I love it when I get to give back to someone who is usually not on the receiving end of such gifts.
That’s the case here with beautiful Victoria, who won this session at an auction for a charity event held by the Diamond Springs community earlier this year to help the family of one of the 19 fallen firefighters from the Arizona blazes, Sean Misner. His wife, Amanda, who has roots in the area from her high school days, was just two months away from delivering their first child, Jax, when he died. The whole community came together on July 12th at the Diamond Springs Fire Station to raise money for the Misner family and show their love and support in the face of such an awful tragedy. While I was asked to photograph the event, I was already committed elsewhere and I thank my friend, Michelle McDaid, for stepping in and capturing the hundreds of people who showed up that day in support. I believe Amanda’s friends took those images to put together a photo book that they sent to Amanda to show just how much her home town was rooting for her. Such a tragic event but such a wonderful reminder of the better side of human nature too.
But back to Victoria, who is a dedicated philanthropist in her own right: she had just returned from several weeks in Mexico where she annually donates her time to an orphanage. Victoria had also just been through a break-up with her boyfriend and so it was one of those moments where she (and I) got the opportunity to donate some time and love back to herself in that healing process, throwing on some cute outfits, curling the hair, and vamping it up for the camera. Just gorgeous!
