Category Archives: General

From the OpLove mailbag

Some details/names have been omitted to protect our service members and families. To share your special OpLove story, visit www.oplove.org and drop us a note!

My name is Lacey, married to Lucas, who is currently serving overseas.  This is his second tour to Iraq.  He is assigned to Fort Hood, TX.  We are both originally from Stevensville, MT.  While planning our vacation this summer back home to visit friends and family before my husband left, a good friend of mine from college mentioned that her husbands cousin lived near our hometown and had recently become a member of Oplove.  I had heard of Oplove before but knew it would be nearly impossible to find a photographer by Fort Hood to do our pictures.  I have always wanted to have them done and had seen the Oplove website and was blown away. I was so excited when I contacted Trina Weingart from VioletRay Photography and she agreed to meet up and do a shoot with us!!

The day of our shoot the weather wasn’t the greatest but Trina was so persistent and wanted to give it a try anyways and it was amazing!

The rain cleared just long enough that day to shoot our pictures.  The location of our shoot had a lot of meaning to my husband and I.  We are high school sweethearts and have been together for almost 14 years.  July 19, 2003 we got married in his parents back yard surrounded by family and friends.  It was honestly the most amazing day of my life, second being his return from Iraq the first time.  To be able to have beautiful family pictures with our 3 precious children had such great meaning to us both, as well as my in laws.  In what short break we had in the rain that day, she used that time to document the love and pride within our young Army family.  My heart skips a beat every time I see our pictures.  Our youngest was only 3 months old when the pictures were taken and Lucas left a few weeks later.  The moments that Trina captured in time with her photos will forever be ours to keep and share with others.  I have had so many people tell me what great emotion they feel when they see the work Trina did that day.  She was so patient and warm to us all.  I can honestly say that I made a wonderful friend that day that has been so supportive of us both during this hard time.  I am so unbelievably honored that we were Trina’s first Oplove shoot.  We cannot make it to Montana during the deployment but I cannot wait to have our return shoot with her when my husband comes back!  I wish I could fly her down here for his welcome home ceremony.  I cannot thank Oplove or Trina enough for this amazing opportunity.  I am so thankful to have such beautiful pictures to cherish during these long 12 months.

God Bless,

Lacey

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Happy New Year, 2011!

From all of us at Operation Love Reunited,  may you have a happy and safe 2011!  May your hearts be full and find many occasions to celebrate!

Some of you are welcoming home your service member this holiday season, and some of you may be preparing to say, “See you soon.”  Remember that OpLove is here to support all of the families who so proudly serve.  If you are a family seeking a photographer for a pre or post-deployment session, or an upcoming reunion, please visit the OpLove Finder to locate participating photographers in your area.

We also wish to thank the photographers and other volunteers who make OpLove possible.  Thank you for your ongoing support in 2011!  You are what makes this organization run, and your time and dedication has brought thousands of smiles!

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

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Applications are now OPEN!

Our application is now open again, and look, before April 1st :)
We are thrilled that our policies were completely reviewed and approved by the DoD, and while they legally cannot endorse us or any organization, at least we have their support- which is a great accomplishment.  We also have obtained IRS 501c3 status, HOORAY!, and with it we hope to better support our organization, our photographers, and most importantly our troops. Now to find some sponsors :)

While there are quite a few changes, we’re committed to them, as we know they will better protect our clients, our photographers, and our organization.  A few to point out among others are:

  • Disassociating the organization from any sales, if they were to come up
  • The Privacy Act
  • There is now a policy that if a photographer is reported to be charging for any service or album associated with the OpLove name, that said photographer may be removed from our list without warning.
  • It is now a requirement that if an image is to be displayed publicly the DoD disclaimer must accompany it, and any surnames be removed from the images, by means of cloning or otherwise where they may not be technically recovered.
  • We are now a 501c3 and have decided to implement a yearly membership due of $25.00, which you will may write off at the end of the year.  The dues apply to all photographers, those who are current and those who wish to join.  If you are a current photographer, but haven’t paid the subscription before, please do so before June 1st, then you will be good for a year :)   These dues help our foundation out to buy banners for events, and will help to support our photographers more thru this struggling economy with printing, marketing, etc.  We know it’s rough!  We are all feeling it, so if you must have the membership fee waived, please write to us and we’ll discuss it privately.

