PPA Charities President David Grupa has announced the results of the organization’s annual Celebration of Smiles fundraiser in support of its charitable partner, Operation Smile. Held during April, a total of 79 members raised $48,166 to benefit Operation Smile.

“These funds will go a long way toward meeting our 2012 goal of raising $100,000 for this wonderful organization,” Grupa said. “Because Operation Smile’s medical professionals and support staff volunteer their services, it costs only $240 to provide a simple cleft lip surgery to a child in desperate need. Therefore the funds raised by PPA members so far in 2013 mean that over 200 smiles will be saved.”

The annual Celebration of Smiles Day campaign provides consumers with the opportunity to receive a mini-session and a 5x7 professional portrait in exchange for a donation to Operation Smile of only $24; therefore, for every 10 sessions photographed by a participating studio, another smile can be saved by the volunteer staff of Operation Smile.

In 2014 PPA Charities will advertise Saturday, April 5 as the official Celebration of Smiles date, but studios can hold their events on any other date or dates in April for their convenience.

Top donors for the 2013 campaign are Ryan & Erica Manthey, Pure 7 Studios, Miramar Beach, FL, who contributed $6,131. Last year Pure 7 Studio also was the campaign’s top performer with a donation of $3,813.

In addition to the Mantheys, the Top Tier donors, who contributed $500 or more, are:

Larry	Lourcey	Lourcey Photography	Plano	TX	$3,950
Monica	Cowles	Monica Cowles Photography	Aberdeen	WA	$3,203
Pete	Rezac	Pete Rezac Photography	Reno	NV	$2,060
Mariah	Ashley	Snap! Wedding	Rumford	RI	$2,013
Vicky	Hultman	Seasons Photography	Rice Lake	WI	$1,869
Claire	Houser	Claire Terese Photography	Ebensburg	PA	$1,597
Melanie	Anderson	Anderson Photographs	Hagerstown	MD	$1,400
Virginia	Freire	Virginia L. S. Freire	Brooklyn	NY	$1,325
Matthew	Andrews	Matthew Andrews Photography	Covington	KY	$983
Clark	Sanders	Clark Sanders Photography	Cherokee Village	AR	$960
Wendy	Waddell	Wendy Waddell Photography	Petaluma	CA	$960
Meggan	Harper	Harper-Wayne Portrait Studio	Ormond Beach	FL	$947
Rachel	Schrock	Torchlight Photography	Cleveland	TN	$824
Dan	Thornton	Thornton Photography	Godfrey	IL	$730
Patricia	Van Bergen	Adoring Glances Photography	Boyds	MD	$730
Lili	Englehardt	Vibrance Photography	Chapel Hill	NC	$722
David	Anderson	David Anderson Photography	Annapolis	MD	$720
Chanel	Apsey	Your Reflection, My Style Photography	Bloomington	IL	$720
Jeff	Kaiser	Kaiser Custom Images	Chesapeake	VA	$633
Constance	Bergstedt	Resonant Images	Roseville	MN	$508
Lynn	Brower	Lynn Marie Photography	Harrisburg	SD	$500

In addition to the studios listed above, the studios shown below attained the honor of being designated as an “Operation Smile Studio” for having donated at least $240 dollars, the amount needed to fund a single surgery through Operation Smile. Those individuals and studios are:

Allyson	Hurley	Allyson Hurley Photography	Bedminster	NJ
Julie	Hipkins	Originations Photography	Frederick	MD
Elizabeth	Homan	Artistic Images	San Antonio	TX
Stacey	Knoebel	Knoebel Portrait Design	Hammond	WI
Rosalinda	Luna	Rosalinda Luna Photography	San Jose	CA
Connie	Meyers	Connie's Studio of Photography	Nisswa	MN
Christina	Novak	Amazingly Graceful Photography	King George	VA
Kerith	Paterson	Visual Girl Photo	North Vancouver, BC	CANADA

Cindy	Sherman	Cindy Sherman Photography	Boise	ID
Heather	Fine	Elusive Image Photography	Blaine	MN
Heather	Lussier	Heather Lussier Photography	Los Altos	CA
Kelly	Zimmerman	Cherished Images	Boise	ID
Autumn	Branscome	Autumn Branscome Photography	Princeton	WV
Damien	Silveira	Mikien Photography	Roswell	GA
Megan	Twaddle	Broken Glass Photography	Liberty	IL
Susan	Anderson	A Forget Me Not Moment	Greensboro	NC
Alma	Aponte	Metamorphosis Digital Photography	Fitchburg	MA
Mary Pat	Kelley	Photography by Dale	Hagerstown	MD
Jennifer	Gomez	All That Jazz Photography	Hillsboro	OR
Bert	Behnke	Behnke Photographers	Mokena	IL
Zaida	Parkes	Parkes Photography	Stratford	CT
Tanya	Boggs	Tanya Boggs Photography	Charleston	SC
Carol	Brown	Brown's Country Store	Benton	AR
Danielle	DeVito	Danielle DeVito Photography	Bronxville	NY
Cecilia	Lysne	Behl's Photography	Grand Forks	ND
Dan	Pulver	Guys and Dolls Photography	Mt. Pleasant	MI
Jasa	Wolfrey	Sweet Scene Photography	Stafford	VA
David	Grupa	David Grupa Portrait	Maplewood	MN
Kevin	Baker	Baker Photography	Baldwinsville	NY
Lew	Everling	Muse Photo Design	Cedar Falls	IA
Sarah	Hinchey	Sarah Hinchey Photography	Hingham	MA
Britney	Kirby-Fullgraf	Belvedere Studio	Lakeland	FL
Mark	Mason	Mason Photography	Duluth	GA
Christina	Parker	Christina Parker Photography	Calgary, Alberta	CANADA
Tina	Petta-Pelletier	Uniquely Yours Photography	Waterbury	CT
LeAnne	Schmidt	Photog Frog Portrait Studio	South Saint Paul	MN
Ed	Sharp	Ed Sharp Photography	Greenwich	NY
Jill	Welch	Jill Welch Photography	Cataula	GA
Jason	Williams	Snapshots Photographic	Salisbury	NC
Beth	Zak	BZak Photography	Florissant	MO

During this year’s April 28-May 13 Texas School session, generous students and instructors chose to support PPA Charities by challenging each other to give as much as they could to support the philanthropic arm of PPA, whose charitable 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 total of $20,930, bringing the total of donations made by Texas School students, instructors and trustees, over a five-year period, to $109,000!

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.

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 8x10 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.

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.

Congratulations to Jason Williams, Snapshots Photography, Salisbury, North Carolina, who was the big winner of the amazing Imaging USA Speakers Basket raffle held at PPA’s annual IUSA convention in Atlanta in January. Valued at over $8,000, these educational items were donated by speakers at IUSA 2012.

Congratulations also to Ania Mikolajewski, who was the lucky winner of an opportunity to document an Operation Smile Mission. Ania’s name was drawn from all those who donated $240 or more in support of Operation Smile in 2012.

Ania, who is a Certified Professional Photographer, is the owner of Denver-area Ania Mikol Photography. Last year she participated in PPA Charities’ first Celebration of Smiles promotion.