Hi everybody, this is Carmen with CarmenBuck Photography and I have a very special episode
of Tuesday Tell All for you today.
The reason I do Tuesday Tell All is because I think we could all use a little bit more
inspiration and beauty in our lives and what I love to do during this episode or during
these episodes is to tell you a little bit of behind the scenes of some images that I've
taken.
Today I want to tell you about a beautiful woman named Bethany.
So she is going to be the topic of our Tuesday Tell All and you know stories are I think
what takes our world to from a flat world to this beautiful bright loving place.
And so today's are really some great stories actually within the one story.
In fact so much if you could see here I have a few notes because I don't want to forget
I don't want to forget anything.
So you know a little bit about me I've been a nurse I still am for 38 years and a nurse
practitioner for 17 of those and the last decade or so I devoted to the world of dementia
and I left my clinical world to actually to write a book and to have photographs and portraits
in those books for our elderly and for caregivers for the family caregivers for those with dementia.
And I have a very it's very close to my heart it means a lot to me how I write you a variety
of other kinds of photography which was always a love of mine the arts and photography and
writing and speaking and so anyway I'm right in the pocket I'm in a great place for me
and right now I have a book that should be out in three or four months called love still
lives here.
So I'm last year I really spent a good deal of time attending different events and meeting
people with different nonprofit organizations to see in donating my time and my talent
and with one of those for the American Cancer Society they're really for life I met a young
woman named Kristin Albert and she I don't know if I can get her title right but she
has a big job with the shade the shade project which the shade project is a nonprofit organization
with the mission to help raise awareness for skin cancer help prevent skin cancer and
for early detection and at the time you know I have a blog about this so I won't go into
a whole lot but I had my own experience with some skin cancer not melanoma but other scares
and Kristin herself is a skin cancer survivor and does amazing work with this project and
so I put that away that was probably last fall and I put that away and I thought okay
next year I'm going to do some fabulous projects with groups that I really really love and
I'm so that was one I wanted to work with so a couple months ago Kristin and I got together
over coffee and put our creative heads together and my thought I always think big those of
you who know me I think big and have to bring it down my thought was to do an amazing photo
shoot for skin cancer survivors and to somehow coordinate that with their major fundraising
event which is called Down in Derby which is the day of the Kentucky Derby where they
have all kinds of cool beverages and we watch the Kentucky Derby of course but it's a really
fun party which is May 6th I think from 4 to 7 and it's going to be at Ranch Austin.
So anyway we went through and we put this together Kristin did really and planned for
March 12th we had an amazing photo shoot and I need to shout out a big thank you to Vanessa
Cobb who was actually my medical assistant when I worked as a nurse practitioner and
loved her and she loves photography and so when I need some behind the scenes I ask her
to get some for me so that I can actually be in some of those pictures and I can see
what was going on behind so some of those are on my blog and I'm really proud of those
too.
So shout out to Vanessa I'm very very grateful because she donates her time also which is
a really beautiful thing her Sunday afternoon was for us.
So we did this photo shoot at Ranch Austin and that's where I met Bethany and I'm going
to show you the picture we're going to be talking about today because it is the story
behind the images.
