Recent Sessions...

Wow, I am soo far behind on posting about my recent sessions! So, I'll do a little blurb about a few of them and throw in a couple pics. Here goes:

Let's start off with Amber, Justin, and J.J. (who is an adorable 4-year old). We had Justin's pre-deployment OpLove session at their home in SW Oklahoma. I gave J.J. one of my flags for some photos, and he had a blast with it. I ultimately let him keep it since he seemed to enjoy playing with it so much. We even got their family dog in on some of the pics. Here's a couple of my favs from their session:

Next is my couple's session with Sheri and Will. Sheri is related to an OpLove family of mine, which is how she came to book me. Her and Will are long-time friends who have found each other after many years. We had a blast at Will Rogers Park during the session. They were very relaxed and fun-loving. Will is a retired military, bronc-rider, horseman. It was great getting to know both of them and hearing their story, which is closely related to my own experience with my husband. Here are a few pics from my session with them:

Let's see...Jacki and her family would be next. This was another pre-deployment OpLove session, and we had it in Medicine Park, Oklahoma. It is definitely a tourist town, yet quaint in its own way. Kayden was intrigued by the geese and wanted to get closer to them, but Jacki was not a fan of them at all! Here are a few pics from their session:

And one more for now, my session with Brandy Woodley and her family. Brandy is the Editor-in-Chief of Army Wife magazine that I mentioned in a previous post. She wrote an article about me and my participation in OpLove. They are such a cute family! There's Brandy, her hubby Johnny (J), and three little girls: Nakiya, Jordyn, Jaelyn. The girls were absolutely adorable in their little dresses! And although it was extremely hot and humid, everyone was in good spirits and smiling. Here are a few pics from their session:

Okay, I think that's good for now. :)  I still have a couple more sessions to post, and one I am still processing, that I will get to this week. Sorry to all my clients that looked for their blog post about our session and didn't find it. :(  I've been super-swamped and have been more focused on processing pics than keeping up with my blog. I'll try to be better from here on out.

Personal Venting for a Minute

You know, I don't get too personal or opinionated on many "public" issues. However, I just can't keep this one to myself! As an avid supporter of our military men & women, especially those who are deployed, I have a right to voice my opinion. Personally, I was not allowed to join the services because of my own health reasons, but if I could have I would have. However, I believe to my inner-most core that America's Commander-in-Chief should have served in one branch or another prior to being elected! How can you be the Commander-in-Chief if you have no experience from which to draw from? Advisers...they just advise and recommend based on the current standings of things but you still have nothing to base your opinion/decision upon. And if you don't like what someone says about your decisions, tough. Their opinions are guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. It's not like the soon-to-be-released article actually has any direct quotes defaming the President! He's just pissed because a high-ranking officer who is serving in a war-zone does not publicly approve of every decision his office has made. So what does he do, fire him. Um hello...if I could "fire" everyone that I disagreed with, there would be a lot more unemployed people in the US! And in his speech, he states, "it undermines the civilian control of the military that is at the core of our democratic system". He further says, "it erodes the trust that is necessary for our team to work together to achieve our objectives". So with that being said, how exactly does refusing to salute the American Flag come into play? Doesn't that undermine the core of our democratic system and erode the trust for "our team"...the Commander-in-Chief refusing to acknowledge the American flag.

Again, I'm not trying to create controversy here or force my opinions upon anyone else. I don't care if you believe in the war or the politics behind it; however, I do believe that you should support the men and women (and their families) fighting it! This recent firestorm of rash decisions based on someone's comments of disapproval are totally beyond being unnecessary. It is disgusting!

Army Wife Magazine Article

I mentioned several weeks ago that I was interviewed by Brandi, the Editor-in-Chief of Army Wife Magazine about my participation in Operation: Love Reunited (OpLove). The online article was released in June's issue. Here's a link to the article. The article link is about 1/3 of the way down on the left side of the page of the home page.  Thanks, Brandi, for the publicity and help in getting the word out about our organization!!!

Also this last Saturday, I had a session with Brandi and her family in Medicine Park, OK. I'm still processing their photos, but be sure to check back later this week to see some of their pics!

Amanda, Jay, & Boys

I did another session with Amanda, Jay, and their boys last week. I did their first session about 3 years ago, and have had a few since then. I just finished up the latest pre-deploy session with their family at Will Rogers Park. Jay is shipping out for the 7th time. :(   We (especially Lance) had fun at the park checking out the fish, climbing on rocks, and playing with baby Liam. Liam is their newest addition to the family, and he is such a cutie!!! I recently found out that they are moving to Michigan until Jay returns, so I probably won't get to capture the homecoming. But I truly wish the all the best in their new endeavors, and I sincerely hope to see them again soon!!!

Personal Update...

Just a quick personal update...I had the chance to sneak off to Texas to visit family for the weekend, so I took it! My wonderful hubby, Mike, and I went down to Dallas to visit his family and stay the night. The next afternoon, we zipped over to North Richland Hills to visit my family for a Crawfish Boil. Then we crashed at a nearby hotel and drove home via SW Oklahoma so I could do a pre-deploy photo session for OpLove on the way home. (Surprisingly enough, the time at my in-laws was more pleasant and relaxing then the rest of the trip!)

I still have one or two sessions from last week to post here, in addition to the OpLove session from today. I'm already hard at work processing the pics, so stay tuned! And I might even sneak in a pic of me and/or my beautiful 10-month old niece, Makayla (I call her my M&M) from this weekend.   :)

Animoto Videos

I just wanted to say that Animoto ROCKS!!! I sampled their services with an OpLove promo video a couple weeks ago (see previous post). The video was awesome, to say the least. I have had sooooo many comments on how great and beautiful it was, and it even brought some people to tears, me included. So anyways as I mentioned before, I've added their videos as part of the freebies that I provide to my OpLove clients. Animoto is such a wonderful company because they donated their services to OpLove photographers for our military clients!

I just finished making a video for one of my fav OpLove clients: Jay, Mandi, Lance, and now baby Liam! I've known them for almost 3 years and have had 3 OpLove sessions with their family. It has me teary-eyed previewing the video because you can actually see all the love that they share! And it doesn't help knowing that he'll be shipping out again soon, and the family is moving far away during the first part of July.  :'(  So I won't get to photograph his homecoming. But I can truly say that I am proud to know them, and I greatly appreciate his service and their sacrifices! It has been an honor to have the opportunity to be a part of their lives and to photograph such important occasions.

Jen, Erica, and more family...

Yay! I did a session for Jen and Erica a couple weeks ago (see previous posts). On Sunday, I had the opportunity to photograph them again with some additional family that's visiting from out of town. Unfortunately, Erica wasn't feeling very well and therefore not her usual playful bundle of energy. :(  But the rest of the family still had fun playing "king of the mountain", seeing six new geese babies, climbing, and having a foot-race. Dad should be returning from deployment around the first of July, so stay tuned for more family pics! Here's a couple b&w pics from our session.

Karen & Her Clan

Last Thursday, I met Karen and her family for a session at the Rose Garden in Will Rogers Park. After much excitement getting there (about 10 cop cars, 2 helicopters, an hour of traffic, and 1 loose horse in the city), we finally got our session underway. It was not an OpLove session even though Matthew was dressed in his BDUs. It was a pre- pre-deployment session, meaning that he deploys later, but they still wanted the patriotic theme of OpLove sessions. Caleb had fun playing at the park, growling at the squirrels, and finding the big orange fish! Here are some of my fav pics from the session: