William and Samatha

I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph these two adorable children as a Christmas surprise for their parents.  I had their nanny to thank in coming up with the idea, setting it up, and finding the perfect location: the beautiful Botanical Conservatory.  William and Samantha had a blast running around, smelling the flowers, and occasionally posing for pictures.  :)  I was surprised at the amount of energy these two had and very pleased that I still managed to capture some of their inner beauty.  Samantha was especially excited for this photo session because she got to get all dressed up and “done up”!  She was overflowing with the cutest phrases and the most dramatic expressions.  And William seemed to suddenly get shy whenever the camera was pointed his way.  But I managed to get him to relax and forget about the camera when I asked him to tell me about his cat.  That is when I caught the picture of him adjusting the hat on his head.  I am so thankful that I got the chance to spend time with these precious little kids.  They were so much fun!!  :)

Mitchell Proposes!!

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, I got to hide behind a tree and witness this young man propose to this beautiful woman!  This was probably one of the most exhilarating photo shoots I have ever done!  I was so nervous as I waited for them to arrive.  And then when I saw them, I felt like a spy as I crept out from behind a small shed to an evergreen tree to get a little closer to the action.  I couldn't really hear what Mitchell was saying, but I heard Olivia say yes!!  I felt so blessed to be able to be a part of this special moment for these two love birds as they now start preparing for a lifetime together!!   :)

Vintage Clothing

These are some of my favorites from the shoot.  I love the details that were put into these dresses especially knowing that they were handmade.  The cloth is so delicate from use and age.

I especially love this picture of my mother holding Promise.  They are both so beautiful!!  :)

Vintage Clothing - Behind the Scenes

I got to do a very unique session yesterday with my niece.  My mother had a handful of dresses that belonged to her when she was just a baby.  Some of the dresses were handmade.  They were all very old, thin and delicate, but yet they had some immense detailing.  Promise did pretty good at first, but when we put her in the fifth dress, she promptly grabbed it and stuck it in her mouth.  She also spit-up in one of the dresses.  After we were done with the vintage dresses, we put Promise in her brand new Christmas dress that was a present from my mom to her.  By this point in the photo shoot, Promise was getting tired of being treated like a doll and was getting fussy.  My sister thought some Christmas lights would calm her down and look nice with her dress.  So I found some lights for her to hold.  Surprisingly, the lights worked like an “off switch”; Promise instantly quit fussing and because enthralled by the lights.  And then she proceeded to stick them in her mouth.  The lights were a little warm, which is the reason for her expression in the pictures.   :)

Catherine

I found myself going through some old portraits I had taken of seniors and I found this one which I took of a friend of mine who was a senior last year. She is now enjoying her time at college. This picture just reminds me of all the awesome times we had together especially during her senior photo session! She was always so good at brightening my day and finding subjects to debate over with my husband. She has such a beautiful heart and I can't wait to see her again!

Promise at 7 months

These are just a couple of pictures I took of Promise at 7 months.  I wasn't originally planning on doing this photo shoot, but my sister made this entire outfit and so of course I had to document just how adorable Promise is in it!!  She wasn't much better for me this time than at her 6 month shoot, but I did get some smiles this time around.  :)

Brian and Kristin's Wedding

I had the great privilege of photographing the wedding of a friend I have known since high school!  We had so much fun!  I absolutely loved getting to work with Kristen and meet her family, friends, and new in-laws!  I have been working on narrowing the 1,000 pictures I took down to just a few hundred to give Kristen and her new husband.  Here are a handful of some of my favorite pictures from Brian and Kristen's wedding!  (It took me quite a while to get down to these few, but I thought that these nicely represented the whole day.)  I had so much fun with these two!  They are truly blessed to have each other and I wish them the best!  They are both so awesome!! :)

This particular image stood out to me as I was going through all the pictures. I think I like this one so much because it is so simple. Kristen looks so beautiful and she didn't even pose for this because she didn't even know I took this picture!! :)

Promise at 6 months

So if you read the previous post, you know that I had some trouble with Promise during this photo session.  However, despite the tears, I managed to capture some truly precious moments with this beautiful niece of mine.  The top picture shows the best smile I was able to get from her the whole time I was with her.  The middle picture shows one of the only times I capture her without her finger in her mouth.  (She sure loves sucking on her chubby little fingers!!)  And the last picture was taken when we finally went inside and had nearly given up on Promise doing anything other than crying.  I am glad I didn't give up, because there is something that is immensely captivating about her deep, big blue eyes.  

Promise at 6 months - Behind the Scenes

This is what happens when you try to do a photo session with a baby who is 6 months old and teething.  Hahaha.  But really, there was lots of crying and not a lot of picture taking.  So eventually I decided that I should go ahead and take pictures of Promise even when she was crying.  And I think that was a good decision.  I mean, the girl is adorable when she cries!!  So I hope you enjoy these as well as the other pictures from this photo session that will be coming to this blog soon....  :)

Hannah

This is Michaela's sister, Hannah, who I photographed that same day for the same reason (but they are not twins!)  I loved working with Hannah!  She is a natural model!  She fell into the poses I wanted with basically no direction!  She had specifically asked to find a way to incorporate music into her photos because music is a big part of who she is.  So that is what we did, and I have to say, I love the results!

Michaela

This is a group of pictures from my senior photo sessions with this lovely young woman.  I have known her and her sister for many years and it was such a privilege to have the opportunity to capture this wonderful time in their lives!  The weather was beautiful!  It looks like that was the last warm, sunny day we will have this year as we get closer and closer to winter.  

I loved working with Michaela because she was totally willing to do pretty much whatever I asked her to do.  She climbed into trees, jumped over walls, and got down in the wet grass.  I had such a blast and I think she did too.  :)

Grandma

This is a picture of my Grandma who passed away a week and a half ago.  She was 94 years old.  I took this picture a couple years ago when I was engaged to be married.  I wanted to hear her story of her wedding day as I prepared for my own.  I got out her wedding album and showed it to her.  I explained to her that I was getting married in a few short months and wanted to know what she remembered of her special day.  I asked her some simple questions to get started, and then I just let her talk.  I was somewhat surprised by some of the things she remembered.  She held onto some really obscure details.  And yet there were some things that I couldn't believe she had forgotten.  It was interesting to get a different perspective on what so many people claim to be the best day of their lives.  It was also humbling to hear the various different things she made herself in order to save money.  In today's world, money is spent so frivioulsy under the idea that this is a "once in a lifetime opportunity" , though more often than not, it isn't as so many people get divorced and remarried.  My Grandma only married once and remained faithful to her husband until she was widowed nearly 20 years ago.  I hope that when I die, I will be half the woman my dear Grandma was.

These flowers are just a sample of the beautiful flower arrangements we recieved for my Grandma's Memorial service from the funeral home and many wonderful friends.  She was loved by so many and will be missed. 

afO's Prisoner of Joy and A Mighty Fortress

Prisoner of Joy and A Mighty Fortress are two more plays that all for One, Inc performed and I had the honor of photographing.  They are both short, but very worth the time and money to see.  The acting was fabulous and both productions were entertaining!  I thoroughly enjoyed these plays!

Promise at 3 Months

My BEAUTIFUL niece at 3 months!!  She was so fun to work with!  She was sick and kept spitting up as I worked, but we made it to the end with wonderful pictures and memories!!

Charcoal

I actually took this picture about 3 and a half years ago, but I haven't grown tired of seeing it yet. I don't remember what that assignment was that caused me to initially take this photograph, but I always thought it was neat that I was able to combine two projects by taking a photograph of a charcoal drawing I was also working on at the time. I had completely forgotten about this picture for about a year until I was looking for a photograph to submit to Wassenburg Art Gallery for a contest they were hosting. I stumbled across this and was caught by its simplicity mixed with rich textures. I submitted it in the Still Life category and this won first place! This was the first time I had entered anything into a contest so it was very exciting to win. And now I have this beautiful photograph hanging on my wall. :)

afO's The Beams are Creaking

I get the privilege of photographing all for One, Inc. productions each season. This is a handful of pictures from their production of The Beams Are Creaking. It was a wonderful show and I am so glad I was able to capture the special moments created on stage by the very talented actors and actresses.

Promise Elizabeth - Newborn

These are some of my favorite pictures from my first photography session with Promise!  She was so tiny she fit easily into the basket, but the basket kept wanting to wobble over.  I steadied the basket with my foot as I took the pictures.  All in all, the session went really well and it was so much fun!  She was my youngest subject ever!!

Birth of Promise

Join me in welcoming my beautiful niece, Promise!  She was born on April 26, 2013 at 8:21 pm.  She was 21 inches long and weighed 8 lbs and 5 ozs!  My sister did SO well!  I am so proud of her!!!

This is Promise being held by Mark Sr with Mark Jr watching over just a short time after birth.  And I had to include the first complete family photo!  :)

Maternity

I am very behind on this, but this is one of the pictures from my maternity photo shoot with my beautiful sister!  Her precious bundle of joy will be born soon... more pictures to come.   :)

Baby Shoes

These are a couple of pictures that were taken for various classes I took at IPFW.

These precious little shoes belong to my niece. She is way too big to fit into them now, but I found a new way to use this picture. This is now being used in honor of my sister who is having her first little girl in just 7 weeks! I am very excited for her, and I can't wait to have another niece!!

Sarah

This is my beautiful twin sister, Sarah, who has been subjected to modeling for me on many occasions. She has put up with my tired-less urge for perfection no matter what the conditions. She is such a blessing to me! :)

All of these pictures were taken to fulfill assignments I had in my classes and some of them were also entered into contests or put on display at various different locations.

This last picture was actually a mistake (flash didn't fire as expect), but the results were too beautiful.  This picture has been hung in the hallway of IPFW when I attended there as well as a couple other places.