SWIGgy Photography Session: Many Hands, Light Work! Facebook Played a Key Role!

Safe Water is Great (SWIG) has it's  'Official' photograph now, taken this weekend by Ronda Hummel, with Dominic Jones lending a hand as well as being 'in the queue' to shoot the photos if all our schedules didn't come together and allow Ronda to 'capture the magical moment' as she did. Our schedules BARELY merged, but it all came together, as usual!

From left to right you will see Jim Kennedy/DDS, me (Mardy Ross/OTR), Kevin King and Jeff McCloskey/DC) -- and yes, clearly we DO think outside the box about things, even when it comes to having our photograph taken! Thanks to the FUN streak that Ronda Hummel brings with her smarts about photography. I hope you all enjoy my opting to keep Dominic lending a hand LITERALLY in the lower right corner of the photograph for this installment of The Story of SWIG: Getting a photograph of us all together. 

I knew that Dominic Jones is well-versed with a camera, as well as always being interested in creative activities and business development, so I had contacted him mid Sunday afternoon when I realized Ronda was out of cell range since when I texted her. Since I needed to get agreement from the three guys about day/time before contacting her to ask about her availability, it ended up that she wasn't in cell range by that time. Since Kevin's business has him 'out of the loop' for time with us for a photograph for several weeks, we really HAD to get something on Sunday at 5, even if we were going to use a tripod and my camera with the timer taking the photo rather than a human creating the dynamic and 'moment' and pushing the shutter button at JUST at the right time.  

Juggling, I was!  Ronda texted me at 4:30 but I was blow drying/styling my hair so I was literally texting her back and forth as she was JUST down off the mountain 'dirty, tired, hot and smelly' I believe were her words.  Since we were meeting so near to her she agreed, as long as we didn't get within 10 feet of her.  And I think she was serious about that, though she looked like 'normal' to me. Meanwhile, I was finding my iron and plugging it in and ironing my shirt as I'd not been here when the dryer shut off and normally I'd go with a few wrinkles; for an 'official photograph' for SWIG, I'd dust off the iron! I had to zip out the door, hair not totally styled, throwing my brush in the car to finish the process on the way there.  I also called Dominic to let him know Ronda surfaced at the last minute and he pulled in right in front of me to the location.  Jim, Kevin, and Jeff were there right on time and looking good!

So it all worked out perfectly, as usual! This whole SWIG group has just 'clicked' like that.  Yes, camera pun intended.  

It was great to have Dominic, so that part actually worked out 'better than we would have planned it' had we had more time to properly plan as I'd hoped/tried. He kindly crawled into the bushes to hold the light reflector JUST RIGHT to illuminate us for Ronda's camera to capture.  So for FUN here on this update about the photography session, I've included that version: it reminds us how many hands are behind the scenes to give thanks to and how everyone has a little or big part to play in 'the SWIG movement'.

I actually said something similar at RockJam to my friend who came from Colorado Springs and works for a defense contractor: There is a trend right now in all businesses to thank and honor our military, but it has so much to do with those who are behind the scenes as well.  When the fire hit there this spring, he was out of town for his part of our country's defense and said it was a horrible feeling to know his wife, also in on the conversation at RockJam, having to grab and go from the house on her own. She was able to get everything and is a very independent and strong gal so all was well.  (If you look closely at my shoes there is still some RockJam dirt on my toes, I'm going to have to take shoe shining/cleaning lessons from Kevin!  OR start wearing sandals like Jim and Jeff, perhaps! 

Ronda's 'style' with photography is to get the photographs right with the camera and not use PhotoShop, which is kind of an 'adjustment' for me to make (yes, another camera pun); in recent years I'd relied upon the software that was driven by talented and experienced graphics artists or others to take amateur's photographs and make them better or GRATE. Ronda has a true 'gift' with photography that extends to include people, so I want to recognize that and once again thank her for contributing her talents to our cause! 

The 'official' version of the photo is modified to omit that 'interesting insight' of a bit of the reflector/hand, but just so you know, there are no other alterations done to this photo, that's 'Ronda's style' as an artist and it's my style as a consumer to respect and support that in her work.  I realize this is very 'in' now, made famous recently by a popular US 'teen' magazine's decision after a young woman put pressure via an online petition on them to stop alterning photographs and contributing to the body image issues which plague so many people today.  But Ronda's been like that since 'day 1' in 2011 when she started doing photography professionally, due to the encouragement of so many who were admiring her morning sunrise photographs on Facebook.

I'd met Ronda in 2010 at a meeting of Collective Health Initiatives, of which we are both members. Thanks to her being savvy about using Facebook for connecting with community for business and personal, we then were Facebook friends. I saw that so many in CHI weren't using Facebook as the marketing tool it is, so I created a podcast which you can find at our iTunes channel or here at Lumigrate (search in Lumigrate on "social media for marketing businesses" or "Business Incubator" to find it). Because of her being a successful businesswoman in her primary/previous businesses and knowing how to market, she was using Facebook as the tool it is for marketing, so I saw her photographs EVERY morning of sunrise and the deer that come to her yard in evening and morning, and shared them with my FB friends who LOVED THEM and shared them along too. 

