Kaminski Family 2025

Abby and Nic have allowed me to photograph several big milestones in their life over the last few years from their engagement and wedding to Abby’s pregnancy and finally the first official family pictures with their twin girls who are about 10 1/2 months old! The babies were so good considering it was a hot day afternoon and they kept being put in and out of the stroller :)

I love the way photography allows me to keep in touch with people and see families grow. Here are some of my favorites of Abby, Nic, Navy, Nora and even extended family who joined for the second half of our session at Grand Ravines!

Bopp Family 2025

Last weekend on a surprisingly warm fall day the Bopp family were the second of three family sessions I photographed. I met them on the beautiful Aquinas College campus where I had last taken their pictures two years ago. Unfortunately the fall colors have not shown up yet due to the lack of rain so it looks more like these pictures were taken in August or September than in October!

Greece Trip 2025

Before I get into a very busy October of family photo sessions, I had to share a personal post of pictures I took on my trip to Greece! Aside from visiting friends in Athens, I also joined a group tour to the islands of Tinos, Naxos, Mykonos, and Santorini. Carrying my camera around all week gave me a chance to practice taking pictures of things I’m not normally drawn to, such as landscapes. Though I’m still a portrait photographer at heart and had to take some pictures of my group members during our sunset boat tour! Enjoy this small view of Greece :)

Wiersma Family 2025

Sometimes last minute is best for planning family pictures, or at least that was true with the Wiersma family! We went back and forth on possible October days and struggled to line up their schedules, but then everything came together last weekend :) Hager Park made a great setting and the kids were so outgoing and talkative while we were walking around. Here are some of my favorites from this growing family.

Aniszko Familly 2025

My friends Mary and Aaron are so great at scheduling regular photo sessions for their kids and it’s always a joy for me to capture the growth from year to year! Their youngest, Grace, just turned 2 and Mary set up a cute tea party for her photos while Ian is 5 and chose his own locations around their yard for his pictures. We didn’t get many of the whole family, because Grace quickly lost interest though we were able to entertain her long enough for a few pictures :)

Silas class of 2026

I last photographed Silas and his family during the pandemic and was excited to reconnect with them after 5 years! His mom asked for some family pictures in addition to his senior pictures which I thought was a great idea. Although it was a warm evening we were lucky to find locations in the shade and had a breeze. Silas plans to go to be duel enrolled in college classes during his final year of high school and wants to study social work after graduation. Since I also have a degree in social work (in addition to the one in photography) it was fun to talk with him about the things he wants to do in the field! Here are some of my favorites from Silas and the rest of his family :)

BLDC Spring Recital

Fun fact about me is that I take adult dance classes, and this year my class got to preform in the spring recital for our dance studio. I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to bring my camera along and take back stage photos! This was just a creative side project, but I really like how some of the images turned out so I wanted to share on here :)

Jadin senior pictures- spring edition

When we originally talked about Jadin’s senior pictures his mom asked if we could do a session in the winter with his snowboard and then another more traditional session in the spring. Two weeks ago we met up for this second session at the Grand Ravines park and had beautiful weather! Congratulations to Jadin and the rest of the class of 2025 :)

Therese Jackie and Jean Claude's Wedding

I met Jackie about 4 years ago when her older sister contacted me about family photos downtown Grand Rapids. Since then, I have taken their family pictures every year around Christmas and I was thrilled to hear Jackie was engaged and wanted me to be her wedding photographer! Both bride and groom are from Togo, West Africa so their reception was full of cultural traditions such as throwing money during special dances. They also changed into 3 different outfits during the night and each was so glamorous.

Since the wedding day itself was so busy, Jackie and Claude asked about meeting up with me the next day to take portraits of the two of them. This turned out to be a great idea and reduced some of the stress and pressure that would have come from driving to a new location to get all the photos they wanted. Here are some of my favorites from their wedding Saturday and photo session Sunday!

