Operation: Love ReUnited

Giving back to those who ask for nothing more than to come home.

Everyone needs that shoulder sometimes… use ours.

**Please understand, Operation: Love ReUnited sessions are for deploying, depolyed and returning military and their families. Many of our photographers offer seperate pricing for military members if you are interested in family portraits. Thank you!**

If you have ever been through a military deployment, there are no words to explain how hard it is to send the father or mother of your children off to some foreign, dangerous land, leaving you all behind…. Alone. It’s indescribable to watch their faces light up as their mother or father comes up the stairs of the airport after months, possibly a year or more, of not hugging each other. Emotions fly through the main lobby, it’s so very good to have them home. Your base’s Family Support Squadron will help you with your deployment. But the last thing on your mind when your wife or husband arrives home after a 4 to 18 month tour, is capturing all this love– on film. Most people are so overwhelmed with emotions they forget to simply point and shoot the camera they are grasping of their child’s first hug, or that single tear of relief from a mother being able to hold her twenty year old son again. With the help of Operation: Love ReUnited and local photographers near your base, you can.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Melissa Arroyo Photography | Featured Session

Melissa Arroyo of Melissa Arroyo Photography located near Andrew’s Air Force Base and has been in business for over ten years. She is a natural light portrait and wedding photographer. Melissa’s approach is more “real life” and journalistic. Here’s what she had to say about this session:

“Esther had contacted me to photograph Billy’s homecoming on the USS Iwo Jima, December 012 in Norfolk Virginia…the problem is, I live in Maryland. I decided I would drive down the day before and cover another homecoming (the USS Eisenhower) since there were many ships coming in for Christmas and a shortage of OpLove photographers.

Billy had been deployed for 9 months and his daughter is 18 months so he had been gone half of her life. To my surprise we actually got to board the USS Iwo Jima and the homecoming took place in the belly of the huge assault ship. When we boarded, we were led to one side and saw Billy standing at attention and the 10 minutes we had to stand there before Billy and Esther could actually unite seemed like an eternity.”

military homcoming andrew's afb photographer

military homecoming melissa arroyo photography

Posted in Homecoming Sessions

by Kim Kravitz

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Monday, April 15, 2013

Sharilyn Wells Photography | Featured Session

Thank you for Shari Wells of Sharilyn Wells Photography for submitting this session. Shari is located near For Bragg, NC and has been in business for three years now. She loves to capture that precious moment in time, hence why she loves shooting homecoming sessions. To Shari, it’s all about what’s happening right now and capturing it for a lifetime! Here’s what Shari had to say about this session:

“This session was rushed due to weather and a pushed up departure date, but the couple is just the cutest and they brought along their 4 legged family member.”

Sharilyn Wells Photography OpLove Photographer military couple Interested in volunteering with Operation Love Reunited? Great! You can find more information and apply here.

Posted in Pre-Deployment Sessions

by Kim Kravitz

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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Mischief And Laughs Photography | Featured Session

This session is brought to you by Cara with Mischief and Laughs Photography. Cara is located in Cincinnati, OH and serves Ohio and Northern Kentucky. She is a custom baby, child, and family photographer dedicated to capturing love and life in a heartfelt, joyful manner. Cara has been photographing families for three years now and is absolutely honored to work with our military members and their families. Here is what Cara had to say about this session:

“This lovely young couple contacted me this winter for a last minute pre-deployment session. Although they had eloped years ago, they only recently celebrated a formal wedding with a sweet vow renewal ceremony. Unfortunately they had been unable to secure a photographer for the event, and hadn’t had professional photos taken in years. They are from nearby Lexington (a little more than an hour from Cincinnati) and we found a gorgeous little park halfway. We definitely lucked out with a warm, sunny day in January! I’m so thankful to be able to give them a bit of my time and a lifetime of memories.”

Thank you Cara for sharing this awesome session with us! Interested in seeing your images featured on our blog? Submit your session here.

Posted in Pre-Deployment Sessions

by Kim Kravitz

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Monday, April 8, 2013

Ashleigh Howell Photography | Featured Session

This session was submitted by Ashleigh of Ashleigh Howell Photography based out of South Carolina near MCAS Beaufort. Ashleigh is, also, a military spouse who has been internationally published. She recently moved to Beaufort where they have so many beautiful locations for sessions. Here is what Ashleigh had to say about this pre-deployment session:

“This wonderful couple were unable to find a OpLove in their local area and actually traveled to Beaufort for the photo session. Timing became limited because the deployment departure date had been moved up. It is actually raining lightly throughout the beginning of the session and later we got caught in a downpour. The couple was very thankful and were a blast to get some great pictures for them to cherish.”

military couple oplove session kissing

Posted in Pre-Deployment Sessions

by Kim Kravitz

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Wednesday, April 3, 2013

We want you!

Yes, we want you! We’re looking for sessions to feature here on the blog from you, our photographers! This is a great opportunity for you to get your images featured and seen by our blog readers. We’d like to feature pre-deployment, during deployment, and homecoming sessions. Does this sounds like something you’re interested in? Great! You can submit your session here.

OpLove session with a marine from clicking through life

{Image by Clicking Through Life}

“But I’m not an Oplove Photographer yet!” No problem!! All you have to do is apply here, and then you can submit your session to be featured on the blog once you’re an approved Operation Love Reunited Photographer.

Posted in In The News

by Kim Kravitz

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