Short and sweet..

I won't keep this long.  Basically, I was super happy when Mimi asked me to shoot her senior portraits.  She is one of the sweetest people I've ever met, and she is beautiful inside and out.  We had fun at her shoot :)  Enjoy a sneak peek!

 "One in a million"

 "Set your sights high"

Beautiful, natural, fun..

Those are the three words I would use to describe Megan and Aaron's wedding yesterday..   

1. Beautiful..  Ironically, the wedding had a vintage feel to it... and I recently decided to give my photography a little more vintage feel to it.  Funny how things work out :)

2.  Natural..   Megan made sure to tell me from the beginning that her and Aaron were not interested in many posed or formal shots.   I was so grateful that she let me know beforehand that she was looking for natural, candid shots..   That's more my style, anyway-- and when I get to shoot a wedding in a natural and breezy way, its extremely refreshing. 

3.   Fun..   The 90 something degree weather wasn't a problem at the 3 o'clock ceremony.    Because Megan and Aaron provided guests with ice cream and fresh pink lemonade.  YUM.   From the party bus to the awesome tablecloths they requested their guests sign, this wedding was definitely fun for all. 



Megan and Aaron were extremely gracious, and gave me the sweetest Thank You card.  This is why I love my job so much.. because I get to capture beautiful people's beautiful lives.  Thank you Megan & Aaron, for allowing me to be a part of your awesome day!

A big thank you to my 2nd shooter, as always, Chrissy Bond.. and my other 2nd shooter :), Rachael Myers of Rachael Myers Photography.    They are both incredibly talented.. Chrissy always helps put me at ease when I feel stressed out and has never let me down with her gorgeous images, and Rachael is amazing at catching children's emotions and actions as she loves to work with kids.   Thank you both!!

Test.

I have noticed some issues with a few of the images on my blog, looking fuzzy..  So I'm going to test it out by uploading two of the same pictures that I saved in different formats.

J, J, Z, Z, C, C.. a family shoot.

The title of this post is the initials of the family members in the shoot I had tonight.  Isn't that adorable?    Ever since I was little, I've always wanted my family's initials to match or be cute like that.  I don't specialize in family shoots, and I am currently not offering many of them.. but tonight was another gift certificate shoot, and it turned out so good.  I love working with children, even if they are super spunky and active.  I have a seven year old nephew so tonight working with two six year olds and an eight year old didn't phase me..  I realize that kids just want to play.. who can blame them?  When I was a kid I didn't want to sit around and get my picture taken either!  So we took some posed shots for Mom and Dad, but then I just followed them around the park snapping fun pictures which they were excited about!  Here is a sneak peek.. 

My favorite part of the shoot.. when I said goodbye to the the family and the three older children picked flowers and gave them to me :) 

Bats..

So, as I said a couple posts ago, I recently moved into a house with two of my friends.  Everything has been fine there for the past couple of weeks..  Well, I was laying in my room with my boyfriend late at night on Wednesday.. when my best friend Chelsey ran into my room screaming.  We had a bat.  If you know me at all, you know that I am a big baby when it comes to spiders, bugs, or anything creepy.  This includes bats (not that I've ever dealt with one before)  and my roommates aren't much better, and unfortunately, my boyfriend is about as scared as I am when it comes to that stuff (Sorry Loge, its true).   Well, long story short.. we got rid of the first bat (it flew out on its own) We slept at my boyfriend's apartment because we were terrified anyway. 

Thursday night, another bat.   This one was pretty small..  A friend we had come over ended up killing him (I didn't like the thought of killing it, but he would NOT get out of the house).   This is what it looked like... Alive, and then not so alive.   These pictures were taken on my camera by my roommate, Jodie.  I refused to get close to it. 

So after we got rid of this smaller bat, we were all hanging out in our livingroom when a GIANT bat three times the size of the other two start swooping and doing laps in our livingroom.  I wish I could say I was brave and helped the situation.. but instead, I jumped into the chair next to me with my roommate Jodie, clutching her and screaming as it got closer and closer to us.  It finally flew out of our house.. but we haven't slept in our house for three nights now.  I'm currently at my parents house which is of course bat free.   Our landlords came and patched some holes, and now we have to "wait it out" and see if any more come before they call an exterminator.  Needless to say.. I am not at ease with the situation.

Let's hope we don't have to deal with anymore of these not so cute creatures.. but if we do, I'll try and get some more pictures!

-Alyssa

Sweet Baby A..

I love when people ask me if they can purchase gift certificates from me to give to friends or family for a photo shoot.  To me, that means that they trust in my ability enough that they think I can do a great job for someone that they love.  Obviously I feel that same gratitude for every one of my clients, but especially when they trust me enough to offer to pay for my services for someone else.  :)   This brings me to what this post it about, sweet baby A.   If you follow my photography page on facebook at all, you know I don't shoot babies all that often.  I specialize in senior portraits and weddings.. but I won't turn down a little one.   Baby A's mom received a gift certificate for a shoot with me at her baby shower.. and here are a few of the images that I got for her. 

*These were all shot indoors at Baby A's own home.. I bounced my external flash (The natural light wasn't fantastic)  and shot with my 24-70 2.8 L lens. 

Please respect my images, and do not steal/copy or alter them in anyway.  I don't have my logo on my newly fixed computer right now.. So I am being far too trusting and just putting my work out there for all of you to enjoy. 


-Alyssa

Starting my blog. (for real this time)

It's been a while since my last blog post..  The six months until my 20th birthday has turned into one month, and I now live in Macomb with my best friend Chelsey and our friend, Jodie.  What an adventure to finally move out on my own.   It has been almost three weeks out of my parents house now, and I wont lie.. I'm starting to feel some serious homesickness :(   I have always been independent in my own right..  I was usually not home when I lived with my parents, and I pretty much did as I pleased.  But now that all my belongings, clothes, BED etc. is at "my" house and my Mom, Dad, dog and cats are back in Monmouth?  Definitely a bittersweet feeling.   I almost bought a bunny rabbit (or two bunny rabbits, named Bunnie and Clyde)  to ease some of my pain.. but my mom quickly made me realize it wouldn't be her taking care of my pet like the many others in my life.. I would have to care for the smelly little thing.  So for now, for the first time in my life I have no animals to keep my company on the days that I feel lonely.   You would think that, being a 19 year old living with two friends and having a boyfriend who I spend a lot of time with, I wouldn't feel loneliness very often.   But if you have ever owned an animal, you know that the company of your cuddly cat or loyal dog can make your heart feel full without even knowing there was something missing in the first place.

I wanted to blog just to let anyone who cares, or that who will be reading.. that my blog is going to change a lot.   In the following ways:

1.  I will actually be posting.. hopefully almost daily.  Even if it is just a short post, I'd like to actually give my blog a purpose.  :)

2.  I will be posting not only about my photography, but about my everyday life.  That means this blog will become a lot more personal.  I'm not scared to share my life with the world.


Soon, I will post basically a bio of my very long, very interesting 19 and 11/12 years on this earth so far.  (That's a joke, I'm pretty boring.. but I will try to spice up my posts a bit)



*Note:  Today was my 4 1/2 year anniversary with my boyfriend, Logan.  Because of this, Ill leave you with a couple images of him that I love.