So who came to mind last summer when I found out I'd missed a 'general call' put out for people in the fibromyalgia Facebook community to submit photos that represented 'hope'; I was given an extension and so had to fly into action. I called Barb Bowman at the Grand Junction Visitor and Convention Bureau as well, to get her suggestion of what I might show from around here that represents 'hope'.  She suggested Independence Rock in Colorado National Monument. But by the time Ronda and I got together 'after work' to head up to the overlook, a lightning storm had emerged. But Ronda snapped a candid and ultimately PERFECT photo of me sitting on her dock watching the storm, drinking a glass of wine.  

Ronda and I literally live so close to Two Rivers Winery we hear their concerts when they have them, and ironically, I did just give a bottle of Two Rivers wine to my RockJam galpal from Colorado Springs, as she turned fifty this month! Three years ago we did a tour of the wineries when they were here for RockJam and she liked Two Rivers Riesling, I remembered that. It made it safe and sound with them and their trailer back home, she called to let me know just as I was scrambling around trying to get everyone committed to the time and location and texting Dominic about if he could take the photos if Ronda could not. 

I'm proud to say that Ronda agreed to work with me as a photographer for Lumigrate in 2010 when she had first 'created and hung out her shingle' as a photographer; I knew about that due to Facebook, and she went to the top of my list to call upon for photography.  She's a busy woman, particularly in summer so I've continued to develop a list of photographers to call upon or people who, like Dominic, are not "photographers" officially, but can be called upon to help and have experience in 'the biz', as they say.

Dominic is another FUN Facebook connection who started out with his putting in a friend request to me as he saw I was FB friends with the Fruita Chamber of Commerce. He wanted to network with them and I really don't know anyone to connect him to there. I mis-presumed that he lived in Fruita, so then it was FUNNY a year later maybe when he saw me on FB Chat on a weekday during work hours and he popped in to just do some 'virtual hand shaking/meeting greeting' and we realized we live in the same neighborhood, which is just on the other side of where Ronda lives from Two Rivers Winery.

He and his wife had me over for dinner and it was gluten free and best of all had kale in it! It was delicious and nutritious, I brought the wine and we had a GRATE time.  That was early this year, 2012.  And I'd not seen him since, I'd gotten in touch with him in the last month just to say congratulations on their pregnancy.  It turns out he knows Karin Gookin, who you've seen in the Grate First Dinner Discussion topic about SWIG, as years back he was who the GJ Chamber of Commerce sent to her previous business when they wanted someone to teach them about Facebook.  So, you see, these are connections that were part of my 'networking/marketing time/energy/money' budgets from 'a ways back' that involved both social media and 'real world' service/community organizations but most of all were me putting in time past the initial contact with select people who seemed to me to be 'someone to get to know more'.  I'd actually connected Ronda and Dominic on Facebook, as he has a keen interest in Ronda's primary business, which is real estate.    

For some reason when Dominic and I became FB friends, I thought he lived in neighboring Fruita (he remembered that he had seen that I had Fruita Chamber of Commerce in my friends list and he asked me about them, so that must be where I got that, as I'd asked how long he'd lived here, where he came from, etc. and remembered his general story.) Turns out he's ALSO in the Redlands of Grand Junction, and lives in the same area I do. So for the photo shoot, with our TIME resource being the limiting factor, I reached to those 'closest to us' to help with the photograph for that reason -- things can fall into place much faster that way, as we saw today!

There are a lot of GREAT water fountains in downtown Grand Junction, or natural and man-made "water features" we'll perhaps look forward to being with another day for another photograph. I'm really pleased with this one and hope the guys are as well.  

So one more step in the planning process of SWIG is DONE and I think it turned out GREAT! Thanks to all involved, as always. Part of my role with SWIG is being the health/wellness educator with the platform of Lumigrate.com to report upon things and 'get the word out'. Ever since our first meeting with a dark photograph from a cell phone camera after dinner downtown, to the dinner meeting where we brainstormed to create the group's name of Safe Water is Grate/SWIG where we had better photographs to include, to today, my intention is to report upon our group's progress in order to keep people following the SWIG movement 'up to date' with us. So thank YOU for being part of the process by reading this story -- perhaps you'll talk about it with someone and help 'spread the word' or otherwise share the information. Again: Many hands, light work!

The guys co-founding SWIG and I also believe that other people who think that Safe Water is Great (related to fluoride in water which is a non pharmaceutical grade of chemical being added at about half the treatment facilities in the US still to 'supplement' what people get from the water they drink) will be more inclined to create similar change in their communities if we provide them with the education to direct people to, offered here at Lumigrate as well as all the 'official' documents we might create in the future, such as letters and email correspondence to 'get from here to there'. Currently in the Grand Valley of western Colorado, one treatment facility is no longer adding fluoride to the water (yay!), and three continue to 'feed fluoride' (boo!).  We've set up the education information in this forum for people to readily read and learn from a variety of angles, and we provided links and resources for people to further study along the lines being presented if they are inclined to do so. Lumigrate's overall 'mission' is to filter and funnel people to providers, products, services, and information in order to increase their efficiency of time with education and hopefully increasing their health outcome!

