In September I had the honor of being at the homecoming of Josh, the daddy of Keegan and Killian, who I photographed with their mom, Lauren, last spring.  Josh had been deployed overseas for months and months.  To say that they were excited to see him is an understatement.

It was very exciting, and intense, to be there for the homecoming.  All the families from Josh’s squadron were there, waiting for their husbands, dads, sons and brothers.  We waited in a hangar on the base until the word came that the planes were coming in.  We all came out onto the airstrip and watched the planes fly over the hangar, everyone was waving American flags and yelling, Lauren was pointing up to the planes, telling Keegan and Killian that daddy was in one of them.

The planes landed and lined up, and everyone waited (not so patiently this time!) until the propellers turned off.  Then those plane doors opened, the soldiers started to come out, and then all the kids and wives ran to meet them.  Josh scooped Keegan up in his arms and held on tight, with the biggest smile on his face.  It was so wonderful to see this beautiful family reunited at last.

While we were taking some photos next to one of the planes, out of nowhere, three year old Keegan put his hand on his Josh’s face and just stared at him, as if in disbelief that his daddy was really there.  I will never forget this moment for as long as I live.

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This summer, three American veterans and a small film crew will bicycle across the nation–from Washington State to Washington, D.C. During this four month, four-thousand mile journey we aim to document the healing power the road provides as these national heros face the personal challenges that only a bike can heal . Along the way, we will visit military bases, VAMCs, and veterans organizations, asking other veterans the urgent question: what can we do as a nation to serve our troops as they come home?

If you or anyone you know is a vet that would like to be considered for this life-changing experience, please go to www.longroadhomeproject.com

Projected Route

Combat zones are designated by an Executive Order from the President as areas in which the U.S. Armed Forces are engaging or have engaged in combat. There are currently three such combat zones (including the airspace above each):

1) Arabian Peninsula Areas – the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, the part of the Arabian Sea north of 10° North latitude and west of 68° East longitude, the Gulf of Aden, and the countries of Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

2) Kosovo area – Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Albania, the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea north of the 39th Parallel.

3) Afghanistan

In addition, we will also allow three parts of the former Yugoslavia to be treated as if it were a combat zone and therefore covered: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Macedonia.

Please note: an official letter of deployment from the command or official deployment orders are REQUIRED, and must be presented to your photographer, in addition to the Client Agreement form they will provide.

These requirements are in place to protect our organization from abuse, and allow participating photographers to better serve our military. If you have questions, please contact your participating photographer, Regional Coordinator, or OpLove directly by using the contact form at www.oplove.org. Comments to blog posts are not monitored.

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.

To find a participating photographer in your area: http://www.oplove.org/oplovefinder/

Photographers, to join OpLove: http://www.oplove.org/

We love hearing your feedback, however comments on the blog are rarely seen by our volunteer photographers.  Please contact the photographers in your area using the finder above for information or to schedule your session. If you need to contact Oplove, please email oplove@oplove.org. Thank you for your ongoing support!  We could not continue to serve our military families without our amazing volunteer photographers, board, and clients like you!

Here’s some tips on getting into contact to become a photographer, get a session, or donate.

To participate with our organization you or your loved one must be deploying over 4 months (typically). The deployment must be out of the country and cannot be to a location where family COULD go. Korea is one of those locations, and unfortunately does not qualify at this time. You must have orders in hand, expected orders will not work.
Participants may partake in 2 of 4 sessions. The sessions must follow a patriotic theme and the military member should be in uniform for a portion if not all of the session, unless prohibited for traveling or safety purposes. Sessions are FREE, 100%. If you are asked to pay anything you MUST report this to Admin. The sessions provided are: a pre-deployment with the military member prior to deploying, Saying Goodbye (at the deployment) or While Away – Deployment session following patriotic theme without the military member who is deployed. Secondly, you may participate in a Homecoming session. So, one of the first three options, and the homecoming. Please know that not every photographer offers all the sessions. Some don’t do homecomings, and vise verse’. You do not have to use the same photographer.
You will contact a photographer directly from our OpLove Finder (http://www.oplove.org/oplovefinder)

IMPORTANT: The albums are sent overseas by the photographer and are NOT GIVEN to the family member still in the States, unless the session is a homecoming and the service member is obviously now home.

