Love...just in time!

I recently had the honor of shooting an emergency homecoming session for one of our servicemen, Patrick. He was released from his deployment and brought home early, courtesy of the Red Cross' assistance, to be with his family during a very difficult time! His 10-month old daughter, Adalyn, was just diagnosed with a heart condition that will require surgery soon. He also has a beautiful wife, Kim, and a 4-yr old daughter named Sophia that has been holding down the fort while he was away. It was a last minute session that not only kept the family and myself on-call for weeks, but also another OpLove photographer to fill-in just in case I couldn't attend. Long story short of lots of dates & time changes, Patrick made it home safely to reunite with his loving family! The Patriot Riders were there as well as a few Tulsa news crews. It was so great to be there for this family & capture their photos.

Here is a news link from Fox in Tulsa with the wife interview before the homecoming: http://www.fox23.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=3340838
And the footage during the homecoming: http://www.fox23.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=3340915

It's February...

...and LOVE is in the air! Here are two of my "need to get caught up" sessions that were never posted on my blog.

Allow me to introduce Lacey, Jared, and little Conner. Despite just waking up from a nap and the cold yucky weather, Conner was full of smiles and energy! Jared wasn't feeling to great, but I managed to squeeze a few smiles out of him. Especially when Connor grabbed a handful of Lacey's hair. We hung out in Jones for the session, which made a great backdrop for this family. Here are a few pics from our session.

And another client that I need to get caught up on is Tiffany, Jordan, and Zach. We went to the Rose Gardens at Will Rogers Park for our session in January. Zach was busting with energy, so he had noooo interest in the camera. But that can make for some really cute pics, so we worked with it. And if you can't tell by the photos, he definitely loves his daddy!

That's all for tonight. More to come soon. 

Winter Market

I just finished the "Fancy! and Friends Winter Market" at the Edmond Museum. It was the first year for the show, but I thought that it seemed to go smoothly! I met several great vendors, potential clients, and got to reunite with some old neighbors that I grew up with. :) I also got to brag about OpLove and all our recent publicity! I made several new contacts in that regards. And a big CONGRATULATIONS to Joy Murphy for winning my free family photo session during the event drawing! I look forward to hearing from you about our 2012 session!!!

Note to Miss Shandee: I received TONS of compliments on your photo! Numerous people said that it was such a great photo. Then they said, "She is just beautiful." Of course, I was very proud at that point because 1) it is a great photo, even if I do say so myself,  and 2) you are beautiful (which I already knew, but am so happy that I got to show others too). Then a few people commented on what I took as the Pièce de résistance...they asked, "Is that your daughter?" Really, OMG & LOL! I was very proud that it was my photo and very proud that I displayed your beauty in its truest form, but then to be complimented enough that they also thought I was your mom...WOW, that must mean that they think I'm pretty "easy on the eyes" too! I was on cloud nine for a few mins.  :)  Your parents must be sooo proud to have raised such a beautiful daughter - on the outside, but more importantly on the inside!

Luckily, my dad came to see me today, the 2nd day of the show, and helped me put my banner up. (It was too tall for the table and there was nothing to rope it to around the sides.) So, lots of scotch tape to the rescue!!!! My booth looked 100 times better with it up, but alas it fell about 10 minutes after daddy left. I tried everything to put it back in place but no luck!   :(

I do want to thank Kristin and Angel for inviting me to the market. It's been a few years since I agreed to do a show, but I was happy to be a part of this one! And to anyone that is in the market for an Event & Party Planner...check out their website here: Fancy Like That!. I also met a local lady that does some fabulous crochet (I got an awesome headband/ear cover thing), so I can hook you up if you are in the market!!!

Playtime at the Park

I met Karen, Kaleb (3 years), and Kaden (7 months) at Will Rogers Park for our latest session. I was so surprised to see how much Kaleb had grown, and I had never seen Kaden before. Although Matt, the devoted hubby & daddy, wasn't able to attend the session because he is currently serving overseas, his spirit was there with his beautiful family. Here are a few of my fav pics from our session.

