One onOne with Mike Wong

Late last month, a group of folks from onOne went down to the Portland International Raceway to do some shooting during a motorcycle race that was going on. Looking to get the best photos they could, they went into the infield with several other photographers to what everyone thought was a safe location.

As you might expect, motorcycle races can be dangerous, usually for the rider, but in this case it was also dangerous for a photographer. Dan Harlacher from onOne and Dave Schelske, along with a couple of other photographers were on the infield when a motorcycle came around the corner, lost control and hit Dave and then partially bumped Dan. Not much happened to Dan other than a scratch, a bit of a scare and a busted iPhone. Dave on the other hand, was not so lucky.

When the out-of-control motorcycle hit Dave from behind, it shattered his right hip and broke his right shoulder. Dave underwent several surgeries and after 3 weeks in the hospital, was recently released. Dave is now facing some pretty big medical bills and as a freelance photographer, you can imagine the bills are taking their toll when he can’t get out and shoot to support his family let alone deal with what’s left of the bills after insurance.

I’ve never asked this before in the 3 years I’ve been writing this blog, but I’d like to ask you to consider donating $1, $5 or even $10 to Dave to help pay his medical bills. Dave didn’t ask for this, but several of his friends (here and here) are rallying their friends together. A friend of mine asked me to help and it seemed like a good thing to do.

You’ll see on the forum links above that they are asking for $100 donations, but anything helps. Chances are you probably aren’t from the Portland area nor do you know Dave. So I wouldn’t expect anybody to send $100. But a few bucks from lots of people starts to add up if you are so inclined to donate. We’ve sent in a check from onOne to help Dave get back on his feet.

If you are considering donating, you can do so to the PayPal account that one of Dave’s friends set up, just make a PayPal payment to kennycarlile _AT_ gmail _DOT_ com.

I appreciate your consideration.