I was very flattered by Laird’s parents. They are moving to Minnesota, and they wanted me to take Laird’s 6 month portraits before they left. I did Laird’s newborn and three month portraits too. Well, we scheduled Laird’s 6 month portraits on the DAY THEY WERE MOVING! Yes, the day they were moving. His session was at 9:00 am, and the moving truck was packed and ready to go. Lairds dad was driving the truck and him and his mom were flying out at 2:00. I thought they were crazy, scheduling this for the day they were moving, but they wanted me to do his 6 month portraits! Thank you for the compliment!

I loved Laird’s cowboy hat! I think it was sooo cute! Another thing was he couldn’t keep his hands out of his mouth. I think that just shows his personality and his age! It says that he was teething at this time in his life. I think it adds to the reality of the portrait! Thank you Jenifer and Eric, and I hope you can come back to town to visit and get some more portraits!

Natalie was a little shy when she came over. I think kids who are 15 months-30 months are the hardest to photograph. Even though Natalie was a little shy, we got her to warm up soon after she arrived. She didn’t want her mom to be too far away though. If fact, in a few of the images I had to remove her mom out of the edge of the image! Natalie was a sweet little girl who was full of smiles when we played! Here are a few favorites!

Monday evening we had a PPWM (Professional Photographers of West Michigan) meeting in Ludington. It was the perfect night for it! We had a Photo Safari with Todd and Brad Reed. Todd and Brad are nature photographers in the Ludington area who have an absolutely beautiful Gallery and have published books. Right now they are currently working on a book of the Ludington State Park. Here is a picture of Todd, teaching us. Here we are taking advantage of the beautiful evening light, photographing from the bridge right before you drive into the State Park. Pictured are Terri Gillis and Rob Alway.

We were blessed to see this deer! Later we witnessed a fawn nursing from her mother. By that time it was too dark to get a good image. The image of this child is timeless. We were commenting on how he looked like he could have been Huck Finn…

And now, here are some of the evening’s images.

OK, this is just a quick post… here is Chuck and Sandy’s slide show! Enjoy!

On Saturday I had the honor of photographing a wedding for a wonderful couple, Chuck and Sandy. Their day was absolutely beautiful, just like their love for each other. Their children introduced them, and it didn’t take long for them to realize that this was something special. I had a wonderful day with Chuck and Sandy and their families. Here are some of the hi lights from their day! I’ll post their slide show tomorrow!

Of course I had to try out my new fisheye lens!

Their reception was at the Frederik Meijer Gardens. It was beautiful!

I loved their cake too. The flowers on top made if look very elegant.

Congratulations Chuck and Sandy!

I guess you can consider me a photography geek! I love to play with anything photography related. My assistant Matt and I were at a wedding last night, and we were playing with my new fisheye lens while we were eating. He was having as much fun as I was I think… He pulled this face and said “Take a picture of me!” So, this is the result! I think the people that we were sitting with must have thought we were a little weird! Thanks for the fun Matt!

I love new photography toys, and that is what I bought today… a new toy. (An expensive toy… but a toy no less.) I bought a fish eye lens. I have thought they were fun since I first learned about them about 5 years ago. So, tonight I finally bought one. This lens lets you get an incredibly wide angle view. When you are close to something, it distorts it. Bad for landscape photographers… fun for wedding and portrait photographers! So, here is my first image with my new lens… (well, not the first, I didn’t think you wanted to see a picture of the guy at the camera store!)

This morning I did the portraits for miss Pre-Teen of Grand Rapids. She was awarded this title at last years pageant. I have done Izabella’s portraits, and I love to do them! She is so beautiful. As she is growing older, she is becoming more and more beautiful. Here are some of my favorites from today’s session.

I had a bride call me the other day, and asked what I had open for the summer of 2008. She was positive she wanted to have me for her photographer, and she wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be booked on the day she scheduled her wedding. I had done her sisters wedding in 2006. That made me feel great! Most of the times brides pick and date, then contact me to see if I am open. I have had a couple of brides change the date to accommodate me, but most of the time if I am booked, they look for another photographer. The date they had already scheduled was more important. I love the fact that this bride felt that my photography was so important, that she was willing to work her date around my schedule. I can’t wait to do her wedding!

This weekend I did Pam and Joe’s engagement session at Holland State Park. We were hoping for some sunset images, but there was no colorful sunset. That didn’t stop us from getting some awesome images! Pam and Joe were so much fun… we figured out that Joe must have been a model in his previous life (right Joe?) They also brought along their daughter Hannah for a couple family portraits. The problem was that Hannah didn’t like the sand, so she cried a lot. Even when we would hold her off the sand, she would look at it and cry! So, we had to be creative with a couple with Hannah!