A girl, her camera...and this?

Pinch me I must be dreaming! Seems like a good reason to buy some fancy new gear don't you think? I think the 16-35mm f/2.8L that has been sitting in my B&H shopping cart for months needs a new home ;-)

Evan

I have been blessed with the opportunity to meet many wonderful families with some sort of link to Beaumont Hospital through a series of referrals. There was a local billboard for the hospital that said "Do you have a Beaumont Doctor?" and my husband and I joke there should be a billboard with me on it that says, "Do you have the Beaumont Photographer?" Okay, so maybe we have a strange sense of humor!

Anyway, little Evan was such a good sport today and so were his parents. I have said this before, but the parents of the children I photograph really play a big role in making the sessions a success. Big thanks to this entire family for "playing along".

Here are my favorites from the session. Enjoy your sneak peek!

Little Isabel

It was such fun to see one of my previous wedding clients from over two years ago today and photograph their new little bundle of joy, Isabel. She was so tiny and precious. A perfect mix of her parents.

Here are some of my favorites. I hope you guys enjoy the sneak peek!

Melt

So about a week or so ago, I was doing a portrait session and my husband was watching our son. I called him on my way home and we decided to meet at one of our local coney island joints for a late dinner. When I walked in the restaurant, I saw my husband on the opposite side of the restaurant over a row of high booths running through the middle of the room. No read-headed trouble maker to be seen...hmmm. As I turned the corner down the aisle in which my husband was seated, I looked down and there he was...the LLOML (little love of my life), running down the aisle with 24 roses in his arms that were as big as he was. I teared up and looked around and everyone in the restaurant was smiling. It was so cute, I wish I could have had someone taking pictures of the sequence of events as they happened. No such luck....So instead, we "restaged" it when we got home. Not quite the same impact, but you get the idea.

My husband swears the flowers were my son's idea, but I am not sure I am convinced. I love the two men in my life...they are so good to me!

Dan + Taylor

Happy Birthday Dan!

Caroline - The Slideshow

You might remember a few pictures of little Caroline a few days ago. My sister-in-law and I secretly did a session with Caroline while her parents were away as a birthday present for Caroline's mom. We also did a few snapshots when they picked her up so they didn't suspect anything. Click on the title of this post to see a few pictures from both sessions.

Dan - The Slideshow

Click on the title of this post to see Dan's slideshow from his senior session. The last couple pictures are rated PG-13, so consider yourself warned.

Donelle + Joe

Saturday was a fun day second shooting for my friend Abby! Joe and Donelle had a beautiful ceremony in Auburn Hills and then a lovely reception at the Royal Park Hotel in Rochester.


This picture makes me smile...I am sure he is praying.




I loved the flowers.

Donelle's grandfather's cuff-links.


Some pictures outside of the Royal Park Hotel.
An off angle of one of Abby's shots.


The Grand Entrance.
First Dances.



A few reception details. A guest suggested I take this shot ;-)



The band really kept the guests on the dance floor!The "guest" solos during Sweet Caroline were hilarious!
The happy couple. Congrats Joe and Donelle! Thanks for the fun Abby!

Dan + A note about email

Wow! It has been a busy weekend. A wedding with my friend Abby and a senior session with one of my favorite people, Dan, and a trip to visit my parents. We have not had internet service since Friday (I haven't been near a computer since then anyway.) and upon opening my email in-boxes (from a couple different addresses)...I have about 50+ emails to wade through. Who knew I was so popular! It's probably all spam ;-) I may not get through them all tonight so please be patient with me and I will get back to everyone as soon as possible.

Thanks to my husband for helping me on this session! Not only do I like spending time with you...but you're a pretty awesome photographer too!

Hope you like your sneak peek Dan! Sorry ladies, he's already taken.

Drew - The Slideshow

Here's a short slideshow from Drew's senior session. Click on the post title to view it.

Drew

I had the pleasure of hanging out with Drew today for his senior pictures. He is such a cool guy with a lot of talents and interests including lacrosse and music. He even played a few tunes for me along the way. That was Green Day one of the times, right Drew?

I hope you enjoy seeing a sneak peek at some of my favorites...okay, almost all of my favorites.

p.s. There are a few (and I mean a few) pictures with Drew smiling. It really wasn't his thing and well, I try to capture people's true personalities when I photograph them.







Okay, okay, one kind of "traditional" one.

Cute Cube Collage

Okay they are squares, not cubes, but my husband and son were playing the letter game today and trying to use as many "P" words as possible, so my brain is stuck in game mode.

I guess tomorrow the letter of the day will be "C" in honor of this post.

Just playing around with a cute little collage...when I should be sleeping instead!

What do you think? Are the color blocks too much? Names or no names?

