Due to Covid and distance, it had been a year since I visited my old college roommate and her family! When I finally had the chance to fly down to Tennessee for a week last month I made a point to bring my camera and schedule a time to take photos between playing with the big kids and holding the new baby :) I always tell parents that family pictures are a reflection of your kid at this age and there is no need to make them sit still and smile perfectly. Here are some of my favorites!
I have been photographing Chris and Sarah since their engagement many years ago and it’s such a joy to see their family continue to grow. Baby Myra was about a month old when I went to their house for a mini session to document the family of 5! Big brother Joshua and big sister Emma were so sweet with their baby sister and just wanted to keep touching Myra. Here are some of my favorites from the session- we even got the dog, Ruby in some pictures :)
In the past I have photographed the Klein family in the fall so I was excited when they chose to mix it up and do winter/ Christmas photos this year! I have always thought downtown Rockford does a great job decorating for the holidays and am glad I finally had a reason to take pictures there. The focus was just on photos of the kids rather then the whole family this time and though it was cold they toughed it out (and were bribed with candy) for almost an hour for this photo shoot :) I would definitely recommend this location next Christmas to anyone looking for some family pictures! Here are some of my favorites of the Klein kids.
Last weekend I met the Hounakey family at the Downtown Market greenhouse. They came home to Grand Rapids from Chicago and Washington DC for the holidays and I love that they made a point to schedule family pictures when everyone was together! The giant Christmas tree and all the twinkling lights among the greenery made for a beautiful backdrop. Plus, this family was not at all shy in front of the camera which made the session fun for all of us. Here are some of my favorite photos!
Another returning family, the Aupperlee’s have added a baby since I last saw them in 2019 and it was so fun catching up with them again! The day we chose for photos was raining on and off but they didn’t let that get in the way of walking around Hager Park in Jenison looking for fall colors. The kids explored the woods and it was so cute watching how the little sisters wanted to do everything big brother did :) Here are some of my favorites from their photo session!
Another group of familiar faces to feature this fall- I love photographing every fall are the Johnston/ Foley family every year and seeing how the kids have grown (and meeting the new kids that have been born).! Claire and Andy live on a beautiful dirt road and have a great yard that makes for lots of great background for pictures. The kids are old enough this year to respond well to bribery (or young enough for it not to matter) and because of that we got the pictures done in record time! Here are some of my favorites :)
I’ve been photographing Chris and Sarah longer then most of my other “regular” fall families. These two were my neighbors during their engagement and early marriage and I am so grateful I’ve been able to keep in touch with them over the years and document their growing family. Along with Emma and Joshua, they will be adding a baby sister into their family in just one more month, plus they just moved into a new house. So much to celebrate and I’m glad I was able to document this moment for them :)
My niece Sophie is growing so much and I was happy that my brother and sister in law wanted to document her 3 month milestone with a photo session. A couple weeks ago, we met at Spring Grove Park and though the fall colors weren’t very vibrant yet, we still found some good scenery. Sophie was so good the whole time and didn’t fuss at all when I stuck the camera in her face :) I can’t wait to watch her grow and take more photos of this sweet girl in the future!
This is the summer of babies and I love it! So many of my friends are having second (or third) kids and my sister in law gave birth to my first niece. Sophie was born at the end of June and after a week long stay in the NICU, I finally was able to meet her on the 4th of July when she was 10 days old. She was very tolerant of me sticking a camera in her face which is great because I anticipate this will be the first of many times I’m taking her pictures :) Here are some of my favorites from her photo shoot last week.
I had been trying to schedule this family for a long time and am so glad we finally picked a day and got some photos taken for them! Alyssa is expecting baby #3 later this summer so it was a great time to capture the stage of life the “big” kids are in. She knew of an old school house near a field and I was more then happy to discover a new location for family photos. I know it can be challenging to get young kids to sit still for pictures so I always tell families to let them run and play while I capture them and because of that I think we got some great pictures. Here are my favorites :)
I love taking pictures downtown Grand Rapids and I’m glad the Ensink family gave me this opportunity. We seized the opportunity of the last warm weekend this fall and walked along the river looking for spots in the shade (who knew it could be so sunny in November in Michigan). Though the kids were loosing interest after just a few pictures, they rallied and I think we ended up with some good ones. Here are some of my favorites!
I’ve gotten to photograph Jess and Jason multiple times, their engagement, wedding, and family pictures when their first daughter was younger so I was excited when they wanted pictures now that they are a family of four! We met at Hager Park on a beautiful fall evening and it was such a fun time catching up, meeting baby Julianna who was born just before the start of the pandemic, and exploring with three year old Josie, who wanted to hold my hand while walking the trails! The leaves were at their peak color and we found so many great spots to take pictures. Here are some of my favorites from their session.
Last Sunday we were obsessively checking the weather to see if the rain would stop in time for this family session and lucky for us it not only stopped raining but the sun even came out and warmed things up. I have taken photos of the Still family for many years and had a great time adding their extended family to the annual fall photo session. We met at Bysterveld Park which was a location none of us had been before and I’m so glad we discovered this great location. I will definitely suggest it to families in the future because they had awesome fall color and lots of trails to explore. Here are some of my favorite photos of the Still/ Vandyke family!
Sometimes last minute scheduling works out great, Niki reached out to me last weekend and we scheduled her family photos for Tuesday! We ended up picking the only day this week that it has not rained and we had a great time exploring Provin Trails! I love this park and definitely need to make a point to photograph there more often, especially in the fall. Here are some of my favorites from the Niki, Nick and their two adorable boys :)
Even though I did a mini front porch session with this family back in May, now that it’s July they were ready for a longer session (away from their home, with the additional family members who don’t live together) and I was happy to oblige. Although the place we planned to do photos didn’t work out, we were lucky that right down the road was Crane’s Orchard which provided some great backgrounds. We even managed to get the two year old to hold still long enough to be in a few photos. Here are some of my favorites!
Last weekend I had the opportunity to do an extended family session with the Sommerfeld’s while they were enjoying a family vacation in Grand Haven. I had met them once before when I photographed their daughter and son in laws wedding a few years ago so it was great to reconnect. They chose a park away from the crowds and the bright sun of the beach which was the perfect choice for a holiday weekend in a beach town as it provided plenty of shade and we didn’t have to worry about other people in the background! I also loved seeing how the kids were having fun with their aunt, uncles, and grandparents, here are some of my favorite photos of them!
It doesn’t seem like that long ago that there was snow on the ground and I was with Mary and Aaron taking maternity photos. In February we had no idea about the Coronavirus and that they would be giving birth at such a strange time in history. Baby Ian was born on Memorial day and I got to meet him at 9 days old. Since they weren’t allowed visitors in the hospital and have only had limited contact with family members since being home I was thrilled when they asked if I could do some outdoor photos :) I know this is not how they imagined bringing Ian home but they are just happy that he is healthy. He slept most of the time and never got upset with the outfit changes and position changes - here are some of my favorites of Mary, Aaron, baby Ian and dog Toby.
