Sooo......

My my my......yes I know this happens all the time, I am going to keep up with my blog, blah blah blah, right?  Lately, I haven't even been checking my email regularly--in fact, I just deleted over 500 messages, very un-like me.    So real quickly, I wanted to share these adorable babies first photos--then with any luck and a break in work, I can show you her big brothers photos too.

Here she is, Miss Vayda Raelynn:



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She was such a tiny little angel. One day before she turned a month old! The whole family was here and Dad (Matt) was home on leave.
It was a very pleasant day and I really hope they fall in love with these photos as much as I have. There are many more photos to share, and it is my goal to have them done before the week is over! Keep your eyes open for new ones and If you don't see them, don't be afraid to give me a little shove!

The celebration of Life

Last Saturday morning, I posted two blogs before my husband even got out of bed. There were also promises of new abandonment photos, and I did go out and get new shots of an awesome abandoned house right near my home that I just happened to find when coming home one day.  Here is a quick preview:

and I will share more of that with you later, I promise.

This was the same Saturday that I got the call that my great grandmother passed away.  Friday my mom sent me a message telling me that she wasn't doing good, so my husband and I made the decision not to go to the boat to be home in case something happened.   When we visited the medical care on Friday night I never expected the call Saturday morning.

So, this is my great grandmother, and all I can think of is how this is affecting my grandmother, The two of them were best friends.  They did everything together and grandma took care of great grandma for almost two years up to this point.

 What I want to share with you is some of my memories to celebrate the wonderful life of this woman, my great grandmother, who had an impact on so many peoples lives.


These photos I took for her 96th birthday, which was in March. It was so funny because she was ready to have her photo taken, she got her hair combed and what not, and as soon as I put the camera away, she started laughing and putting out big ol smiles--and I missed them.

Though I have a lot of photos of her, I won't be able to share them here because they have been moved to storage, here is one that I found that we took for the birthday party the family threw for her:

This one is my favorite.

Many people don't get to have a this much of a life time with their great grandparents, I always brag that my son had the ability to spend quite a bit of time with his great great grandma, and she was just tickled by him all the time. Truly I hope that Jaden can have the sort of relationship with his grandmother's that I had with Granny Armstrong and that I have with my grandma Blake.

Last night I was trying really hard to get this blog out so that people could understand where I have been, because I haven't been very active anywhere, then I decided that I want to make this blog a "celebration of life". Many people were reminising yesteray at the dinner gathering after the funeral, and some of my favorite memories were brought back.

When I was like five or six, Granny and Gramp still had quite a few animals on the farm, and I was always so happy to stay the night there with them and get up early in the morning and go feed the animals with grandpa, one particular time, it was rainy and super muddy (much like our current weather)and I got stuck in the mud, and gramps had to pull me out of my boots and set me up on the hill to go back and get my boots out. Another time I fell and scraped my shin up (I still have a scar) on the back stairs and I remember Granny cleaning it up and getting band aids out. There was a cherry tree we used to pick cherries from. There was a strawberry patch behind the big barn. Every Saturday for many years, I would go down there and mow the lawn because Granny had asthma, when I got to old my cousin Jason took over that job.

There are so many great memories that I have and I could go on and on, and I am sure that my family has many great memories as well. Yesterday, I took my camera but I couldn't bring myself to get it out. Everything was wonderful and there was a great turn out. Thanks to everyone.  Oh and sorry if this is rambling and unorganized.

Super duper Senior PHotos

Though I have already shared Amanda's senior photos with you, I just ordered her prints.  We met up last Thursday after they went through the proof book with their family and then come to see me with their choices.  The exciting part about ordering prints for me is when that box gets here, I get to open it, and then approve those prints to leave my possession.
It is preferable for me to meet with my clients as they make their print choices and then meet with them again when the prints arrive to make sure that they are happy with them, because even though it's all about the photos in this business, it's also all about customer service, I want happy customers!

