Ana and the President...

I had the chance to do a portrait of a very special subject last week.  Her name is Ana Zamora.  When the news called and asked me to take this assignment, I thought it sounded very interesting.  Ana, born in Mexico, moved to the United States at one year of age.  Now 21 years old, she is a college student, a respected employee at a downtown Dallas business, and just about the nicest person I've met all year.  She's exactly what you think of when the idea of "model citizen" comes to mind.  But, that's the catch... she's not a legal US citizen, because her parents didn't legally immigrate to the country.  

The story in the paper talks about her invitation to sit with the first lady during president Obama's state of the union speech.  It mentions how people like Ana are a shining example of the president's initiative to help families like Ana's stay in the US.  I think she was a great choice to exemplify the matter.  The follow-up story that ran a few days later used a smaller version of the same image, cropped in tight.  It talks about the cold reception Obama's remarks gathered.  It's quite a shame, because anyone who spent some time with Ana would clearly see how vital people like her are to this country.  Hopefully, more people will get behind this cause.