how I deal with this (the news, the surgery, the treatment) and I choose to walk through this with grace, peacefulness and a positive attitude.  I am such a believer in the idea that situations are not good or bad, it’s how we *choose” to see it. 

Second – How will I be able to use this experience to help others.  I am grateful to Bonnie Joffe of 50andbeyond.com for inviting me to share my message of “Don’t Wait”, so that I can help others.  I listened to my body, I didn’t wait to get it checked out and because of that I had a positive outcome.

Can’t wait to see what the magazine does with our pictures, hoping the articles enlighten and empower people to *choose* how they want to live.