Trashing the Dress!

It all started as a lesson on using lighting for portraits. If you've seen me shoot, you know that I like natural light and rarely use flash unless I have to. So when Keith Emerich offered me a little lighting workshop in exchange for my helping him with an album design, I jumped at the chance. I love helping others and I love to learn new things and I think that is what helps keep me fresh and on my game.

Since I'm a portrait photographer we wanted to include some models for our shoot. I had originally posted the request on facebook, but then we were rained out. But I loved the response that I got and can't wait to offer something like this again. Then Jola and Stephanie both contacted me about doing a Trash the Dress session, so instead we had two brides! Cynthia from Magic Touch Salon jumped on board and offered to do the girls' hair and makeup and I was even more excited! So I thought why not try the power of facebook and try to find a florist and low and behold one of my best friend's happened to know Andrea of Andrea's Gifts and Florist and she agreed to make a couple of bouquets to use. I love the power of networking!

We decided on holding the shoot at Metro Beach, so that we could have a little nature and some beach and water shots. It was a beautiful day!

These are the bouquets that Andrea had made for us and she did an amazing job! I literally didn't get in touch with her until the morning of the shoot and when I called I was in no way expecting her to be able to deliver even one bouquet, let alone two! But she came through with such short notice and did an absolutely beautiful job. I really can't wait to work with her more and to my brides reading this, you must check her out! Her Clinton Township store is so bright and cheery, you'll automatically feel happy just walking in there.

This was one of our first images of the day and I have to say, I love the way the flash totally warmed the shot. Keith had shown me how to use some gels for my flashes, and I loved the results!



I was so surprised that Jola was so willing to "trash" her dress as she will be wearing it again for her wedding in Albania. You may remember Jola as one of my brides from last year. Unfortunately her parents were unable to attend and so they are planning another wedding this year with her parents! I keep telling her that I'm available to travel... :-)



Stephanie works for JD Entertainment and I met her and John last fall at the Andiamo Bridal Show. They're a great DJ and Video company and I'm excited to be working with such great vendors!





As we were coming out of the nature trail there was all of these deer just grazing away!



Being that I'm a little short, I couldn't quite get both of the girls in the shot, so Keith stepped in for me. Keith's like 2 feet taller than me so he had no problem!

Cynthia did such an amazing job on the girl's make up and hair! Brides, this is the reason to hire a professional for your wedding day. It makes such a big difference in your pictures!

At this point it was starting to get a little chilly as the sun began to set, but Stephanie and Jola were major troopers!





By the time we actually made it to the beach the sun had pretty much set and I love the shades of blue it brought with it!








Thank you so much to everyone that played such a big role in this shoot! Thank you Keith for teaching me your "secrets", Cynthia for the stunning job on the girls make-up and hair, Andrea for the amazing flowers and of course Stephanie and Jola for being our models for the day! It was an amazing time and I could have stayed out there forever!

One of the things that I loved the most about this was the opportunity to network with some great vendors and I'm looking forward to working with them in the future!

Here's a little slideshow of the rest of our images

Meet the Lang Family

Last week I had the opportunity to meet and photograph this wonderful family. Jeff is in my BNI group with Comforting Hands Companion Care and I was super excited when he asked me to come take some family portraits. The whole family was going to be together for his niece Eva's birthday, so they all agreed that it would be a perfect opportunity.

The entire family was so welcoming and made me feel right at home. They are all just really good people. Thank you Jeff for choosing me to photograph your family!

Jeff has 4 sisters, so I can only imagine what that was like growing up!

And 9 nieces and nephews! How fun to have so many cousins to play with!

What proud grandparents!

These two had me laughing, can you believe they're early 90s? Looking good!

Another favorite from the day!

Too see the rest of the images from our session click below for the slideshow!

Halle's 1st Communion

We've been quite fortunate with great weather and when I met up with Cynthia and her daughter Halle, it was yet another gorgeous day. Of course in typical Michigan fashion, the temps have fallen and there's even been snow flurries! But I'm glad to have been able to enjoy the weather with my camera when we had it.

Cynthia is my hair stylist and the owner of Magic Touch Salon, and I couldn't have been happier when she asked if I would take her daughter Halle's 1st Communion pictures. Here's a few of my favorites!

We started off at their house and then decided to head over to their church for more shooting time.

Halle's seriously a doll! And 100% girl! She was so easy to photograph.









Halle loved being in front of the camera, maybe a model in our future?

And of course we had to have a little fun!

Thank you Cynthia for choosing me to capture this moment in life for you and Halle!

Here's a slideshow with the rest of the images from our session for your viewing pleasure.

Meet the Popiel Siblings!

We had quite a little heat wave here in Michigan right before Easter. It was gorgeous with record breaking temperatures, so when Marianne called me asking me if I could "squeeze" in her boss' children for a session Good Friday, you know I was down!

We met up that morning at Ford Field in Dearborn. I can't believe that I worked so closely to it for so many years and never even knew it existed! And now I've had the opportunity to shoot there quite a few times in the last couple of months. It's a beautiful park with lots of willow trees, a beautiful little pond and an awesome covered bridge! What I love the most about revisiting shooting locations is finding different and unique spots for portraits. This park has so much to offer and I know when I'm there for my next session there in October with an OP Love client. Of course, if I have to visit it before then, you know I'm gonna love it!

I have to say that I was a little nervous when I first learned of their ages. I'm used to photographing the little ones. You know the kids that are at the age when everything is funny. All you have to do is ask them a silly question, like "Does Mommy wear diapers?" and they laugh like it's the funniest thing they've ever heard. Teenagers on the other hand, I don't think I'm nearly cool enough for. But this group was so laid back and easy to work with, thank you Maggie, Nick, Sydney and Tommy for making my job so easy!

And here they are from left to right, Maggie, Tommy, Sydney and Nick!

Tommy's in the 8th grade and I can totally picture him being the star of the football or track team in high school.

This is Sydney, she's absolutely beautiful and I'm sure rocking out her sophomore year!

Maggie's in her second year at Western, and it was her idea to get everyone together for a portrait session while she was home from college for the weekend. What an awesome big sister with such a big heart!

Nick's finishing up his senior year of High School and then in the fall he's off to MSU!

I love it when people include their pets in their family session. They're such a big part of our lives and they deserve to be photographed too!

Annette asked if I wouldn't mind capturing a few images of Nick for his senior pictures too. Here's a few of my favorites!

Thank you Annette, Maggie, Nick, Sydney and Tommy for letting me photograph your family! It was so nice to meet all of you!