Ronell Ragbir & Ginny Owens

Last week I had the honor of photographing Ronell, a sweet young teenager from Trinidad. Here is a part of Ronell's story, she's here at St Jude fighting terminal cancer. It's claimed a part of her leg, doctors don't give her much hope, but she's letting God use her through this terrible disease. This story is amazing, inspiring and beautiful. Ronell has some simple wishes that are coming true, she has a gift of songwriting, singing and love. A lot of people have come together on giving Ronell her wish. In fact, at the time of this blog, I'm sure this story has grown even more.

While sitting in a luncheon last week for a musicians conference with my friend Bruce and his team, I was asked if I had time to photograph Ronell in the recording studio for a project that will benefit St Jude. Ginny Owens got a call too, she dropped everything in Nashville to drive down to help Ronell. It was a sweet time, emotions were incredibly beautiful. Ginny has overcome so many obstacles in her life, and wanted to help Ronell in her quest to share what God is doing in her life. (visit Ginny's site at www.ginnyowens.com )

I can't wait to see how God uses this special girl. Being with her in the studio for 2 days
reminds me that we are not here on this planet on our own power. It's humbling. It's a reminder to use our gifts that God has given us to help one another. I'll keep you updated
on this project and it's impact on so many familys at St Jude. (For you photographers out there, I used the Canon 5d with existing light, iso 1600 and 3200 using the 24-105 mm IS Canon lense. The studio was very dark and quite a challenge to work in low light, and, the noisy mirror prevented me from shooting while they were recording, so I was limited in opportunity to shoot.)