Greg Hoekstra from the Haliburton County (ON) Echo took this photo just after dusk during a Relay for Life cancer fundraiser in Haliburton, Ontario. Dozens of volunteers helped light hundreds of luminaries that kept the track lit from dusk until dawn. Each luminaries had the name of a cancer survivor or cancer victim, and the light was meant to provide hope and inspiration for the more than 1,000 participants who pledged to walk through the night.
“I wanted to frame this shot so that the luminaries were the centre of attention, rather than the volunteers who were lighting them,” said Hoekstra.
Shot at 1600 ISO the photo is admittedly grainy, but it captures the mood of an emotional event that pulled together the tiny community of Haliburton and raised a whopping $187,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society.