Stacie & Josh are Engaged!

Stacie and Josh are getting married this October in Columbus. They booked with me last year and I can't believe how time flies! It seriously seems like last month that they were at my house with her cousin Sarah. Stacie and Sarah are cousins, their fiances are Josh and Justin, and I'm photographing both of their weddings this year. Phew! I was so embarrassed during Stacie & Josh's session. I had just photographed Sarah and Justin's Engagement Session a couple of days before and I kept calling Josh, Justin. I swear I'll get it right for on your weddings!

We met up at Metro Beach for their engagement session and the light was perfect to start off in the Nature Center. But... As we got into the trail, the mosquitoes became unbearable! I remember looking down at my legs and just seeing swarms of them. Trying to create images while getting attacked just doesn't work I learned. Stacie and Josh were trying to smile and I was trying to avoid motion blur, while swatting tons of little bloodsuckers away from us. Yeah we got out of there with a quickness!

It was such a nice relaxing session, we strolled through the park chatting and getting to know each other more and every once in a while we'd stop for some pictures. :-) Josh is currently working on his Doctorate Degree at Wayne State University and Stacie just finished up teaching classes at Saginaw Valley State University. They're such a fun couple and I know that their wedding is going to be just as cool as they are!

One of my favorites from our session.

You can see the love, the way they look at each other...

Stacie you are beau-ti-ful!

the bling!

I've been working on this shot for a while, I've always wanted to capture the sun like this. It's not perfect, but I love it just the same!

Stacie & Josh, I cannot wait for your wedding this October! Click play to see the rest of the images from their session.

Relay For Life

I felt terrible when I realized that I had not yet gotten back to Mike. He had called me back in April asking me if I might be available to take some photographs of his Relay for Life event. At the time, I honestly couldn't commit. I was scheduled to fly home from California and Escalate 2010 the day before on the red eye and I had Hannah & Alex's wedding to shoot that day! I've never flown such long distances and had no idea what to expect from the jet lag I hear people talk about.
Well, my plans changed and I ended up coming home a day earlier than I had originally thought and then I read this:

Jasmine Star Just when I think I'm stretched too thin, I realize I can give a little more to make it work. This often yields life's sweetest rewards.

I had three sessions and a wedding that would need to be worked on, but really why couldn't I take a couple of hours of my time to capture such an amazing event. Mike lost his mom to cancer several years ago and has been putting organizing a Relay for Life event for several years. I worked with Theresa at my very first job at Henry's in Algonac and with Scott's Mom battling colon cancer and having lost Scott's Dad to leukemia in 2006, I really wanted to help out.


Mike owns Mike's Comics and Games in New Baltimore and puts together an awesome tent filled with all kinds of fun things to do and games to play!



I loved their idea of how they make sure that their team has someone walking the whole time. Someone walking carried the Lightsaber, if they ever saw it at the tent, they knew that it was someone's turn to grab it and go.

These two hula-hooped all the way around the track! I have no idea how they did it, I'm clearly not that talented.

They had an area set up where you could come in and paint your own figurine too!




Outside of the tent a table was set up for someone to try to beat the Mike the game master. I love playing games and thought I'd give it a shot. I didn't end up beating him, but I came close once!




Some of Mike's vendors donated a TON of games to be raffled off in the silent auction.



The whole team. They had raised over $5000 classifying them as "Silver Team"! Congratulations!

Sarah & Justin are Engaged!

Sarah and Justin met in high school in Memphis and sometime around their Junior year their love for each other began. After high school Justin went to Ferris State while Sarah chose Saginaw Valley. Although they attended different colleges, they managed the distance between them. And now while Sarah is finishing up her last year of college, Justin is working as an Accountant.

Justin first bough Sarah's engagement ring and was planning on holding on to it waiting for the perfect moment to propose to her. Turns out that perfect moment was while they were snuggled in on the couch for a movie. Although he says he just couldn't wait, I think that's pretty perfect!

I was super excited when Sara had told me that they wanted to do their engagement session at the Rochester Hills Museum. Their session held a special sentiment for me. It's the place that Scott and I were married at 8 years ago in August and it's just as beautiful as I remembered. We even found some other areas to shoot in that I was completely unaware of!

Sarah you are gorgeous!

To see a slideshow of the rest of their images click here!

Sara and Justin, I had a great time photographing you two and getting to know you guys and I cannot wait for your wedding next month!

OP Love: Pre-Deployment

Right before I left for California I had the opportunity to document this amazing family before B is deployed later this summer. They had contacted me from the Operation: Love Reunited website. OP Love is an organization that I'm honored and proud to be a part of. It's my way of giving back to those that give so much for us. Although I don't think that what I give is even an ounce to what our military families give, I'm grateful to be able to give what I can.

Due to the rules and regulations of the Department of Defense and OP Love, I am unable to share information about these families here, but I can share a few images from our session together!

Thank you so much for everything you guys go through to protect the freedom that we all have. It's the people like you guys that really make a difference!