When I originally took Amanda's photos, she was sure she wanted something different and she wanted more than one location with her number one location being in the Graffiti Alley up in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  They had me at different!  I love making different!  Then we froze our butts off in the snow getting her some more different photos around our home town of Hillsdale, and we also had tons of fun!

The prints arrived here Tuesday, and let me tell you, The were GREAT!  If I loved them this much , I am sure Sue and Mandie were going love them.  So for two days I had to wait for my meeting with Sue, and when she arrived I showed her the wallets first and I have never had anyone so happy!  She ordered an 11X14 of:


and I am pretty sure that she was ready to cry with happiness. If only all my customers could be this happy. I mean I am sure going to get them the same results and make sure they are happy with their final result before they leave my care......
Here are some of my favorites from her shoot:






They also hired me to make their open house invitations which I will share at a later time but this is the idea of a previous open house invitations:

and I love making these so if you are interested please send me a message!

One eyed flying purple people eater--No it was a Dog!

A few weeks ago Shelly said, "I would really like a new profile photo for my facebook page, Oh and I want my dog too". Can you guess what I said? I said sure!!! The only problem was, with my dogs I didn't want to bring her here to the studio. We choose the Arboratium--even though dogs are a no no--the flowers were just blooming and the trees were covered in blooms and the weather was great!





I had to get a close up of Annabella because she had the cutest under-bite--and she had decided that she was not going to make this an easy task for me.
Though there were many more photos from this session, this one was Shelly's favorite in the end.

It's such a cute little snuggling photo!

It was an isty bitsy teeny weeny

Here is a funny thing:  I have been avoiding my blog.  With the weather changing, kind of, things get pretty busy around here.  The lawn mowing company gets really busy in the month of April.  Since I hurt my back two months ago, I have not been able to join the mowing crew, but I have been able to take photos.

Oh Yeah, I published a book with all my photographs from the "Abandonment" series, it can be seen and purchased at:  https://www.createspace.com/3445352 it will be on Amazon soon too.  This is pretty awesome stuff for me.  Even if no one buys a copy I can say I have a book published!  Oh enter 9X4CAHND for a special discount!  Here is a couple of ones that are in the book, but I can't give them all away!!




Marilyn and Bill got married last weekend, we squeezed in some engagement photos before they got married:





For those of you that don't know Marilyn is my mother-in-law, as well as one of my women of abandonment and my partner in crime when I am I hunting down places to add to the abandonment series!

Yes, it's short, but I am going to tie a string around my finger to remember to post a new blog really SOON!! Maybe tomorrow night!

The "Women of Abandonment" II

More recently I told everyone of my "Women of Abandonment" project. This last saturday I got my all time wish. As I progressed further into photography, and became more experienced with photoshop and forums, I started to learn about "trash the dress". This is where a bride goes out after the wedding and, well trashes the dress. Now, I truly believe you can "trash the dress" with out actually trashing it, and you do this right before you go to the cleaner. Anyway, I wanted to photograph a "trash the dress" session so badly. Unable to find a bride willing, I thought well what if it was just a trash any dress? This is how "Women of Abandonment" came along. Well last weekend, I got my wish. Kris said she wanted to be involved in my project and she said I want to wear my wedding dress! OH MY, I couldn't wait for Saturday, and I had the perfect place:








The weather wasn't very cooperative, it was a beautiful day, 70 degrees and as I got to closer to the place the rain started pouring down, the temperature dropped down to 55, and it continued this way until we were ready to leave.

The place is an abandoned dairy farm that I had already photographed, but I haven't been able to share the photos yet. There are many more photos from this adventure, but I have been so excited I had to share what I had completed.

The "Women of Abaondonment"

Well, here are some of the photos from the photo shoot on Saturday. This was a total blast, and I really hope that I get to do this again soon.

Here they are:





I have to tell you that this photo makes me think that her head may spin around, and if you had been behind the scenes, you would have been laughing because Lori was having a hard time being serious!














When I get the rest finished, I will share.