Amy + Shawn - The slideshow

Still goofing with my slideshow program, so here's a little show of Amy and Shawn's engagement session. Click the title of this post to view it.

Dani, Carter + Brody - The slideshow

I don't usually do slideshows for my portrait sessions, but I was fiddling with some different stuff in the software and figured as long as I spent the time on it, why not post it!

Click on the title of this post to see it!

What is a post without a picture, right? I love this picture of Carter and his Bubbie (I hope I spelled that right!).

On a happier note!

Oh how little Miss Caroline has grown! Seeing her cute smiles ALMOST made me want another baby...and that is saying A LOT!

9/11

I'm not very good with words, but it's impossible to let today pass by without saying something about those people who lost their lives 6 years ago today and their families and friends who have to live with such a tragic loss. Thinking about it brings me back to the exact moment I walked into a patient room because the person in the room was screaming and I thought she was in pain. Well, she was in pain but not for herself but for those she was watching on TV. I looked back out in the normally busy, bustling hallway of the med-surg floor and it was silent except for the news reports you could hear from televisions throughout the unit.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by 9/11.

Amy + Shawn

Amy and Shawn are such an adorable couple and I can't wait to share their wedding day with them next summer. We had fun (at least I did) roaming around town to some familiar spots and some new spots for me. Amy and Shawn made quite a trek to do the session and I really appreciated their willingness to try some different stuff. I think it paid off!

I always feel a little bad for the guys at these sessions. I can almost feel the "are we done yet"! Shawn was a trooper although I had to laugh when he told me to walk back to the car with my eyes closed so I wouldn't find anything else and say, "Let's try one more thing over here!"

Here's your sneak peek guys! I hope you enjoy them.

I love this shot. I know most people think that engagement photographs should have two people's faces in them, but I love the sense of togetherness in this shot even though you can't see Shawn's face.



Maybe I read too much into things but I think this is such a perfect engagement photo. The silhouette in stark contrast to the bright sun that kind of joins them together, the converging street lines drawing your eyes to them as a couple and more of a fluke than anything, the two green lights on either side of them as if this couple is ready to go forward together. (Okay, maybe I need more sleep, but that is what I see.)


No, Shawn is not a professional basketball player or Olympic gymnast, but man can he jump!


A few that their parents can put in frames.


I don't know what he whispered in her ear but it got her to smile just like I wanted!

Dani, Carter + Brody

I had a wonderful time hanging out with three super cute kids today. The group shots with young children are always a challenge but I seem to have better luck with individual shots of each child that would look awesome in a gallery collage of them all.

I was going to try and pick my favorite shot of each child to post, for a total of three, but how can you stop at just three when these children are your subjects!

This is my favorite shot of the three of them together.


Okay, I am partial to redheads as most of your know, my redhead to be specific, but this little readhead, Brody made me melt. (Don't tell my son!)


And of course, Carter was a charmer too! He demonstrated today why I suggest never putting your camera completely away when the session is over. I probably had the fewest individual shots of him when we finished, but as I was packing up, he seemed to warm up to me.

Well, "warming up" is a relative term!


I became a little "cooler" when I knew who Thomas and Percy were...thanks to my son!


This shot gave me more reasons to give my husband why we need granite counter tops. Cool reflections!Then there was Miss Photogenic...Dani.

Further proving the case for granite.


A few shots outside.

They wanted a picture of her baby teeth since one was wiggly and on its way out!

I love this one of Dani and her favorite book. She recapped the whole story to me, it was great!

The men of the house.

And the ladies!
Thanks for sharing your afternoon with me! I hope you guys enjoy the sneak peek!

His best friend

Tonight my husband was on-call at the hospital overnight so my mom, dad, son and I went to visit him and take him some "non-cafeteria" food. My son was so excited to see his dada as usual and we said our good-byes just like usual. But in the parking garage, my son (who never cuddles or sits still for a minute) put his head on my shoulder and curled it down against my chest as I was carrying him and didn't pick it back up for a couple minutes. This has only happened when he is REALLY sick or pretty scared of something around him and neither was the case this time.

My parents looked at me wondering what was going on as they knew this was out of character for him. I just stood outside the car holding him and asked him what was wrong even though he is too young to tell me clearly. I suggested a couple things that didn't seem to affect his demeanor and then I said "Are you sad daddy's not here?". It was my only question that generated a response from him. "Do you miss daddy?" With his head still down, he nodded. I told him it was okay to be sad, reminded him how much his daddy loved him and promised him he would be home to see him tomorrow. He picked up his head and said, "K mama, k" and wiggled his way out of my arms to get in his car seat.

He loves his dad and who can blame him, he is the best husband to me and father to his son!

Just a couple more from the holiday weekend!