Photo Shoot: Shantel & Adrien

I am super excited... my little sister moved from Minnesota here to Michigan for college. This has been a dream of hers since she was a little girl... and her dream has finally come true. Even though it is her dream and she absolutely loves Michigan, it was a little tough... Adrien, her boyfriend of two years, is still back in Minnesota. They miss each other but Shantel is having the time of her life at college and is truly happy. Shantel and I have always been extremely close, so her moving here is a dream come true for me as well. I love that I get to see her every few weeks... time with her is precious. Adrien came with Shantel to move her into her dorm, so I offered to do a photo shoot of them the week before she moved in. While Adrien wasn't too keen on the whole thing (or the city), I did get some great shots! :)

My favorite....

And the rest....

Grace: Senior Photo Shoot

I had the amazing opportunity to photograph a co-worker's daughters senior photos! I will admit, I was a bit nervous because this was truly my very first shoot (for non-family members). My nerves were quickly put to rest and I had a blast!! Grace was a natural... and absolutely beautiful, which makes the job super easy!! Just a couple of my favorites....

Photo Shoot: Sheena & Ella

When we were in Minnesota over Memorial weekend, I also did a little photoshoot of Sheena and Ella! As you can tell by the slideshow below, Ella was totally loving having the spotlight on her! :) Probably two of my favorite images of her....

Mother/Son & Father/Daughter Dance

Our dear friends, Rick and Jamie, attended the father/daughter and mother/son dance with their twins, Grant and Allana, this past Friday night, so I offered to snap a few pictures of them. I don't really like how they turned out (I could have been way more creative with posing them) but they are ok for taking some quick snapshots. Thankfully they are a super adorable family, so that totally makes up for the lack of interesting-ness. :)


And Allana wanted a picture with her mommy!

Mother's Day Photo Shoot at Olds Manor (Rowe Hotel) Grand Rapids, MI

So last Sunday was Mother's Day, and I told Michael and Grace that the only thing I wanted was for them to let me take their photos without complaint. Grace really doesn't complain.... in fact, she was great at posing for me. But Michael wasn't all that into it which was completely expected. He's a (nearly) 15-year-old teenager. I've accepted the fact that most pictures of him at this age will not include a smile on his face. It's ok.... really. And they weren't too keen on the idea of having a photograph together! Oh well.

So I knew exactly where I wanted to take them! There is an AMAZINGLY cool old building in downtown Grand Rapids..... this building is urban decay at it's finest (or maybe it's worst??)! Olds Manor has the best architecture! Rusted flag poles, faces sculpted on the sides of the building, broken lights and a touch of graffiti added... wow. I am totally fascinated with this building. The kids and I had a great time peeking in the windows... oh how I'd love to get in there to photograph it! It was built in the late 1800's and first opened as the Rowe Hotel, later turning into an old folks home called Olds Manor. I am not sure when it closed, but this building is now slowing falling apart. It's actually quite sad that it's fate is not yet known. I did get some great shots of the kids, which I am so thankful for. And I got some shots of various parts of the building. I do want to go back and photograph it some more... seriously cool, in a very creepy way!












And these next two were taken next to Olds Manor at the post office. Grace loved this ginormous ramp that the postal cars drive on!

Getting a teenage boy.....

.....to take a picture is like finding a needle in a haystack. A very difficult thing to accomplish.... if not, impossible.

But, Michael let me take... oh about five pictures. That's it.

Light of my Life!

This week at Jessica Sprague, we given a creative assignment with the theme of "Light of My Life" and were challenged to use backlighting. Grace is definitely a light of my life! I don't know what I'd do without her.... she's an amazing girl (well, pre-teen). She had just got her hair cut and the sun was shining so beautiful today, it fit perfect with this week's creative challenge!

Portrait Photography

Thanks to my friend, Amy, for being a willing participant for me to practice portrait photography on. You are beautiful!