This week is the Junior Olympic tumbling and trampoline national meet.  My daughters Alex and Angela are competing in it.  So far, things are going very well!  Yesterday Angela competed on the trampoline.  She did very well, and came in third in her flight.  She made it into finals in 4th Place.  The top 10 kids in each event will move on to finals.  She will have her finals on Saturday.  Here is Angela on the trampoline…

And look how happy she is that she placed third!
Next was Alex on her double mini.  She did very well also!  She placed 2nd in her flight, and she also made it into finals in 3rd place.  Her double mini finals are tomorrow.


Then Alex had Syncro trampoline.  This is where they have a partner, and they have to do their trampoline pass exactly the same.  Well…. lets just say they had fun….
Then, Angela had the double mini.  She did very well again, and the competition was TOUGH!  Everyone was almost flawless.  She did come in 4th in her flight, and will be going to finals in 8th place.  We were getting nervous as each girl went… the competition was so tight!

Then, today Alex competed on the trampoline.  She did VERY well in trampoline, and tied for first place!  She still has to do finals on Saturday, hopefully she can keep her spot.  The score is so tight, that there is only .5 difference in the top 5 spots.  So, it could be any body’s game in finals yet!

Tomorrow, both girls will compete on the floor, and Alex will have her double mini finals.  Then on Saturday, they will both have floor finals if they make it to the finals, and they both will have Trampoline finals.  Angela will also have double mini finals.  Hopefully I’ll have good news to report!

This weekend was Professional Photographers of America’s International Print Competition.  This is the big one that I have been preparing for.  I have entered the local, state, and regional print competitions, and now this was the final competition.  Well, I am proud to say that I am more than thrilled with the results.  It was better than I dreamed!  I had two prints that merited in the General Collection  One print made the Loan Collection.  This is one of the highest awards you can achieve in print competition.  Here are some statistics from PPA…

Last week I did Rob and Sheri’s engagement session at Holland State Park. It was a beautiful night, but cloudy. As I was driving out to the beach, I kept looking at the sky, and wondering if there was going to be a sunset. The diffused lighting from the clouds was beautiful!

Well, we were about done with the session, and I was looking at the sky, and I thought there would be no chance of a sunset. So, I told Rob and Sheri that I thought we were done. Sheri was a little disappointed, because she really wanted sunset pictures… but what could we do? So, we took a couple more and said goodbye.
As I was walking back to my car… I saw someone I knew, and I started talking to them. After talking for a little bit, I kept walking, and when I got to the car I couldn’t believe my eyes… the sun broke through the clouds! The sky turned beautiful! I started frantically looking around the parking lot to see if I could find Rob and Sheri. I tried to call both their cell phones to see if they were still at the beach, but neither one answered. (The weren’t getting reception.) So, as a last effort, I started to walk to where I had seen them last, and low and behold I saw Rob! He was running toward a high sand dune to try and get reception on his phone to call me! Well, we ran to the edge of the watter, and got some awesome sunset pictures! Sheri was so excited! It was a great end to a beautiful evening!

Thanks Rob and Sheri!

Last week Aaron came for his senor pictures. I had some fun with his football stuff! I always like the outdoor pictures MUCH better than indoors. I think seniors are usually more relaxed outdoors. Aaron was no exception, because we got some AWESOME images outdoors! We went downtown, and then to the beach. I decided if I am going to keep doing downtown sessions, I had better practice up on my parallel parking…. I hate to parallel park, and that is what I have to do downtown. We even had a little help that night with some guidance, right Aaron?


Thanks Aaron for a fun night! I hope you had fun at the cottage!

And then… just when we thought we were done, Collin’s mom said how he looks good in blue. She said that his eyes are blue, and it makes his eyes stand out. So, we quick set up this… and it is my FAVORITE shot!

Kailyn is such a beautiful girl, and we had a great session this week! (Although, I need to learn not to schedule downtown sessions when there is blues on the mall going on! It is hard to find parking then!) Here are some of my favorites!

Look at this Rim light! I just about jumped for joy when I saw this… OK, I really am a photography geek if I get excited about rim light! (Rim light is the light that is coming from behind her, making her “glow”… this is good in a photographers eyes!)
We also went to the beach… it was a little windy, but we hid behind the dune for most of the session, and came out just in time for the sunset!

We had to try this jumping shot in the sunset!
Thanks Kailyn! I had a riot with you!

Margo just turned one! So, we decided to do a session before she moved to New York this weekend. I was so glad to see her before she left! We did an outdoor session at Spring Grove Park in Jamestown. Margo wasn’t too excited to sit or stand on the ground. I don’t think she liked the feel of the grass or dirt on her skin. But, with a little patience, we got some adorable images of her!
Every time we would put her hat on, she would pull it off! It was so cute!

We took a few of Jackson her brother too… Boys will be boys, because he really wasn’t too interested in getting his picture taken, he wanted to climb this tree! and this one….
Thanks for letting me photograph you guys before you left!

Natalie is so gooooooood, and is always full of smiles!  We did her 3 year old session this week at her house.  Her mom and dad are wonderful gardeners, so we took advantage of the beautiful perennials.  Natalie had fun watering them!

Their house has such character, I couldn’t resist showing a little bit of it off!

While I am catching up on editing some sessions, I thought I’d show a few pics for Jon Ball Zoo.  Our PPWM group had a family picnic and outing at the zoo this past weekend.  Here are some pics I took!

Here is my friend Lisa Lenderink and her two boys!

Heather called me last week and asked if I would be willing to do some portraits of her for publicity for Mrs Grand Rapids 2008. I said of course! We had a great time yesterday. She needed some head shots for printing in the newspaper and the pageant magazines, and for whatever publicity things she would need them for. Here are a few of my favorites! We did some serious ones… Of course we had to show off her sash on them!

Then we did some playful ones!
And a few that looked a little more elegant.

Thanks for a fun afternoon Heather! Congratulations on your winning Mrs. Grand Rapids, and I wish you luck for Mrs. Michigan!