For our current photographers, we’ll be posting the new policies on our collaboration forum.  At this time you will NEED TO REVIEW THEM, and simply if you do not agree, let us know and we can remove your listing.

These policies are in the best interest of everyone and must be followed in all aspects.  They are put in effect for a reason, to make this organization grow and grow and support every person that is affected by a deployment.

Thank you SO much for sticking thru all this mess with us.  It should be pretty smooth sailing from here out.  We’ll be electing additional board members before the 15th, we have the Texas event that we are planning for THIS WEEKEND, also the San Diego event is under way for planning, and we are organizing a Denver event.  These are just a few of the great things we do for our families each day.  In turn it’s a wonderful feeling to know that we have brought them closer together, and that they have welcomed not only our organization into their lives and families, but also the photographers personally.

OpLove members, give yourself a pat on the back… We LOVE YOU!

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OpLove Photographers Charging Clients??!

It has come to my attention that some photographers are charging for their OpLove sessions.  This behavior is strictly prohibited and will not be tolerated.

If you are a client and have been asked to pay for your session, or been given a price quote for the session or session album, -OR- if you are a photographer and know of other photographers doing this, please send a private email to oplove1@gmail.com.  Your name and information will NOT be disclosed.  Any photographer who is charging will be emailed personally about the allegations.  If that photographer does not reply within 3 days, their listing will be permanently removed.

Clients, please remember that if a photographer is NOT listed in our Finder, then they are NOT an OpLove photographer.  It is OpLove’s goal to make this organization MORE OF an organization and less like a group. To do that, and to grow successfully we all need to stay updated on the ever changing policies per the DoD’s requests, and we need to make sure our Finder is accurate as well.  We need EVERYONE’s cooperation to do this.

Thank you.

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Patriotic Fundraiser

Greetings Everyone!

There are a few times in everyones lives when your heart warms your entire body- and you actually feel it.  Making eye contact with your new baby- for the first time in his or her life… Paying for someone’s lunch who was kind to you because of a simple friendly conversation- a stranger… Mowing your neighbors front yard, and they bring you cookies as a thank you because they would like to pay you- but can’t afford too.

As OpLove photographers, our heart is warmed everytime we send that album overseas. I know that I envision our finely dressed military opening their package from this unknown person and inside are images of most beautiful people he or she knows, the photos they will cherish for their duration away from our great country and the ones they hold close to their own hearts, and at that moment, we the photographers of OpLove, become angels.

As this Holiday Season quickly approaches us, we are left to remember the thousands of military who are deployed from their families, and forced to celebrate together, thousands of miles away from their homes.  We remember the thousands of wives and husbands who sleep alone in a bed that used to be warm, clenching a pillow that they pray never looses scent.  We remember the hundreds of thousands of children who are missing their mommy or daddy so much… They ask Santa to bring them home.

Many months ago, my amazing sister Sara, suggested an annual album to be made of the prior years images that we acquire from our sessions, in celebration of the previous year, the safety that was blessed upon our military members, and to help our foundation grow larger.  I proudly announce that with the gernerous donations from Jessica Dittmore, Digi-Labs, and our OpLove photographers, our 2008 Annual is underway!

The Annuals will be ready for production around December 15th.  The 10×10, hard black cover albums, will be around 20 pages (but not less then) and designed with Jessica’s stunning “The Brave” template.  These Annuals, which will be produced yearly, will make the perfect gift for any person who is touched by the ultimate gift that our fine military men and women give to us every day of their lives- Freedom.

http://www.oplove.org/Album/OpLove Digital Album/index.html (flash needed)

Please keep watching the blog, the annuals will be sold from here.

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