Special Olympics

The 40th annual Northwest Illinois Special Olympics held today. Temps were in the low to mid 40's with a nice stiff breeze and a constant drizzle or downpour all day. Great to see the kids having a great time and enjoying the thrill of competition.

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This is the one of things I would ask parents before posting on the internet. You probably already did, but if you didn't I would seriously do it.

EnronRocks wrote in post #5453981
This is the one of things I would ask parents before posting on the internet. You probably already did, but if you didn't I would seriously do it.

Why?


Chris-
The first one shows the pure joy of the day and the second is a great portrait of the two enjoying the day. When I was younger I had a neighbor that was very involved in Special Olympics (athlete), and it was probably his favorite thing in the world with the competition and camaraderie.

Chris: Great shots ... I'd love to see more. I shot our Special Olympics banquet last night and your images tell the story our speaker was trying to tell; those faces can light up the dreariest of days.

EnronRocks: I'm curious.... we post shots of kids here all the time... tee ball, little league, grade school, high school ... why would these need any more authorization than any others we post here?

[QUOTE=Elaine M;5455210]Chris: Great shots ... I'd love to see more. I shot our Special Olympics banquet last night and your images tell the story our speaker was trying to tell; those faces can light up the dreariest of days.

Thanks, Elaine. It really is great to see the joy on their faces while they compete in these games.

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Great shots of a fantastic event.

Because in todays world people like to take photos and photoshop them for their own amusement and spread them around the web like it's a game. If and this is a big if, someone of that nature came across these photos of people with a mental disorder who can not help the way they appear, those people would/could use these images and poke fun at a young individual whose parents might not have wanted the images online to begin with. Image the s**t storm that would arise from this.

A good example of this would be /b/ from 4chan or 7chan, or other groups who find images all over the web in places you would least expect it. The truly sad sad thing is I have seen it done on other forums of images that one would least expect to be tampered with.

Your shots are great and i'm glad you posted them. I have shot winter special olp and found that the people were more than happy to have there picture taken,parents asked can we have copies again glad you posted

anyone's photo can be manipulated regardless of their features.

Love the shots Chris, I am sure it was really fun to shoot.

anyone's photo can be manipulated regardless of their features.

Love the shots Chris, I am sure it was really fun to shoot.[/QUOTE]

It's a pleasure to have been shooting this event the past couple of years. I also realized how important this event is for the participants and became a sponsor this year and was also asked to shoot the event for the Special Olympics, which I was more than happy to do for them.

I run a day program for adults with developmental disabilities, I know how wonderful participating and observing events like this can be. I also know how appreciative parents are of photos of their children achieving and having a good time.

EnronRocks wrote in post #5459913
Because in todays world people like to take photos and photoshop them for their own amusement and spread them around the web like it's a game. If and this is a big if, someone of that nature came across these photos of people with a mental disorder who can not help the way they appear, those people would/could use these images and poke fun at a young individual whose parents might not have wanted the images online to begin with. Image the s**t storm that would arise from this.

A good example of this would be /b/ from 4chan or 7chan, or other groups who find images all over the web in places you would least expect it. The truly sad sad thing is I have seen it done on other forums of images that one would least expect to be tampered with.

I know what your talking about and it is a shame it happens. I see one on another forum all the time that has a kid running in the special Olympics. The caption under it reads "arguing over the internet is like the special Olympics, even if you win your still retarded". I am sure parents wouldn't want it to be their kid in the photo.

Chris, fantastic images of an even greater event. Knowing a few kids with Downs, I can only say that I wish I spent as much time being as happy as they are. Truly, I learn more from them than I could possibly give back. Great to see you giving back as well. Thrilled to hear everyone had a great day!