Senior Comment Game {Mid Michigan Senior Photographer}

This past year I have had the pleasure of meeting some really amazing seniors from the Class of 2011. So to show my thanks for such an awesome senior season, I proposed a fun comment game for them on facebook. I had 17 of my seniors take me up on the game, which is awesome. These are Seniors from all over the Mid Michigan area. The rules of the game are pretty simple, they just need to direct people to my fan page and get all the comments on their picture they can get in a 1 week time period. If they are the winner they have their choice between 2 awesome prizes valued at over $600.00. But just for everyone playing and being a good sport, they all are entered to win a set of open house announcements.
I do want to add....this is NOT a popularity contest or who has the best picture wins type of thing. Believe me these seniors ALL have amazing pictures and to just pick 1 photo to post in an album for this contest was torture for me. I agonized over it. I have tons of favorites from each of their sessions :) So please let's keep this fun for everyone.
So...if you want to stop on by and leave a comment in our FUN game. Here is the link to my fan page. Just leave a comment for any one of these amazing seniors. Our comment game starts on Monday November 1st and ends Monday November 8th. I am sure they would all love to hear some nice things about their photo :) (1 comment per person though)

Here is a link to my fan page!
Thanks again to the Seniors who are playing !! You guys are Awesome!!

Hayley Hamlin Photography

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Hayley Hamlin Photography/Seniors ~ Original Senior Portraits that capture the true essence of YOU!!

Melissa & Alan ~ Engagement Sneak Peek {Mid Michigan Wedding Photographer}

I recently met up with Melissa and Alan for their engagement session. They wanted to get in a little fall color for their session and thankfully the color held on and we were able to find lots of leaves to play in :) We started out in Downtown Alma and then hit a few other locations. We had lots of fun just hanging out, they are such a sweet couple and I look forward to photographing their Fall 2011 wedding. They will be getting married in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, which also excites me because Mt. Pleasant is another area I love shooting in :)

These first 2 I absolutely LOVE!! They are definitely my faves ;)

This one is so cute :)

I can't tell you how happy it made me to get to this alleyway after the recent events in our downtown. I am SO thankful this building is still standing!!

Hope you enjoyed your sneak peek :) Thank you for letting me apart of this very special time in your lives!!

Till next time...

Holiday Ordering Deadline!! Mid Michigan Photographer}

This years Holiday ordering deadline is Wednesday November 10th. If you want your pictures by Christmas, you must have your order placed and payed in full by this date, NO exceptions. This is a bit earlier than in years past, however due to my surgery putting things behind about 3 weeks and the high volume of orders coming in all at once this will allow me 6 weeks to process all orders and get them delivered. All orders placed by the deadline will get first priority, so seniors, this means you need to be aware of your yearbook deadline. If you have a winter deadline of December or January you need to meet this Holiday ordering deadline. And as much as I hate making these reminders, because we are approaching many deadlines, please be aware of gallery deadline policies. If you have any questions about your yearbook deadline, please contact me.

Okay, enough serious talk, here's something to make you smile :) One from a recent children's session. Just love this little guy!! I have had the pleasure of photographing him since he was 6 months old. I'll share more from this session later :)


till next time...

Featured Senior~Chloe~Ithaca High School {Mid Michigan Senior Photographer}

So you know you are behind when it's the end of October and you are still posting senior sessions from July...lol. I will catch up on blogging, if I tell myself that enough, do you think it will happen :)
Anyway on to some pics!! Meet the beautiful Chloe Jo. Chloe is a senior this year at Ithaca High School. These were Chloe's top pics from her session and they were also my faves. Love it when that happens!! :)

till next time...

Historic Downtown Alma ~ Fire 10-14-10

What a sad day for Downtown Alma. There really are no words to describe the feeling of witnessing everything yesterday. Anyone who was there, can tell you it was just a sick feeling. My heart ached as I watched part of our historic downtown be taken by fire. My continued thoughts and prayers go out to all the business owners who lost their businesses! I had a chance to talk with many of them yesterday and shed tears with some too. Although I do not own a storefront in the downtown, my business home is in Alma, and this downtown has been part of many of my photographs. Our community has been through so much lately, but one thing that always gives me hope, is in the face of hard times, it's a community that always pulls together. A huge thank you to all the Firefighters and Officers who worked on site. Please continue to pray for their safety. According to the Gratiot County Herald there were Fire Departments from Alma, Ithaca, Breckenridge, St. Louis and Mt. Pleasant on site helping. It was amazing to see the teamwork as they all pulled together. It was also such a blessing to see all the area downtown businesses doing everything they could rather bringing, drinks, food, etc. Like I said we may be a small town but we are one that pulls together. God Bless you all!!

I couldn't bring myself to pick up my camera too many times. I don't know, I guess I don't have it in me to take pictures in moments like this. But I did take some photos because this downtown means so much to me and my business and this was my way of "feeling" what was happening. I did share these yesterday on facebook and have had many people ask to share them on their personal facebook pages so I thought I'd put them in a more public place where people could access them or look at them.

Please feel free to pass this link on to anyone or you can access the album link from my facebook page.

till next time...

SURGERY UPDATE

OFFICE CLOSED EXTENDED~I will be working limited hours for the next 2 weeks, please continue to be patient with me as this will pertain to emails, orders, proofing, and shoots. For more information see my last post for details about surgery.

First off, I want to thank you everyone so much for all the prayers. I am overwhelmed with all the messages, emails, daily checkups, cards, etc that I received the first week off. I have taken much comfort in the thoughts and prayers for me during this surgery and recovery. God Bless you all!!

I know gall bladder surgery is a pretty common thing and I have heard from many how quick a recovery it is. So when I ended up being in the hospital almost 3 days instead of 1 I got a bit worried. But my surgery went fine, but definitely confirmed that my gall bladder was in really bad shape. The report came back as "chronic". I was so very thankful to be in the hands of the "Great Physician", my Lord and Saviour and Dr. Koterba, who has been a godsend through all of this.

I am recovering!! Just slower than I had hoped. I am feeling so much better and am up and around. It is such a blessing to be able to actually eat something. I am working limited hours and am able to do things such as taking calls, editing, returning emails, but shoots have to be put on hold a bit longer. I had my follow up appt yesterday and my Doctor wanted me to take another 2 weeks off. I looked at her and actually laughed. Really I wanted to cry, but what can I do? My situation is different, I was so ill before having this surgery that recovery is going to be different and longer. I just have to accept that. I asked her if it would be okay if I take another full week off and then see how I am doing for the following 2nd week. My doctor was okay with that but obviously because she first wanted me to not work until I saw her again, I can't push it. If I start back too early and get sick, I will no good to anyone for the rest of fall, so as much as I feel awful for this, I have to accept it.

So what does this mean for you? Sessions for the rest of this week were already rescheduled. Sessions the week of October 11th I am going to try to keep on the books. I will know by Sunday how I am feeling and if I can handle them or not. If you have a session that week, be on alert.

And as much as I hate turning away business, all new inquiries are going on a wait list. November is a very unpredictable time of year for Michigan (so is October for that matter) so if we get some decent days and I have made it through my regular schedule of booked clients I will then start working from my wait list.

Again, I am SO sorry. Thank you for being patient with me through this. I have always said I have the best clients and through this, you have all truly continued to prove that. I truly appreciate you sticking by me and working with me through this. I promise it will be worth it ;)

Thank you again!!