Wet March for Babies

St. Louis March for Babies

taken by my photographer
friend, Caren Libby

For the third consecutive year I was a volunteer photographer at the March for Babies in Forest Park. This year, much to my dismay, it rained. Pretty much the whole time I was there. It is bad enough to be in the cool, wet weather for four hours, but add in my expensive camera and I was pretty anxious. I wore my raincoat and threw a lightweight poncho over the top of it. The event organizer lent me a hat, which really helped keep the rain out of my eyes and the wind from blowing my hair every which way to Sunday.

Andy and Megan gave me a clear plastic sleeve to go over my camera as a Christmas gift, and I used it for the second time. In theory it is a great idea, but from a practical standpoint it is difficult to use with a zoom lens on the camera. And I have to use my zoom because I can get much more candid shots when people don't know their picture is being taken. (Which sounds kind of stalker-ish when I write it that way.)

To me it seemed as if the crowd was much smaller, though they have had their best ever attendance during a year when it was a constant downpour. The mood of the staff, volunteers and attendees was still upbeat though. The disc jockey kept the music lively, Margie Ellisor of Fox 2 did another fine job as MC, and the a cappella rendition of the National Anthem was delivered flawlessly. This year's poster family gave a presentation - a family blessed with two sets of twins. Both pregnancies resulted in premature births, but all four of the children are doing well.

I have to say that the hit of the event this year was the bubble truck. Located at the end of the walk, both kids and adults had a blast running and dancing through the bubbles. They were already wet, so what the heck! It was great fun to photograph, though I kept getting rain drops on my lens.

I went through all the pictures and did some selective cropping and had to lighten quite a few because the day was so dreary. Then I burned them onto a DVD (at the March of Dimes request) and dropped it in the mail yesterday. Another March for Babies in the books - I hope it was successful for them.

this is why we March for Babies