vision of vets

vision of vets

Vision of Vets – A Photographer’s Project

I’d like to tell you a story about a colleague of mine. He’s a kind man. A giving man. A selfless man. And, a veteran himself.

bruce roscoe portrait

Bruce Roscoe, Vision of Vets Founder. Portrait courtesy Studio 3 Images

In 2014 my friend Bruce Roscoe (of Aiyana Studio) had a vision. It came on a flight back from Rhode Island after photographing his best friend of 58 years. Doctors had told Bruce’s friend, Joe Rowe, he had only six months to live due to complications brought on by exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. Bruce offered to professionally photograph Joe so his family and friends would have something to remember him by when he was gone.

The Concept

Bruce’s idea was to create a nonprofit organization whose mission was to memorialize the stories of U.S combat veterans and share that history with the family and the world. He envisioned adding a method for bringing photographs of combat veterans to life with the use of Live Portrait technology. Families could now view these after their loved ones had passed.

Bruce gained support for his idea in the local community of Prescott, Arizona. This was no surprise because Prescott and the surrounding towns host the largest number of veterans per capita in Arizona. With a wonderful Veterans Administration (VA) hospital and the large veteran population, he started gathering veteran stories with the help of experts. The helpers are now the Vision of Vets board of directors.

Following three years of continual work, in June 2017, the IRS recognized Vision of Vets as an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and Bruce’s vision became a reality.

vision of vets portraits

Vision of Vets Portraits by Bruce Roscoe

The Vision of Vets team are committed to not only capturing the stories from our country’s living veterans, but also telling the stories of war heroes from the French & Indian War and forward. Vision of Vets hires professional re-enactors to bring the stories of heroism and sacrifice back to life with the use of modern technology.

The Gift

Each veteran in this project receives at no cost, a professional 16×20 framed portrait, prints in different sizes, a DVD of their interview, and an essay summarizing the interview.

You Can Help

You can be part of this story too! Help preserve history and add to the education tools in schools have to teach and remind students that ‘Freedom isn’t Free.’ Click here to learn more or Donate to Vision of Vets.

Yours in Creative Photography,       Bob

PS – Below you can get an idea of how the Vision of Vets Live Portraits work.

ppa imaging competition

As part of the PPA Charities Photo-Education-A-Thon held yesterday I put together a periscope on how I use PPA Imaging Competition to enhance my business marketing as well as improving my photography skills. I believe that participating in Imaging Competition has helped shape and form my skills and the photographer I’ve become… Here’s the video. BTW it was for PPA Charities which is a big supporter of Operation Smile and other charities photographers are interested in. So if you have gotten an idea or two you can use how about clicking on the link and making a small donation?

Learn how I use Imaging Competition to help promote my business.
Here are some links to show how I’ve shared some of my competition results and my feelings in more depth via the blog…
https://successful-photographer.com/category/photography/imaging-competition/
https://successful-photographer.com/silver-medalist-ppa/
https://successful-photographer.com/last-years-ppa-image-entries/
Yours in Creative Photography,      Bob

now I lay me down to sleep

A gift.

A gift that is very moving.

One that can only be given at a moment in time.

The gift of Professional Family Portraiture to a family that is losing a child at birth… Is priceless.

It’s recruitment month at Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep and I encourage you to consider becoming an affiliated photographer. There is a tremendous need. When I first heard about the organization and it’s mission I thought, “There’s NO WAY I could ever do that!” Eventually after attending a seminar put on by Sandy Puc I decided to try. Over the years I’ve been with the organization in many roles, as a photographer, trainer, board member & image reviewer as I see this is an amazing way to give back to the community.

You can do it.

Is it easy? Nope

Is it rewarding? Yep

“Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep is one of those ways that I enjoy serving my community as a photographer. When a Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep call comes in, I remember why I love photography.” – Mike Fulton, NILMDTS Area Coordinator and Affiliated Photograph

Learn more from the videos below and the NILMDTS web site.

Yours in Creative Photography,     Bob

 

NILMDTS public service announcement
Today Show segment on NILMDTS

nilmdts and the today show

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. An amazing organization and an opportunity to give back using your photography skills. Pass the word of this post so more people become aware of the organization and know of the service. Monday the 19th of January at 9:50 AM. If you get a chance to watch… Even better.

 

today show and nilmdts

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep and the Today Show

Yours in Creative Photography,        Bob

friendship centers photo shoot

While on vacation in Sararsota, Florida I was asked by my buddy Skip to help create an image for an ad campaign for the Friendship Centers. The look of the requested image was based on previous photos from the campaign. The speaker would be in the foreground and sharp with the secondary person in the back slightly out of focus. Here’s the resulting ad that will run full page and on their web site…

friendship center ad

Photographed with Lumix GH4 & Leica DG Nocticron 42.5mm f1.2 lens

Settings – f1.2 ISO 200 1/250 sec Window light from 4×6 ft window with shear curtains camera right

MeFoto Backpacker tripod for support (because I was traveling – came in quite handy because it’s small for packing)

It was a pleasure making the image. I just happened to have the proper tools with me. The Nocticron lens is sweet and allowed me to get just the right fall-off of focus that was needed for the photo. If the MeFoto wasn’t so small and easy to pack I wouldn’t have had a tripod with me on vacation.

Small light and powerful tools are amazing to work with and I’m enjoying photography more every day.

Yours in Creative Photography,       Bob

volunteering photography in your community

One of the ways to keep your name and face in front of your community is through volunteering your photography services to help in raising awareness for causes or raising money for charities.

Last Saturday night was a case of creating images from the Oktoberfest event put on by one of the local Rotary Clubs. Funds are raised and Oktoberfest will support many local causes – The Rotary Club of Sedona Red Rocks and their efforts within the community.  Our club offers Red Rock High School Seniors $1000 scholarships, supports the West Sedona School Summer Reading program, Teacher of the Year program, dentistry for qualifying needy children and we were instrumental in raising the funds needed to open the Sedona Splash Park – open in July 2014.

Rotary International is the world’s largest charitable organization  whose stated purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world.

Here’s a few images from the day…

Oktoberfest image Sedona Arizona

Lots of people get into the spirit with the costuming. These are some of the volunteers and greeters.

Oktoberfest beer mugs photo

The Red Rock Oktoberfest beer mugs that are part of the goodies people get with their donation.

oktoberfest guests

People get into the spirit and come in costume to the event.

Things you should look for when volunteering…

Web site link recognition.

Recognition as a sponsor of the event.

Make sure images used for publicity for the event are credited on posters, advertising materials and news releases.

Make sure you send an invoice for your services so the organization knows the value of your donation.

Don’t do this just for the recognition. You should believe in and support the organization’s goals.

What are you waiting for? Get out there and support your favorite charity!

Yours in Creative Photography,          Bob

Images created with the Lumix GH4