Baby Derby Zebra | Jackson, MI Newborn Photographer

Congrats to BipolarBeatdown Barbie and Rolling Steady on their baby derby zebra!! He is seriously such a cutie and completely chill. He barely fussed the entire time I was there. AND, see that Santa hat?! I made it!! I'm finishing setting up my Etsy store, so look out for that in the near future!! 

Christmas at My House | Jackson, MI Photographer

First and foremost, I have an extreme love for Biggby Coffee. It's so incredibly tasty and their barristas are always chipper. That little jingle they have is a very true statement for me, Biggby Coffee is my happy place! If you haven't seen/heard the song here's a link to the YouTube Video.

So enough of my love for coffee because I love my two boys, Niko and Piglet way more than any cup of coffee! Plus, they truly are my favorite models to work with because they know exactly what to do when I bust out the camera. Must mean that I trained them well :) Plus, they're pretty cheap to hire cause they work for food and kisses. I had a friend of mine give me some backdrops and I haven't had the time or the room to use them yet, so the other day I was really sick of staring at a computer screen (it's the end of the semester, plus crunch time at work, plus holiday season for photography is always crazy busy) so I needed a break. I wanted to try out some fun stuff with the boys and do semi-holiday themed photos and this is what I came up with. I am totally in love with them and really want to get big metal prints of each of the boys!! I love BIG photos, I wish more people would really that they really aren't that big. My smallest photo in my house is a 5x7, but it's part of a six photo 36x26 collage and my smallest solitary photo is a 16x20 AND my walls still seem bare!!

Anyway, off my soapbox...I really like the backdrops and I can't wait to use them in the future. I have a newborn session this evening and I'm going to use a similar treatment for some of his photos.

50 Reasons NOT to Date a Photographer

I found this really funny blog post while browsing the net and thought it was hilarious enough to share with all of you.

1. They rather hold their bulky camera, than hold hands with you.
2. On a romantic date, you’ll watch the sun go down and think “Wow this is gorgeous” and they’ll go “mirror lock, tripod, and stop down f/8 at 1/125.”
3. You’ll never be able to enjoy TV, movies, or magazines because they’ll point out all the visual flaws.
4. They like to sit in obscure coffee shop and voyeuristically watch people for great lengths of time. 
5. If you’re taking a walk outside and you come across some “interesting light” they will make you sit/stand/pose in public so that they can take a photo. 
6. You’ll never get to enjoy freshly cooked meals because they’ll spend 15 minutes taking 20 variations of the same dish with their iPhone. 
7. They get angry when your friends go up to them and say “I am interested in photography, can you recommend a good camera for me? Nothing professional I just want to take pretty pictures.” 
8. You’ll wait longer for them to finish analyzing art in a museum than you’ll wait at the DVM
9. Same goes with old used bookstores. 
10. When you think they’re giving you their undivided attention, they’re really wondering how they could fix you with a little Clone Tool and Patch Tool. 
11. Or they are actually using you to not look so creepy as they people watch everything going on around you. 
12. They rather drop $1,000+ on new glass than a purse for you. 
13.  You can’t take a photo with them without taking at least five more. 
14. If you ask them if you look fat, they’ll say “don’t worry I can Photoshop you later.” 
15. They’ll never Photoshop something simple for you if the content is not up to their “standards.” 
16. That photo they randomly took of you yesterday? Good luck getting them to send it to you. 
17. They spend all their time on the computer (and not for porn.) 
18. They can’t have a normal conversation with throwing acronyms and random numbers. 
19. They still use film cameras. 
20. They spend a lot of time with people cooler than you i.e. models, actors, musicians, successful rich people.
21.  They’ll be fussy over the position of a common household object, like a coffee cup. 
22. They won’t return your calls or text messages, but you can bet they’re still posting pics on Instagram. 
23. They like watching old films that you’ve never heard or will ever understand. 
24. They like looking at weird things in general. 
25. Instead of having penis-envy, they have camera-gear-envy. 
26. If there’s a natural disaster in a far away land, they’re already on a plane going over there. 
27. Everything is watermarked. 
28. They think everyone else’s photos suck. 
29. They want to color correct a lot of scenes from Twilight and Jersey Shore. 
30. They hate rainbows, especially ones spinning in a circle. 
31. Whenever you’re in a group talking and the conversation goes deep, they’re taking notes in some form of Moleskin. 
32. They use over priced Moleskin notebooks. 
33. They like trespassing into old abandoned buildings filled with health hazards. 
34. They always want to show a new photo they took, but don’t really care if you like it or not. 
35. They hate your n00bie friend’s new artsy profile picture. 
36. Bright, sunny days make them sad, but cloudy, overcast days are apparently great! 
37. They’ll take you into places that have “culture” as well a high chance of getting mugged. 
38. Your birthday present will be a portrait that they’ve taken of you. 
39. You can’t go anywhere new without them stopping to take a photo of everything and anything. 
40. They will always bug you to be a test subject.
41.  Nothing can ever be naturally pretty, everything must be fixed in Photoshop. 
42. Bringing their camera means, bringing 50lbs of equipment. 
43. If you break any of their things on accident, you’ll owe them thousands of dollars. 
44. You can’t get them a birthday/Christmas present without spending at least $500 
45. They are natural hoarders, collecting and keeping piles of old newspapers, packaging, magazines, and other things that “inspire” them. 
46. They are weird and geeky. 
47. They have hard drives of photos, but probably have printed 10 images. 
48. They are always secretly judging your creativity. 
49. If you’re ever in auto mode, they laugh at you. 
50. They orgasm every time they learn a new lighting technique.

Derby Wifey & Her Fam | Jackson, MI Family Photographer

Family photos make me so happy and I was über excited when my derby wife asked me to photograph her family. For those of you who aren't involved in roller derby, a "derby wife" is pretty much your best friend in derby. So here she is with her brother and her daughter. Seriously you don't get cooler than this girl!!

Aww mommy & daughter :)

Becky + Ben | Jackson, MI Wedding Photographer

Halloweenie Kids | Jackson, MI Children Photographer

Seriously these two are darling! K had just turned five so mom wanted to do some photos showing how much she's grown and came up with the cute idea of the tutu and the letters. K is such a ham too, posing for every picture and being an awesome big sister to B. She was such a good helper getting B's attention and making sure he was looking super cute in his pictures. And how can you get more adorable that B and that pumpkin?! I couldn't have asked to work with better kids!!!

The Witches of Ypsilanti | Jackson, MI Photographer

Halloween is hands down my favorite holiday. I just adore everything about it, the fall weather, picking and carving pumpkins, apple cider, dressing up, and of course PHOTO SHOOTS!! Of course Taryn (ToughLove MPD) and I had to do it up right this year. We'd been wanting Bonnie to model for us for quite awhile now and we finally got the opportunity. We will definitely be working with her again because she's amazing. She's über comfortable with her body and how she moves and doing crazy looks. It's awesome!! Anyway, I'm super pleased with how these photo came out <3