Category Archives: Pre-Deployment Sessions

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

View full post »

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.

View full post »

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 kissingmilitary couple oplove sessionmilitary couple oplove session feet

View full post »

Something to Hold On To

From Shannon at Clicking Through Life:

They were walking on the beach enjoying a North Carolina sunrise when he told her that he had a couple of things that he wanted to talk to her about. Hand in hand, still in their pjs, he told her he would be deploying sooner than they had thought. She sat there in his arms reeling from the news, she wasn’t ready to let him go yet. They had thought that they had a lot more time together, at least until the summer rather than January. That was only 10 months away! He finally convinced her to continue walking down the beach with him. Thoughts of his deployment consumed her mind so she barely noticed the sound of the box falling to the sand. But when she turned, there he was, down on one knee asking for her hand in marriage.

So early in life these two have faced more than most couples do in a lifetime together. They’ve handled being separated for long periods of time, they’ve battled and beat her Thyroid Cancer and now they will be spending their first year of marriage apart while he is serving our country in Afghanistan. And although it may not bring them together in person, I am moved beyond words that I can give them something to hold on to while they are separated.

[gallery]

View full post »

OpLove 2.0

Recently the OpLove board of directors met to make some very important changes place within the organization to better serve both our military families and our volunteer photographers.  From the very beginning, OpLove’s mission has been to provide a morale boost for our men and women serving their country on overseas deployments by providing complimentary photography portrait sessions.  With a renewed commitment to that mission, the following important changes have been made to our policies.

As of today, April 26, 2011, here is how OpLove sessions will work:

1) Each photographer in each regional area are to provide the same basic requirements: free session, album or disk (please see #6).

2) After the required free session and album/disk, any additional discounts or prints are at the sole discretion of the photographer.

3) Leaving/Farewell sessions are up to the photographer to decide if they will offer it. In addition, it is up to the family and/or the photographer if either an album or disk is sent and who it is sent to.

4) Homecoming sessions are done at the actual time of the homecoming, not afterward. It is up to the photographer to decide if an album or disk will be sent.

5) At no time will a disk of photos be “required” to send to the client.

6) Clients are allowed 2 sessions per year/deployment. Here are the session options:
a) Pre-deployment session with service person and family (an album is sent directly to the service member overseas by the photographer)
b) Leaving session at the time of the actual departure (see #3 above)
c) Mid-deployment session with the family while service person is deployed (an album is sent directly to the service member overseas by the photographer)
d) R&R session done when service person is home for R&R (an album is sent directly to the service member overseas by the photographer)
e) Homecoming session at the actual time of arrival (at the photographer’s discretion, an album or disk will be sent to the family)

Interested families will continue to locate participating photographers on the OpLove Finder, http://www.oplove.org/oplovefinder/ .  We hope that these policy changes will prove to be beneficial to everyone!  If you have questions or concerns, please use the contact tab above.  Comments on the blog may not reach the administrative volunteers in a timely manner.  Thank you for supporting OpLove and our service members!

 

View full post »