Memorial Day

Recently I had the opportunity to be a part of an incredible charity event. Some of the guys over at Crossfit Reality along with many awesome volunteers, helped put together an event to honor the memory of Sgt. Thomas MacPherson. He was killed in action in Afghanistan in October of 2012 leaving behind his beautiful wife Claudia and adorable son Brayden. Chris Amenta did not know MacPherson but after hearing about his passing was motivated to do something for him and his family. He spearheaded the efforts to create the Honor TommyMac 5k and WOD event and I'm not exaggerating when I say that it was a huge success.
Obviously I'm a photographer and not a writer, so I'm going to use pictures to share the event with you, but if you wanted to read more about Tommy you can here and here. And here you can read a little about how the event came together.
I did want to share that even though I may not currently be a part of a crossfit box, I still consider myself to be a part of the crossfit family. I love the community.. their focus on health, fitness, self-improvement, discipline, fun, loyalty, and American pride. And I am convinced that I'm a better person and photographer because of crossfit. (Seriously, shooting athletes in mid-wod in all sorts of different lighting situations.. and trying to make them look good while they are doing beastly work.. has been SO great for my shoot skills.)
Finally, I have to say that I am incredibly proud of these photos. When they presented little Brayden with the flag, it was incredibly hard to hold the tears back. So happy to have helped document the day.. so humbled to have been a part of something that honored the life of a brave man who laid down his life for his country.. and its so great to know that there are people out there who look for ways to help make life a little better for someone else.
On this Memorial Day, I am thinking of Sgt. Tommy MacPherson and all the other brave men and women who have given their lives for our country.. and of the loved ones they have left behind. My heart goes out to Claudia and Brayden for their incredible loss.. and I hope that this event reminded them that their husband and father will never be forgotten and that they have an incredible community that loves them.

I didnt have anything to do with the last 3 images.. took them off of the Honor TommyMac facebook page. Just didn't think this post would be complete without a pic of that precious family.