Kimberli Ransom is a professional photographer[1] .


She has also been diagnosed with breast cancer.


But instead of staying behind the camera, she's choosing to document each step of her treatment in a series of photo shoots, collectively called "Finding Beauty In Cancer."[2] Her breathtaking pictures chronicle the changes her body has been going through since her first week of chemotherapy in mid-July.


"[The project] inspires me to be real, be authentic about what's happening," she says in the HooplaHa! video above[3] .


Ransom gave HooplaHa! a behind-the-scenes look at her most recent shoot called "Hard Candy," where she dons beautiful pink painted designs on her head.


"It involves sugar and sweets and everything nice in the midst of something that's not so nice, in the midst of cancer," she says. "It's the flip side of what I'm going though, to be able to look at the fun sides of life... when things are so serious."


Ransom completed her chemotherapy on Thursday[4] , according to her personal blog. She plans to continue her project through her "surgery, reconstruction, and radiation."



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  • Samantha Garvey


    "The young woman I met at a science fair who won national recognition for her biology research while living with her family at a homeless shelter, she gives me hope." -<a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=8801624" target="_hplink">President Obama. </a>

    <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/01/18/145393188/homeless-teen-whos-up-for-science-prize-to-be-at-state-of-the-union" target="_hplink">Garvey</a> was a senior in high school when her mother, a nurse, was out of work for eight months and her father, a cab driver, couldn't keep up with the bills. They were evicted on New Year's Eve.

    Garvey is one of 300 nationwide semifinalists in the prestigious <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.societyforscience.org%2FSTS&ei=LoFKUKWwNYKsyAHHkYCICg&usg=AFQjCNFmg7k4-WrDsOnoWVZ9FtlcqqEkNA" target="_hplink">Intel science competition</a>. She spent more than two years researching the effects of the Asian short crab on the mussel population in a salt marsh on Long Island, east of New York City.




  • Zoe Lihn


    "You're the reason there's a little girl with a heart disorder in Phoenix who'll get the surgery she needs because an insurance company can't limit her coverage. You did that." - <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=8801624" target="_hplink">President Obama </a>

    <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/07/the-little-people-mentioned-in-obama-s-big-speech-at-the-dnc.html" target="_hplink">Zoe Lihn</a>, will most likely need at least three open-heart surgeries to live.

    Zoe's mother, Stacey Lihn, delivered a speech on the first night of the DNC, praising the Affordable Care Act for making it possible for her daughter to have the surgeries she needs without hitting her lifetime cap.




  • Marvin Windows and Doors


    "The family business in Warroad, Minnesota that didn't lay off a single one of their 4,000 employees during this recession...they give me hope." - <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=8801624" target="_hplink">President Obama</a>

    <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marvin.com%2F&ei=xoFKUOfEE6aUywHgwYCoAQ&usg=AFQjCNHvOQbyP49ioFVyqchEHBy145m_tg" target="_hplink">Marvin's Windows and Doors</a> last year employed 2,000 people in a town of only 1,700.

    Even when the economy got tough, Marvin Windows and Doors refused to fire a single employee.

    This economy will turn around, and when it does we'll have our talent and our team intact. We're set for when we come out of this." John Kirchner, a spokesman for Marvin Doors and Windows told the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/business/economy/housing-slump-forces-cuts-at-a-small-town-company.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all" target="_hplink"><em>New York Times</a></em>.




  • Taylor Morris


    "And I think about <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TaylorMorrisCommunitySupport" target="_hplink">the young sailor</a> I met at Walter Reed hospital, still recovering from a grenade attack that would cause him to have his leg amputated above the knee. Six months ago, I would watch him walk into a White House dinner honoring those who served in Iraq, tall and 20 pounds heavier, dashing in his uniform, with a big grin on his face; sturdy on his new leg. And I remember how a few months after that I would watch him on a bicycle, racing with his fellow wounded warriors on a sparkling spring day, inspiring other heroes who had just begun the hard path he had traveled. He gives me hope." - <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=8801624" target="_hplink">President Obama</a>

    While we can't be sure, we think Obama was talking about <a href="http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/update-taylor-morris-to-meet-president-obama-today/article_dabd2e26-cc49-536d-8ade-c070295b5a67.html" target="_hplink">Taylor Morris</a>, 23-year-old Navy bomb detection and disposal expert who was wounded in Kandahar province while clearing explosive ordnance. The special unit he was with was trying to take up defensive positions when they came under attack from enemy fire. Morris lost some part of all four of his limbs.




  • William Shanteau


    "The auto worker who won the lottery after his plant almost closed, but kept coming to work every day, and bought flags for his whole town and one of the cars that he built to surprise his wife - he gives me hope." - <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=8801624" target="_hplink">President Obama</a>

    <a href="http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2010/06/29/Lottery-magic-strikes-twice-for-Curtice-man-sharing-25-1M.html" target="_hplink">William Shanteau</a> was among 14 workers at a Chrysler paint shop in Detroit who split a $25.1 million prize in the Ohio lottery. Each worker received about $1.2 million.

    Now a millionaire, Shanteau apparently still has no plans to quit his job. But he did purchase a couple of upgrades in his garage: a new Corvette for himself and <a href="http://auto.ocregister.com/2010/06/29/14-autoworkers-win-96-9-million-lottery/37143/" target="_hplink">a new Jeep for his wife, </a> as well as neighborhood flags for "Curtice Kids Day," an annual event in his hometown.