If you're out there reading this and thinking of doing a group and want to use the SWIG name or our logo (stay tuned for the final selection and completion story about that step), the 'contact us' at Lumigrate comes to me or my e-mail address is mardy@lumigrate.com, telephone number is on the website and my personal and business Facebook, etc. I'm easy to get ahold of, I'm in the business of advising and consulting with people about their life challenges related to the medical system or wellness world depending if you're a 'glass is half full or half empty' thinker about medical/wellness.  

SWIG is basically providing the 'recipe' or 'template' of how we go about bringing this issue out to educate people, get their feedback, and move forward in the directions that 'the people' move us.  It's basically like being the first to walk through a snowfall, making it easier for others to follow. So this topic includes a lot of the 'backstory' as a result. If you are reading this and are not yet familiar with SWIG, I'm providing you with two links and ask that you look at both:

Our 'Story and Statement', which will have THE 'official' photograph at: www.lumigrate.com/forum/swig-safe-water-great-our-official-statement 

and the the area of Lumigrate where ALL the process is shared from our first meeting to the most recent update (including the above 'statement and story): www.lumigrate.com/forums/preventive-medicine-concepts/nutrition/supplementing-what-you-eat-and-drink 

About getting the photograph: 

Find Ronda Hummel Photography on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/messages/252524751437763

The first step was finding a day and time that all four of us could do, and after several attempts in July and earlier in August, last week I send out an email asking about the coming week, prior to Labor Day weekend as I knew Kevin King had a lot of work-related obligations which would keep him from being here with time to schedule a photo shoot. Sunday, August 26th was our last opportunity for a while.  So I sent out another message to ask about Sunday, as I was busy from the day I learned of that until Sunday mid-day due to it being RockJam, something I'd planned since the year before, as always.  

Jim Kennedy had suggested in email that from 5-7 pm would work for him, so I then asked Jeff McCloskey and Kevin King how that worked for themby text. "I think that will work" Jeff replied, and Kevin replied "5 works, but it has to be fast". I'd also texted Ronda to ask her about the Sunday 5-7 timeframe and hadn't heard back, which was not like her, so I looked on her Facebook and saw she was out playing in the mountains and likely was out of cell range. I saw that Dominic Jones changed his profile picture and know he lives nearby where we were going to gather for the photo so texted him to ask if he could take the photos if Ronda didn't get back to civilization and was able to work that in. And he was happy to help out. 

I selected Two Rivers as the possible location based on it having built in overhangs for removing the sun from the picture (shadows take LOTS of time to light 'around') with nice backdrop/walls, and it's proximity to our homes due to our TIGHT schedules to get a photograph done. I had called to get permission to do the photography and the helpful gal who answered went so far as to clue me in to where most people stand for photos, and even said 'because you can get the sun off of people's faces', which was EXACTLY what I was thinking!

The sun at 5 pm is not ideal, as it would be in the evening, which is why photographers are up early and late working with lots of time to kill in the middle of the day. Famous photographer John Fielder presented in Grand Junction to a packed lecture room at the museum of Western Colorado in the fall of 2009 and there were many photos of him during the day camped out way out in the middle of nowhere getting the morning then evening light.  Lots of time to read! 

So I hope you have enjoyed this read, and that you feel included in the process of Safe Water is Great, Grand Valley of Colorado style!  ~~ Mardy

PS - The owner of Two Rivers Winery came out as we arrived and was so friendly and pointed out a stack of wine barrels that people sometimes pose with.  I told him what our group was about and he was interested about safe water and asked for education about fluoride in water, so I will naturally be sending this link to him/Two Rivers and naturally want to thank them for having such a lovely place for us to utilize.  How nice to have such nice neighbors!  For those who are interested in Two Rivers Winery, the website is at: www.tworiverswinery.com/

I also recommend you find the Grand Junction Visitor and Convention Visitors Bureau if you're so interested in our area; Two River Winery's website currently has a link at the very bottom right corner. All the links are super tiny at the bottom so you can certainly search it on your own.  

I want to thank Barb Bowman of the V&CBureau who, again last week, took the time to call me back about other and overall photographs from their cache which they are allowing to be used on other websites as long as credit is given where credit is due. You and those more behind the scenes at the Bureau do so much for our area.  My RockJam friends from Colorado Springs said they're hearing more advertisements over there for things over here in western Colorado!  We can only hope the health-related information, such as SWIG and fluoride being added to water and the effects that has on everyone and everything involved gets over there too!  

AND .... after logo was created and overlaid on the photograph..... our group is now ready to 'go out there and reach people'.... the ripple effect, so to speak.  No water pun intended, of course.  ~ Mardy