Texas School Staff and Students Raise $20,930 for PPACH; Surpass $100,000 Mark

safariscreensnapz036-copy During this year’s April 28-May 13 Texas School session, generous students and instructors, as well as the Texas School Trustees, chose to support PPA Charities by challenging each other to give as much as they could to support the philanthropic arm of PPA, whose partner is Operation Smile, the international medical charity that repairs cleft lips and cleft palettes of needy children around the world. Their combined efforts, netted PPACH a contribution of $25,000 bringing the total of donations made by Texas School students, instructors and trustees, over a five-year period, to $113,070!

The top “Challenge” donation of $1,905 was made by attendees of the class taught by Lori Nordstrom, and the following classes donated $1,000 or more: Greg and Lesa Daniel, David and Luke Edmondson, Kay Eskridge, Hanson Fong, Mike Fulton and Cody Clinton, Elizabeth and Trey Homan, Gary and Kathy Meek,

How It All Got Started . . .

Texas School is the largest of all PPA Affiliate Schools in the country, and this year the week-long event drew over 1,000 students from throughout the U.S. and abroad. The tradition of PPA Charities fundraising at Texas School began spontaneously in 2008, when a few instructors, who were familiar with PPACH’s support Operation Smile, encouraged their class members to donate. This effort culminated at the Thursday evening all-school party when school director Don Dixon offered to shave his head if the donation could grow to $5000. It did, and Don lost his hair!

In 2009, Texas School instructors encouraged their classes to buy as many smiles as they could by playing an Operation Smile video so that students could learn how this organization’s incredible volunteers can perform life-changing surgery for a desperately needy child for only $240. Jed and Vicki Taufer’s class alone donated an amazing $7,300 for individual contributions and auctions of merchandise and private classes by Jed and Vicki. Their donation, along with those from other classes, along with an impromptu auction of donated vendor items, resulted in a $17,000 contribution to Operation Smile!

Since then, donating to PPA Charities and Operation Smiles has become a tradition at Texas School. The 2014 edition of Texas School will be held in Dallas on April 27 – May 2. For information on Texas School, click here.

2013 Celebration of Smiles Portrait Awards Open on May 1

As 2013 Celebration of Smiles donations are coming in, it’s time for participants to decide which images to enter in the 2013 Portrait Awards competition. A Grand Prize winner will be selected, and trophies will be given to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places in each category. To view all of last year’s winners, click here.

Celebration of Smiles 2013 Portrait Awards Rules
Opening Date: May 1
Closing Date: May 15

Entry Eligibility
All Celebration of Smiles Day participants who made a monetary donation from their
promotions are eligible to enter images in the following categories:

Baby
? Child
? Teen
? Adult
? Pet

Entry Fees
Those donating $240 or more will be allowed to enter up to four images at no
charge. Additional images fee of $10 per entry apply. Multiple photographers from a studio
may enter.

Judging

Entries will be judged by a three-judge panel.
? 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 2 honorable mentions will be chosen in each category.
? 1st, 2nd, and 3rd overall winners will be chosen.
? Winners will be announced in June.

Prizes

A trophy will be given to the first place overall.
? Trophies will be given to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in each category.

Entry Procedure

A link will be provided for uploading images.
? You will be asked to complete an entry form and pay fee if applicable.
? mages must be submitted as .jpg and sized as 8×10 at 300dpi.
? Files must be named as follows: Photographer’s first and last name_category_unique number.
? Example: JohnSmith_baby_01

You are responsible for obtaining a model release for each entry. When completing the entry
form, you will be asked to agree with the following statement:

The entrant has obtained and has access to all necessary releases (model or
property) and agrees to hold PPA Charities and PPA harmless against all claims
and liabilities arising out of PPA Charities’ and/or PPA’s display, publication and
promotion or other use of each image submitted to PPA Charities.

Beth Forester Pledges 1% of Sales of Her “Baby’s First Year” Plan

PPA Charities will benefit when you purchase Beth Forester’s “PURE” Baby’s First Year Plan! PhotoDUDS’ Beth Forester has pledged to donate 1% of this product’s sales to PPA Charities, with a minimum of $500 pledged.

