Part 2 of Kalala’s modeling portraits was rescheduled multiple times due to rain and cold weather, but we finally found a day that worked while the spring flowers were still in bloom! She did great despite the cold and crowds. We kept it simpler this time and did not do outfit changes or location changes and I’m glad she will have multiple options to use for her future modeling and acting portfolios :)
The weather has been less than ideal for springtime photos in west Michigan that last few weeks, and after rescheduling 3 times I finally met up with Germaine. Though it’s not as common as high school graduation, I love the idea of taking pictures to commemorate college graduation. Germaine will be getting a degree in computer science from Calvin University this weekend and managed to find time between exams for a photo session. She braved the cold and walked around campus with heels on, but smiled through it all. This was both of our first attempts at getting champagne to spray for photos and luckily it worked out. Congratulations and good luck with whatever comes next Germaine!
Last week I got to catch up with Kalala who I used to babysit (yes I feel old seeing her as a teenager) because she needed pictures for her modeling and acting portfolio! Because we live in Michigan where it snows in March we came up with some creative indoor locations. I’m grateful that local hotels let us take pictures in their lobby and that Grand Rapids has a sky walk connecting many locations. We had fun exploring the JW Mariott and Amway Grand Hotel and trying out different outfits for different modeling looks. Here are some of my favorites from our Monday morning photo session!
Traditional first birthday cake smash photos can be really fun or really unpredictable, for Ivan it was the second :) He did not like everyone watching and singing to him and was not wanting to sit down. Initially he was curious about the cake, but once frosting got on his legs he wanted nothing more to do with it. We actually did this photoshoot over two separate days since he didn’t touch the cake the first day. The balloons were much more fun for both Ivan and big sister Olive so if nothing else he had fun with those!
On Saturday I met up with Soraya and her mom at one of my favorite locations in Grand Rapids, Millennium Park and I even got to discover some new trails thanks to Soraya having previously scouted out photo spots she liked! Not very many teenagers would agree to having their pictures taken at 8am but she had to work later in the day and showed up early ready and willing :) Here are some of my favorites from her session.
My friend Jess, like so many others, is in between jobs right now so when she reached out and asked me if I’d take some head shots for her to use in her job search I happily agreed. We met at Aquinas College, a location I’ve only photographed once before but knew had some great buildings to use as backdrop. Since I took her engagement photos and her wedding photos in the last year and a half we didn’t have to worry about the first few minutes of awkward getting used to being in front of a camera, she was great from the beginning. Here are some of my favorites from her session last weekend!
It may not be as common as family photos or weddings, but I do enjoy taking portraits for individuals to use for marketing their business/ service. I love when people want creative head shots and not just traditional head and shoulders pictures against a solid background :) For example, my friend Michelle who reached out and asked me if I could take some photos of her while practicing social distancing in the midst of a global pandemic. I happily grabbed my zoom lens and met her at a park last week (before winter made a comeback in Michigan) and here are some of my favorite pictures of her!
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 :)