Getting Caught Up

In the process of my attempting to get caught up, I will post 2-3 sessions pics at a time on here. The first pics below are from Crystal, James, Macy & Callie. The girls were dressed up soooo absolutely adorable in their matching red & white dresses with blue belts. They were a blast to get pics of during the session. Macy would showing off, so Callie would play shy. Then they would switch and Callie was being the camera hog while Macy was being shy. They were definitely fun! Crystal and James were also awesome! They were up for anything, so we got some great pics. Such a loving and adorable family!!! Here are a few of my favs...

And the next session is with some of my fav repeat clients: Shannon, Denny, & Dawson. They were all part of the Today Show filming & interviews (be sure to watch them on Vet's Day, Nov 11th on NBC). Even though Dawson isn't even 3-yrs old yet, he was an absolute angel during all the happenings. And Shannon was just glowingly-pregnant gorgeous with a beautiful baby bump! Denny, well what's to say...he is definitely a proud daddy & hubby, and soon to be daddy two-times over. Even though there was a camera guy following us around during the session, we still managed to get some awesome pics! Here's a few of my favs:

The Today Show filming

Yesterday, I spent about 6 hours with the Today Show people, Tonee (the OpLove founder), and one of my client families. The TS people and Tonee came to OKC to film a segment on Operation: Love Reunited. We did all of the filming and my client session at the Rose Gardens in Will Rogers Park. It was an absolutely awesome day that was full of emotions! We laughed, cried, and played in the park. I got some fabulous pics of my clients, which I will post a few once they are all processed. We had another OpLove photographer, Amanda Lloyd, that came up from Ft Hood, TX to get some PR pics for our org to use. She'll be sending me her pics, so I will post a few of those when I get them. Meanwhile, here are a couple of cell phone pics we took of the interviews:

 Tonee Lawrence, the OpLove founder, being interviewed (above).

Me being interviewed (above).

My clients, Shannon & Denny, being interviewed (above).

Be sure to watch NBC's The Today Show on Veteran's Day, Nov 11th. I'll make another post a couple days before it airs to remind everyone to set their DVRs. I am soooo excited and can't wait to see it!   :)

Family Time with Daddy

Courtney, Jonathan, Kain (2 yrs), and Kason (2 months) met me at the Rose Gardens for a pre-deploy OpLove session last weekend. It was supposed to be a beautiful day with 0% chance of rain (ha haa). It was cloudy & overcast when we got there. So we start taking pics around the site, even though a wedding was starting in the main garden area. Both boys had just awoke from a nap, and they were not too excited about being in pics. Kain was absolutely adorable! He was more interested in watching the other park visitors, especially the Red Hat Ladies that were at the park getting their pics taken by another photographer. Although he tried to avoid smiling or looking at me, I managed to get some good ones! :) Kason was also too cute for words! Some of his expressions reminded me of my niece, Makayla, when she was a baby. I couldn't help but just "ooh and ahhh" over him. And it was very apparent that Kain was a very proud older brother! Courtney & Jonathan were awesome! They were happy and smiley despite having to take Kason's stroller 4-wheeling on the gravel. Just as we decided that the kiddos were done with pics and it was time to wrap up the session...the sprinkles started. By the time we made it back to the cars and started loading up, it was pouring! (LOL. In all honesty, it was kinda funny to watch the wedding party and guests run to the party bus in the rain!) Thank goodness, we had just finished the session pics! Here's some of my favs...

Pics for Daddy

Last week, I met Abbie and her 18-month old son, Garritt at a local Edmond Park. Abbie brought her father along to help with Garritt because she also has a "baby-on-board". Her husband, Eli, is currently deployed overseas, so we did the OpLove session as a gift for him. Little Garritt was such a cutie! He didn't want to smile or talk or even look at me during the first part of the session. A few small American flags, some little army guys, and funny glasses in my backpack helped break the ice though.  :)   It also turns out that Garritt is ticklish and likes to play in the water, which helped get some smiles from him. And Abbie was just...glowing and beautiful, despite the hot, muggy morning. These two were so adorable together; I can't wait to see the entire family together at Eli's homecoming! And maybe, I'll have the chance to photograph her with a big belly and/or a newborn session.  :)