This is Bethany I hope you can see it okay I closed the window so we didn't have so much
of a glare but it's also been posted on Facebook so you can see she has some scarring and things
like that there so Bethany is a melanoma survivor and fighter as she was diagnosed in August
of 2016 but what's most special about Bethany is that she's a young mother of two beautiful
little girls who she loves of course very very much and she is like me she's an artist
and does photography and graphic arts and things and but her world since August has
been devoted to her treatments for the melanoma that she actually saw I think probably around
two and a half years ago on her forehead and what looked like a calico spot is how she
described it and she's got lots and lots of freckles and she was pregnant at the time
so they kind of thought well maybe it's some weird pregnancy thing or liver spots or aging
spots or what have you and really sought some advice and had it looked at and that that
was well it's probably nothing to worry about and then it developed kind of like a mole
in the middle and it didn't look like what melanoma typically looks like and one reason
why Bethany is probably really aware of what melanoma looks like is because and I found
this amazing when she told me her mother was diagnosed with melanoma at the same age she
was and she's in her 30s so very young and so since August this mother of two little
toddlers has been has had surgeries has had skin graft surgeries radiation and immunotherapy
and immunotherapy is when the immune system is boosted so much that the body then is left
to the body fights the cancer versus chemotherapy which attacks the cancer as a chemical to
attack the cancer so that's real that's a real simple way fitting it but it does horrible
things to the body and it's because it our immune system is so boosted and it makes us
feel really bad and so she's been through so much and we did I met her on March 12th
on Sunday and we had hair and makeup because we really wanted it to be a day of pampering
and so hair makeup I have lots of fabrics as I love to drape and create dresses we created
a beautiful dress for her and she had some hats and we did some amazing amazing photos
those I can't show you but though a few I can't a few others I can because we have a
little something special for plan for down in Derby coming up again that's May 6th to
do a plug there so anyway I then last week Bethany came over to my studio and we recorded
a video of her whole story for other purposes and as I started to go through that I thought
to myself I really just need to make this this Tuesday tell all and this video clip
of her story because it can save lives I think when people know about some of what things
look like and to continue to say hey look at this look at this even if you know to get
second opinions and things is just so important and Bethany's message is you know love yourself
whether you're tanned or not because tanning damages the skin and to take care of your
skin and so I'm going to post the link to the blog in that video it's incredibly powerful
I think is on there so I made that for the shade project and for Bethany and for all
of us who need need to hear that and that was Bethany's last day of radiation was the
day she came to film that so it was celebration as well so I you know when I first met Bethany
and Stella I'm just her strength I miss the vulnerability and her natural beauty and you
know she's just such an inspiring inspiring story so I hope I encourage you to go to the
blog and take a look and and to consider donating or attending the Down in Derby I put on the
blog there's some tabs there where you can actually donate to the shade project they
do some awesome stuff with as far as awareness and things and I think it's one school a year
they donate actual shade for the playgrounds you know because many of us grew up where
it was just that you know we knew every summer we were going to get sunburnt and things
with you know that's what causes damage and things like skin cancer you know for us as
we get older so really really powerful work and then on April 12th you're going to be
at Kendra Scott I think it's 20% of the proceeds go of the sales go to the shade project and
then Taco Flats this on the Tuesday April 18th is a happy hour you know who doesn't
love a happy hour great tacos and drinks and things and I they also donate 10% to the
shade project so anyway I'm going to show you again this is beautiful Bethany and we
were just by the window here I it ended up getting cropped out a little bit this is
at Ranch Austin and there was a big longhorn out there which was kind of cool for those
of us who aren't used to see them and the day of the Derby there's going to be some
horses also so it'll be a lot of fun it'll be a lot of fun so anyway please go and take
a look at the blog leave me some comments and send some love our way and share it please
share it because you just never know who's going to see it and it can save lives again
this is Carmen with Carmen Buck photography I do all kinds of photography I am I say a
storyteller and that's I think what I love most about what I do is I get to know people
and share their stories in really beautiful ways I'm of course on Facebook you're watching
now I'm also on Instagram amazing how many people contact me through Instagram they love
the posts and things and that's a beautiful thing and I'm here every Tuesday at 12 noon
for Tuesday tell all next week I'm not quite sure yet I think I had the opportunity to
deliver photos that I had taken of a for two daughters of their mother who suffers with
dementia and with them and it's it's beautiful because she's looking at the pictures she
just lit up and had a few words to say which I can't tell you what a blessing that is for
families when their loved one is able to recognize and to comment and she recognized love and
that's a beautiful thing and that's a great way to sign out today thank you for your time
I am so appreciated I'm going to post the link to the blog again comment and share and
I'll see you next Tuesday thank you so much.