Because our ENTIRE organization is ran on 100% volunteer work, we cannot answer every email personally, or call unless it’s a specific matter. So, we do have an auto response set up that answers nearly every question you may have. Sometimes the auto response will hit your junk box, so if you do not hear from us, check that out and see if it was filtered.

To be a photographer in our organization, you must apply and be approved. To apply you MUST HAVE a professional website; Facebook, MySpace, etc will not work. We prefer a real .com, .net, .tv, .info, etc. site. Usually Wix and Weebly free sites are not developed enough to show a solid portfolio. We LOVE blogs because we can see how active you are with your online community and it’s a constant update to your work. The main reason we require a website is so clients can see your work before contacting you. You must also be acting as a legal business and paying taxes. We prefer 3 years of business, but if you have a portfolio and haven’t been in business that long, still apply because we do make exceptions. EVERY application is looked at by a panel of individuals. Not just one person is approving the applications.

We are volunteer work. We do ask for donations from our photographers to help with all the behind the scene stuff to make this organization run. If you are not a photographer and just want to donate, please go to our splash page at http://www.oplove.org and click on the DONATE link. We appreciate VERY MUCH all the help and support we get.
Sometimes funds are used to provide images for funerals. Funds are also used to provide prints and albums to families who photographers do not, for whatever reason, fulfill their obligations. Funds are used to maintain the website, blog, and event site for mass uploading from large events. We do have a Board Administration, and in respect of our 501c3 we follow ALL LEGALITIES and DoD regulations. If you cannot donate, that’s OKAY! Just let us know, and try not to send hateful emails.

Photographers that do not fulfill their obligations to the families are removed from the organization. In retrospect, families that abuse the opportunity to use our organization are also no longer able to participate. Respect goes 2 ways… it’s given and received. Please remember this.

If you need a photographer or are a photographer, please send an email to oplove@oplove.org or from our website. We DO NOT reply to blog comments.

Again, thank you so much for the overwhelming amount of simply touching comments. I am just in awe. <3

In December 2010, I was contacted by Megan.  Her husband, Jake, had recently left for his deployment, and she wanted to make sure that he received a warm welcome home when he returned from his tour.  And of course, she didn’t want to worry about who would capture those first moments as they reunited.  We kept in touch as May grew closer, and finally, on Wednesday, May 25th, the day had come!

I met Megan and a few of her fellow wives at the hangar about 30 minutes prior to the anticipated arrival of HMLA-169.  The hangar was filled with hundreds of people: families, parents, children, friends, neighbors and other Marines.  Balloons floated in the air.  Signs and banners  were hung from the walls of the hangar.  There was even a bounce house provided by MCCS.  You could feel the anticipation and excitement in the air.  And even stronger, the feeling of pride.

Well, we waited.  And we waited some more.  Then we went out towards the flightline, and waited some more.  Then it was getting chilly (and the wind picked up) and the sun had gone down, so we went back inside to wait.  By now, many people were getting restless.  Who could blame them?  Then everyone moved back outside to wait on the flightline for the buses to arrive.  The ladies were receiving text updates from their husbands on the buses, who were just as anxious to be home.

Finally, someone yelled, “There it is!”  The first bus pulled into view.  And the crowd started to cheer.  Smiles spread across the faces of everyone, particularly Megan. She received a text from Jake that said he was in the first bus at the head of the line; we were standing towards the rear, so we ran.  (Megan ran a little faster than I did, but I managed to keep up.)

We arrived at the head of the line, and then waited some more while the Marines unloaded from the bus.  Megan knew she was just moments away from holding Jake again.  And then suddenly, she ran and jumped, and the rest is happy history!

I’m so happy that I could be there to document this special moment for Megan and Jake.  I hope that they will treasure the photos for years to come, and maybe even share them with their children and grandchildren.   Please join me in welcoming home the Vipers!!!

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!