My day with Dougie

During today’s assignment, I had the chance to meet an amazing little boy and his wonderful family. Dougie, 5, has an inoperable brain tumor and with the help of Burlington Fire Department, got a very special surprise this 4th of July. He has always dreamed of becoming a fire fighter according to his family and he got to live out that dream on Friday at the Burlington Fire Department. Given his very own personalized, tiny turnout gear, he was sworn in and explored the department with all of the guys. He had the opportunity to see all of the trucks, try out a fire hose, and even ride in a truck during the town’s 4th of July parade. His parents, Angela and Rich, and Dougie’s brother and sister got to join in on the fun as well. It was a great experience to see the way this little boy’s face lit up as he got to see inside all of the trucks and was given his own firefighter’s jacket. As a side note, I will forgive him for trying to spray me and the other photographers with the fire hose since he was so cute. We will pretend it was an “accident”. Thank you, Dougie and your family for letting all of us join you today. Also, great job by the Burlington Fire Department for everything they did.

A fund to help Dougie and his family cover treatments and other medical expenses has been set up. Donations can be made at: Salem Five Bank Douglas Davis Fund, P.O. Box 2523, Woburn, Mass., 01888

Dancers and goats

I have had the opportunity to shoot a variety of events, people, and places during my month at the Gazette. I am going to try to spend the next few days uploading a few of my assignments and favorites. These two assignments were very unique and I really enjoyed shooting. One was a couple that raised goats in their front yard for their milk to make cheese and soaps. The other was a dance/painting collaboration. The artist, Marlene, painted while dancers Beth and Margaret performed in front of her. Marlene created landscape paintings while incorporating the dancers’ movements into the work.

Finally some down time….

So even after apologizing for a delay in posts, I have yet to post anything. As I said, I spent several weeks with Marilyn and her fabulous alpacas. This has so far been my favorite and most fun story. It was just such a light-hearted feature story that I caught myself going out more than I really needed to do because it was that fun. Marilyn was so welcoming, and I really hope to go back soon once I am less busy and continue to shoot and follow her and her farm. Here are some of my personal favorites from my time there, some of which I used for my story and some I just think are fun to look at so enjoy!