It was truly an amazing experience to get to participate in Celebration of Smiles. Nationwide, through the Professional Photographers of America (PPA), photographers offer an event to raise money for Operation Smile. “For Every 10 Smiles, 1 Smile Is Saved!” is the motivating catch-phrase for this event. For the small minimum donation of $24, participants receive a 10-15 minute mini-session and the gift of a 5×7 print. A surgery for cleft palate, cleft-lip or other facial disfiguration can be performed for as low as $240. With photographers, participants and the amazing Operation Smile volunteers working together to contribute time, talent and resources, a smile can be saved. This was my first time to participate, but I definitely don’t want it to be my last. We met on location at Cameron Park for our event which we began the evening of April 4th and carried over to the morning of April 5th. Here are our day 1 participants.
A couple of Senior guys started our event, and I have to say it was a fun way to start off our “Celebration.”
We went from Senior guys to the preschool set. This sweet girl kept us busy, but I love how we caught some gorgeous light with her, and captured her personality as she played peek-a-boo from behind the tree.
I want you to look at these sweet smiles. When this precious little miss showed up, she was so unsure of the whole thing. She started with tears in her eyes, and absolutely no desire to be photographed. It melts my heart to see the angelic smiles we were able to capture after getting her comfortable with the idea.
Two year olds wrapped up our evening, and this adorable girl, stole my heart with her personality. While we didn’t get a lot of eye-contact with the camera shots, the shots we got were so beautiful. The black and white of her gets me every time.
It was such a perfect start to our Celebration of Smiles event. I couldn’t wait for Day 2 to begin!
Heather Sullivan, Leila Photography
Leila Photography by Heather Sullivan 