Belize Trip

I’ve been home a week from my trip to Belize with Highland Park Church youth group and Experience Mission and couldn’t wait to start editing my photos. I’ve been on several mission trips in my life and always enjoy traveling to new countries and learning about their culture. However, this was the first time I had no other job aside from photography. I am so grateful for the opportunity to spend a week with some wonderful people doing things like exploring Mayan ruins, building an addition on a church, and snorkeling in the Caribbean Sea! Here are some of my favorite pictures :)

YMCA Dance Recital

For the last three years I have been a participant in the YMCA’s annual spring dance recital and though I was not a dancer this year I was still asked to attend the dress rehearsal and take some photos of the kids on stage! Little kids dancing on stage are so cute and I love watching the results of their hard work. Plus, the instructors deserve so much credit for not only choreographing and teaching the kids but also creating their own dance which they showcased at the end of the program. Here are some of my favorite photos from the dress rehearsal day!

Jasmine & Deion's Wedding

In March I kicked off the 2019 wedding season with Jasmine and Deion’s special day! It was a beautiful sunny (yet cold) early spring day and the whole wedding party was willing to brave the cold air to take some photos outside. Their ceremony was held at Kentwood Community Church and the reception at the beautiful Stonewater Country Club. It was my first time at Stonewater Country club and I always enjoy seeing new wedding locations around my own city! Congratulations Jasmine and Deion, thanks for letting me be a part of your wedding - enjoy this preview of your photos!

Baby Olive

Spring has finally arrived in west Michigan and what better way to celebrate then a photo shoot with a baby! Olive turned 3 months old last Saturday and we had been talking about getting pictures since before she was born so I’m glad we finally made it happen. Olive is such a sweet baby and she gave us lots of fun facial expressions (in between naps and feedings)! Here are some of my favorites from the session

Foley/ Johnston Family

I first photographed this family back in 2014 when there was only one grand kid and since then have continued to take pictures for the Johnston half as they’ve grown but it was so fun to have the opportunity to photograph the entire family again. After a couple minutes of smiling for pictures the kids were ready to play! I have to admit this is the first family who has ever asked me to take photos of their kids sledding and it was tons of fun to capture the kids faces as they went down the hill. Here are some of my favorites from their session :)

Rozema Family

There’s something special about getting to photograph the same people over the course of many years. Back in 2014 I met Melissa and Rob when I took their engagement photos, then I photographed their wedding in 2015 so I was excited when they asked if I’d take family pictures of them this winter with their two year old son and their daughter on the way! One perk of taking pictures in the winter is that we don’t have to deal with tons of other people around. Plus, the snow is so pretty :) Here are some of my favorites from their session.

Jess & Sid's Engagement

Jess and Sid were hoping for snow for their engagement photos, but Michigan was not cooperating in December or early January (although now, two weeks later, we have plenty of snow)! They wanted pictures in front of the public museum where they got engaged and at the blue bridge which are some of my favorite places in Grand Rapids as well. Despite the cold weather Jess and Sid laughed a lot and we all had a good time, I can’t wait for their wedding in September!

Jasmine & Deion's engagement

Jasmine and Deion were my first engagement session of 2019 and I’m so glad we were able to make time for this session since their wedding is in just two months! We met at one of my most frequent photography spots, Millennium Park, and they were even willing to do a little extra walking since it was the off season and the main entrance was closed so we had to park across the street :) The two of them also did a great job pretending not to be cold while I was bundled up in my winter coat, hat and gloves. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of them!

Blanca & Francesca Class of 2019

Blanca and Francesca are foreign exchange students from Spain and Italy that are staying with a friend of mine this year, they are also seniors in high school so this fall they asked me to take some senior pictures for them. We had so much fun that we decided to do another photo shoot once the snow fell (though it had mostly melted by the time we did these pictures)! This time the girls wanted more photos together and some with their host mom of course :) Here are my favorites from their session at Provin Trails!

Budrick Family 2018

Last weekend I got to catch up with the Budrick family for the third year in a row taking their family photos! This time they asked if we could do the photos at the barn with their horse, Chip, and I happily agreed being a former horse crazy kid myself :) Despite the cold everyone was willing to go along with my ideas and spend more time outside taking pictures then originally planned. Here are some of my favorites from their session

Clason Family

I’ve known this family about 3 years now because their middle daughter is in my youth group so I was thrilled when they asked me to take some family pictures! Despite some scheduling conflicts we finally settled on a date and ended up having great weather (its started raining 5 minutes after we finished) for late November in Michigan. I also learned about another great park in Grand Rapids for taking pictures - Provin Trails- which I had never been to before but will definitely return again. Here are some of my favorites from the Clason’s family session!