This proven business plan Is available to you in fully customizable templates, with all the professional designing and copywriting complete and ready for you to launch your very own successful Baby’s First Year Program.

This comprehensive turnkey set has all the materials you need to educate your clients about what you expect and what to wear for each of their sessions. Plus, it has a complete pricing plan with promotional materials for many of the most popular products purchased throughout the year.

To learn more or to order, contact Beth at 304/369.1443 or beth@foresterphoto.com

PPA Member Allyson Hurley’s Two Passions Merge for Celebration of Smiles Day Fundraiser

In an interesting convergence of professional skills, one of the participants in Celebration of Smiles Day 2013 is Dr. Allyson Hurley, who is both a Certified Professional Photographer and a cosmetic dentist who is a Master of the Academy of General Dentistry and an Accredited Member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. Dr. Hurley’s family dental practice is located in Bedminster, NJ. She is being joined in her April 20 event at the Bedminster Library by Tony Koebli of Images by J and A Photography in nearby Clark, NJ.

Allyson’s long-standing interest in photography accelerated when she wasn’t satisfied with average “before and after” shots, which she knew she would need when pursuing her accreditation by the Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. Tony became her mentor ,and through his tutoring, she earned her Certified Professional Photographer status from PPA. In addition to his studio work, Tony enjoys going on location to do environmental photography for seniors, engagements sessions, weddings and families. He has earned multiple awards at the regional, state and international level in PPA. He enjoys sharing his knowledge and mentors other photographers.

Repeatedly named by her peers as among “Top New Jersey Dentists” by NJ Monthly magazine, Allyson believes that Celebration of Smiles Day is a perfect charitable cause for her to support as a dentist-photographer because it helps to fund the work of Operation Smile. While she thoroughly enjoys her genera dentistry practice, she has a special passion for changing lives by repairing fractured front teeth on young people and restoring smiles on older patients. She is the only woman in New Jersey to earn accreditation from the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry.

The image shown here is typical of the patient photography Allyson as created for her business website, www.allysonhurley.com. The site also hosts some examples of her nature photography, which you can see at this link. Allyson presently is working on a photo book to be titled The Power of Flowers.

Meredith Wilcke Uses Her Good Fortune and Creativity to Benefit PPA Charities

PPA member Meredith Wilcke, owner of Wilcke Photography in Winter Park, FL, has decided to turn her good fortune into an opportunity to support PPA Charities. She has pledged to donate 50% of her profits from her beautiful images of Tuscany and the Amalfi coast to PPA Charities. Here’s how Meredith explains the motivation behind her generosity:

“Operation Smile is near and dear to me because before I chose to get my BA in Portraiture from Brooks Institute, I was studying at Iowa State University for Speech-Language Pathology. Cleft lip and cleft palate were among the topics I learned about in detail. Even though Speech Language Pathology was a great subject, I found myself falling in love with photography. I listened to my heart and after receiving my degree at Iowa State, I went to Brooks to start over and graduated in 2004. I have always wanted to be able to give back, and when I went to the PPA Charities talk last year at IUSA, I knew I found where I wanted to go with this.

“The next part of this story is that my father decided to make one of my dreams come true last year. He took me to Italy and paid for the whole trip. He let me buy him a Royal with cheese at McDonalds, otherwise, I didn’t spend a penny. We spent eight days touring Tuscany and the Amalfi coast — a trip of a lifetime. For Christmas I gave my father ten canvas wraps of images from our trip that now live in my parents’ kitchen. He told me it was one of the best gifts he’s ever received. I’m glad he’s happy with that, but I would like to honor my father and his generosity by being able to use my talent to pay it forward to help support people who need a change in their lives so desperately.”

You can view the lovely images Meredith is offering to the public through her studio website at this link, and you’ll see how Meredith is offering to preview their image choices on their own walls using her ProSelect software. See Meredith’s portrait work at www.wilckephotography.com.