Kadin's first birthday

Kadin’s family threw him a Bluey themed first birthday party last weekend and I was honored that they asked me to take some pictures of the milestone! He was unsure about his cake and all of the people staring at him, but once he tried the cake he didn’t want to stop eating it! All of the family and friends at the party showed how much this little boy is loved :)

Womens March 2025

Last weekend I joined almost 2,000 people downtown Grand Rapids for a march on International Women’s day. I love bringing my camera to events like this and documenting big and important things happening in my city. There were speakers and a choir who preformed before the actual walk happened and it was amazing seeing people of all ages from the elderly in wheelchairs to kids in strollers with their own handmade signs. I also saw several people I knew and it was a good reminder that we are not the only ones frustrated with current events. It was really hard to narrow down my favorite pictures from the two hour event so here are about 40 that I thought were worth sharing :)

Jadin senior pictures - class of 2025

Jadin’s mom and I went to high school together and she asked me back in October if I’d be willing to take his senior pictures once we got snow. He wanted pictures with his snowboard so we had to find the right combination of enough snow to cover the ground that also was not too cold to be outside for longer than a few minutes! In the spring, Jadin and I will do another mini session so he can have more traditional senior pictures, but for now here’s a preview of the winter session!

Hounakey Family 2024

This was year 4 of the Hounakey family meeting me downtown Grand Rapids at the end of December to take their holiday photos! I love to see how color coordinated and dressed up they get for these pictures and really make it an event the whole family can enjoy. The JW Mariott hotel is a great setting because it keeps us indoors and warm while also having beautiful decorations. Here are some of my favorites from my last session of 2024 :)

Arts in Motion Christmas program 2024

As the holiday season is ending and everyone preparing for the normal routine to resume, I wanted to share a little more Christmas cheer :) Arts in Motion put on their annual holiday show in mid December and despite the poor lighting, I got a few good photos of the performers! I love seeing the new choreography each show and the variety of acts from ballet, to jazz, singing, drumming, group dances and soloists. There’s never a dull moment at Arts in Motion :)

Briley Family

I grew up with Laura, but haven’t seen her in a long time so when she reached out about getting family photos taken I was happy to make it happen on Thanksgiving when I was back in our hometown! Laura and Tom have 5 daughters and it was sweet seeing the bigger girls looking after the younger ones and treating the baby like she was their doll :). In less than 30 minutes we got pictures both inside their living room and on the back deck which is proof that it doesn’t always require a long time or a far away location to take pictures! Here are some of my favorites from their session.

GLHS homecoming cheer

Back in October, my high school restarted the tradition of having alumni cheerleaders join the current team on the sidelines for the 3rd quarter of the football game. Since it was the same weekend as my 20 year class reunion (yes I’m that old) I decided to go and see if I still remember how to cheer! I spent the first half of the game with my camera in hand attempting to take pictures, in the dark, of motion, without a flash and it was not easy! I wish the sun stayed up longer, but I got some cute pictures during the first quarter of the little kids cheering and the second quarter of just the varsity team. Here are some of my favorites :)

Ava's GVSU graduation

A different type of graduation photos were the focus this fall, instead of a senior in high school, Ava is finishing her masters degree at Grand Valley (which is also my alma mater)! I love the idea of celebrating the accomplishment of college graduates and wish we did it just as much as high school graduates. Her only picture requests were the iconic blue bridge downtown and a GVSU sign which we easily managed and even captured some of the last fall colors before the weather turned cold :)

Brumels- McNally Family 2024

A year ago I met up with Elissa and her kids for a photo session and it was high energy with one kid coloring his hands with a red marker in the car and another loosing a shoe walking through the brush! This year, they still had energy but were much more willing to participate in photos, and the boys even came up with ideas on their own. Here are some of my favorites from last weekend at the Grand Ravines!

Budrick Family 2024

I first took photos of the Budrick family when their girls were in elementary school and now they are a freshman and senior in college which is hard to believe! Last fall I met Hailee’s boyfriend Reed when I took their senior photos so it was fun seeing the two of them still together and the way he was included with the whole Budrick family. We had beautiful fall weather and peak colors for a morning walk around their home and nearby woods documenting some of the families favorite places before selling the house and moving. Here are a few of my favorites from the session.

Sheena and James

I’m glad I have a flexible work schedule so that in the middle of the day on a Wednesday I could meet up with Sheena and James after their courthouse wedding ceremony to take a few pictures! The weather was beautiful, if a little too sunny, and the fall colors were just starting to show during my walk around Grand Ravines with the newlyweds. Sheena and James are part of a community that loves Jeeps so we also made sure to take some pictures by their car (which was a first for me). These two managed to be both classy and silly and we got so many great pictures in less than an hour. Here are some of my favorites, congratulations again Sheena and James!