Bladder Cancer and “Inside Politics 2008″

15 05 2008

Last night Michael and I attended a fundraiser for the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN), a client of mine. BCAN will soon celebrate its third year anniversary. The reception was held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., with an “Inside Politics 2008″ panel discussion afterwards. I’ve been invited to past events but this was the first time I was able to attend. I offered my services as her complimentary photographer for the evening.

Diane and John Quale founded the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) three years ago, after discovering that there was little knowledge among the general public and general medical community about the causes, symptoms and treatment of bladder cancer. It is the 5th most commonly-diagnosed cancer in the U.S., but the lack of public recognition of the disease results in less funds allocated by the federal government to research devoted to the diagnosis, treatment and cure. To learn more about BCAN, visit their website at www.bcan.org

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Left to right:

Journalist David Gregory is currently the NBC News Chief White House Correspondent, occasional guest host on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews and Meet the Press, substitute co-anchor of Weekend Today, occasional fill-in for Matt Lauer on The Today Show, occasional fill-in for NBC News Weekend Nightly News, and now host of his own show, Race for the White House, on MSNBC.

Columnist David Brooks writes a column on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times, is a senior editor at The Weekly Standard, a contributing editor at Newsweek and the Atlantic Monthly, and currently a commentator on Newshour with Jim Lehrer. He is also a frequent analyst on NPR’s All Things Considered and the Diane Rehm Show. His articles have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, and many others. He is the author of Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There, and On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense, both published by Simon & Schuster. Mr. Brooks worked for nine years at The Wall Street Journal.

Journalist Gwen Ifill is moderator and managing editor of the PBS program, Washington Week in Review, and is also senior correspondent with the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. In 2004, she moderated the vice presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards. She has worked for the Boston Herald, the Baltimore Evening Sun, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and NBC.

Diane Zipursky Quale is co-founder and Director/President of BCAN. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Stanford University and a Juris Doctor from the National Law Center, George Washington University. She was in private law practice until 1996 when she became Washington Counsel for the National Broadcasting Company, Inc. (NBC), and was later promoted to Vice President, Washington Law and Policy for NBC. Her husband and BCAN co-founder, John Quale, holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard College and a Juris Doctor from Harvard University. He is a partner with Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and heads the firm’s communications practice. John is a bladder cancer survivor.

Journalist Bob Schieffer is anchor of The CBS Evening News, and has been the anchor and moderator of “Face the Nation” since 1991. In 2004, he was the moderator of the third presidential debate between President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry. Bob has won six Emmy awards, and has written two books about his journalism career: Face the Nation: My Favorite Stories from the First 50 Years of the Award-Winning News Broadcast, and This Just In: What I Couldn’t Tell You on TV. He was a regular guest on the Don Imus morning radio show. Bob is a bladder cancer survivor.




Regina and Dusty

14 05 2008

I shot this photo of my friend Regina and her sweet cat, Dusty, a few years ago. The original was shot in color but I think the b&w version is stronger. It is said that some people begin to resemble their pets and I certainly see that with these two and their big expressive eyes!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.




Preparing for pointe

12 05 2008

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.




En pointe

12 05 2008

Early Sunday morning I photographed Alexa again, with the goal of getting a stellar cover image for the July/August issue of Hearing Loss Magazine. I first met Alexa this past December when I photographed her performing in The Nutcracker Ballet (http://cindydyer.wordpress.com/2007/12/01/beauty-and-grace/), presented by the Classical Ballet Theatre (http://www.cbanva.com/).

I did get a really great image for the cover, but it will be kept under wraps until its debut in early June. In the interim, I’ll share some of the other images I did this morning. I played around in Photoshop with these two still-life-type shots, using several of Doug Boutwell’s Totally Rad Action Mix actions to get this dreamy sepia effect. What a great way to make a nice photograph more special. I highly recommend these great actions! Check out his revised website here: http://www.gettotallyrad.com/

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.




After the storm

10 05 2008

A Marguerite daisy in that magical “after the storm” sunlight

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved. www.cindydyer.com/GardenPhotos




We are not amused.