Baker Family 2018

Another repeat family is featured today. I photographed the Baker’s last year on a snowy day and this year the goal was to have “fall” photos but we had to push back their scheduled photo shoot by a week and ended up getting snow here in West Michigan in that time! Instead of taking pictures at a park we decided to go downtown Grand Rapids and found a really cool alleyway that I had never noticed before. Here are some of my favorites from their session.

Still Family 2018

Time for another family post, the official last photo shoot in the fall colors! It was a very windy Sunday afternoon at the end of October, but we knew the snow would be arriving soon so we all did the best we could! It’s hard to believe that little Emma is 2 years old now, I have taken photos of her parents engagement, I was in their wedding, I took maternity photos for them, newborn photos of Emma and pictures last fall around her first birthday. It’s safe to say that Chris and Sarah have been my photo subjects for many years and I’m grateful they continue to ask me to photograph their family milestones. Here are some of my favorites from their session :)

Emma- Acting Headshots

Last weekend I had such a fun time exploring the beautiful campus of Aquinas College on our last nice fall day here in West Michigan with my friend Emma. She is planning to audition for some community theater shows next year and asked me if I’d take some updated head shots for her which is a new type of photography for me so I happily obliged! We laughed a lot and I could have taken pictures of her all day. It was so hard to narrow down my favorites for this post but I hope you enjoy this preview :)

Johnston Family 2018

The Johnston’s are another family who I’ve had the joy of getting to photograph multiple years in a row. They live on a natural beauty road and have a lot of beautiful trees around their yard that make for a great background this time of year. We got so lucky with the weather this year since on the day we scheduled photos it rained until about 30 minutes before and started up again about 10 minutes after I left! It was so much fun seeing how much their boys had grown and getting to meet their baby daughter! It was hard to choose favorites to share from this session but here are my top 13 :)

Blanca & Francesca Class of 2019

A couple weeks ago on a beautiful fall day I had the opportunity to explore a new location for taking some senior photos. The Grand Ravines is so pretty as are the two girls I was able to take pictures of! Both Francesca and Blanca are seniors who are foreign exchange students living with a friend of mine this year and I’m so happy they decided to participate in our American tradition of getting senior pictures taken. The girls were naturals in front of the camera and we had lots of fun walking around the park looking for fall colors. Here are some of my favorites from their session :)

Aupperlee Family

I love when families ask me to take their photos once a year around the same time because it’s so fun to see how they grow and change, but I think the Aupperlee family are the first clients I’ve ever had to get family photos twice within 6 months and both kids have grown a lot since the spring! This time we met at a park and despite it being a little cold the kids did a good job (the baby even fell asleep at the end)! I also learned from this photo session that going to a dog park is a great way to get little kids to focus as we were able to tell Jackson to keep an eye out for dogs behind me which made him look toward the camera :) Here are some of my favorites from their session last weekend!

Klein Family

Last week I finally was able to meet up with the Klein Family and take their photos after re-scheduling three times due to rain! Thankfully they were able to be flexible and when we finally got a dry day their family orchard was the perfect setting for fall pictures. I had lots of fun with 2 year old Stella and by the end of the shoot she was even holding my hand :) And I learned that 1 year old Eli loves apples! Enjoy this preview of Angie, Brent, and the kids!

Beverage Family

I love when I get to photograph families year after year, it’s such a fun way to watch them grow and preserve those memories! Karen and I have been friends for a while and as such I had the privilage of photographing her and Doug’s wedding back in 2011 and each of their kids as newborns. Despite the humidity and the mosquitoes I managed to get a few smiles from the kids - here are some of my favorites from their photo session :)

Perkins Family

Over Labor Day Weekend I met up with the Perkins family at one of my favorite parks in Grand Rapids to take their family photos. The weather forecast was calling for rain and luckily we were able to change the time for photos at the last minute and finish up before the rain started (though it was very humid)! These three were troopers and didn’t complain about the weather or the amount of walking I asked them to do to get to some of my favorite spots. Even the dog was cooperative for pictures :) Enjoy this preview of their session!