I took portraits of the Hofstee family at the beach last week. It was Anna’s one year old portraits. We did some portraits of the entire family, and some of each one of the 3 kids individually. Anna just had fun playing in the sand for the first time! She wasn’t too interested in sitting for a picture! We did capture some great images of her and her brothers. Here are my two favorites…
I love the way Sam has his hand on his little sister’s back. (I didn’t even ask him to do that!) The night before I did the Hofstee family, I went to a photography workshop on beach photography in Ludington. One of the things we talked about was silhouette portraits at sunset. So, after I was done with the Hofstee family, I practiced some on my daughter. I had to make it a little fun for her!

Last week I did a senior session downtown at a railroad bridge. All summer my daughter has been telling me that she wanted to have her picture taken there too. When I told her we had a session there, she asked me if we could go early to take her picture. So, I did her first, before my senior Megan arrived. I took a few pictures, and she said she wanted them more “tippy”. She said that was “cool”. I guess a 12 year old girl knows what she wants! So, here is her favorite one.

Here is a “tippy” one of Megan. This is my favorite image from her outdoor sitting.

Yesterday I had so much fun with Kara and Ryan! It was a warm day, but a beautiful one! Kara made a beautiful bride! The church had this beautiful old door which I loved. It was my favorite part about the church. After we got Kara’s bustle fixed (long story, ask Kara if you want to know…), we had a great time taking their portraits! It did get hot outside, but everyone was good sports about it. I guess on of the groomsmen thought it was too hot, so he got out of the wedding. He and his fiance decided to have a baby instead of going to the wedding! (Just kidding… Congratulations!) Here are a few of my favorites from the special day!

Last week I did two newborn sessions. I love to do newborn sessions. The babies are so precious! It usually takes a while for the session, because babies are usually on their own time schedule. They need to eat when they get fussy, need their diaper changed, and so on. But after a session, it is amazing to look back over the images and see some beautiful portraits of the babies! Thank you to the parents for trusting me with this important time in thier babies lives!

I had some other friend photographers over this summer, and we made some new backdrops. I think between all of us, we made about 15 backdrops. We killed my grass, by dumping the salty dye water on it. I have been using some of them, and I am really liking how they look. Here are two of them that I made. One is Navy, and the other is called Havanna. I have been using them on my seniors! Here are two great seniors that I photographed, Matt and Kelsey!

We just got back from Hampton Roads, VA. My daughters had their national AAU Tumbling and Trampoling competition. First of all it was HOT! We were camping in our tent, so we didn’t have air conditioning. Luckily we spent a lot of time at the gym, were I got to take some pictures!

The first event we had was the syncro Trampoline. Alex competed with another girl on her team. They were judged seperately, and also judged on their syncornization. They did very well, and they came in second place. They were awarded a silver medal!

Angela had tumbling next. She competed at Beginer Level, and came in 6th place in the prelims. She stayed in 6th place for the finals.

Then Alex had tumbling. She competed in the Novice Level. She did VERY well! We were excited for her. She came in third in the prelims, and held her postion for the finals. She was awarded a Bronze medal!

On trampoline Alex competed Sub Advance Level. She fell at the end of her pass in the prelims, but still made it to the finals. She was 10th place after the prelims. She did a great pass in the finals, and moved up to 7th place. We were thrilled with the improvement!

Angela did very well on the trampoline at the Novice level. She did a good pass, and came in second in the prelims. But, there were only two competitors! She stayed in second place through the finals, and was awarded a silver medal.

The double mini trampoline was a sad story for Alex. She was competing against 28 girls in the Intermediate Level. She did two great passes in the prelims, scoring high nines, and was slated for first place in her prelims. On her third pass, she lost her consentration and didn’t know what to do, so she just jumped with no skills! She ended up scoring two’s on her third pass which put her in last place in her flight. She didn’t qualify for finals. That was HARD! We were so sad for her!

Angela did almost the same thing as Alex on the double-mini trampoline. She did her first pass twice. That brought her score way down, because she didn’t have all the required sills for her level. Again, there were only two competitors, so she came in second. In the finals, she did very well, but she was still too far behind from the prelims to catch up, so she remained in second. At least she got a silver medal!

We had a great week, despite the heat! The girls had fun at the competition, and had fun with their friends on the team!