9 05 2008

Calling it a day, I came upstairs a few minutes ago and as I neared the top of the stairs, Jasper was in his usual spot by the living room step, basking in the sunshine. I had my camera in hand and was planning to go out in the front yard garden to see what blooms were now illuminated by the elusive sunshine (it’s been raining all day). I stopped short and knew it was a photo op in the making. Jasper did his usual staredown, hoping I was headed to the kitchen to indulge the carnivore in him (I wasn’t). While I waited for the clouds to pass and the sunbeam to come again, he gave me this look through the whole session. I like to call it his “we are not amused” look. Wonder what he’s thinking? (“look deep into my eyes…yes, that’s it…you will feed me meat now…do not look away….it is futile to resist me…put the camera down…you are under my spell...) 

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.




Hannah Point Chinstrap penguins

9 05 2008

From my 35mm archives, Antarctica trip — Hannah Point, on the south shore of Livingston Island, was one of our Zodiac landings in Antarctica. The area is named after the Hannah of Liverpool, a ship that wrecked here in 1820 while traveling through the South Shetland Islands. The area is the site of a massive Chinstrap penguin rookery (with Gentoo penguins thrown into the mix). The fuzzy grayish-brown birds are juvenile penguins. The chicks lying on the rocks are molting, which is apparently an exhausting process. Chinstraps get their name from the thin black strips across the bottom of their throats. They may be the most abundant of penguins, with population estimates of over 7 million breeding pairs! I saw a pair of macaroni penguins (they have red beaks and hairy orange eyebrows), a nesting pair of Southern giant petrels, blue-eyes shags, skuas, and a large colony of Southern elephant seals.

Learn more about Chinstrap penguins here:

http://www.penguinworld.com/types/chinstrap.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinstrap_penguin

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.




Antarctica…from my 35mm slide archives

9 05 2008

The little specs on the snow are gentoo penguins. In summer, the ice fields are dotted with vibrant red, orange, green and yellow growths (lichen, moss, fungi, and algae). Although most of my trip in Antarctica was blessed with sunny days, this day was misty, overcast, and very moody. The ship was the M.S. Disko, and the trip was with Marine Expeditions, a Canadian-based travel company. Memory escapes me…I believe it was 1998. I’ll have to find the travel package in my storage room to confirm. I’ll post more photos from this trip shortly.

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.




About a boy (and his blooms)

8 05 2008

About seven years ago, Michael planted a ‘Nelly Moser’ Clematis over our tiny pond in the backyard garden. Then we just sat back and ignored it (meaning we didn’t prune it, fertilize it, or attend to it other than watering during dry spells). It has been a prolific bloomer for us every year!

Today was a very damp day in Northern Virginia—with that perfect overcast lighting for photographing flowers. We took the ladder out back and I was able to get some overhead shots of the flowers growing on top of the fence. Michael counted 37 blooms (and that didn’t include the unopened buds). It’s such a beautiful sight—a cascade of big-as-your-hand intense pink blooms flowing down to the pond.

A Clematis plant likes to have its leaves and flowers in full sun, but its roots should be shaded and cool, in moist, well-draining soil. Ours is obviously planted in a perfect spot in our garden. A Bradford pear tree provides dappled sunlight, protecting the flowers during the heat of the day. ‘Nelly Moser’ is an heirloom hybrid that has been around since 1897. It was developed from Clematis lanuginosa, a species from China. The breeder was Marcel Moser from Versailles, France. It is easy to grow and blooms from May to late June for us. It can sometimes bloom again in mid-August, but the second bloom is less profuse. Because ours is planted in a more shady spot, the blossoms last for weeks.

The American Clematis Society has an elegantly designed and informative website: http://clematis.org. If you’re especially enamored with Clematis, join the Society for as low as $20 for an annual membership, which will give you access to more information on their site.

Growing tips: http://www.backyardgardener.com/plantname/pda_dd99.html

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.   www.cindydyer.com/GardenPhotos





Like a kid in a candy store…

6 05 2008

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.   www.cindydyer.com/GardenPhotos