The "B" Family {Mid Michigan Family Photographer}

This past August, the "B" family came from Bay City, Michigan to have me photograph their family here in Alma. I showed you a few pictures of their little guy by himself right after their session, but have not shared any of their family photos yet. I absolutely loved their session, so many beautiful memories were made. There little guy was such a dream to photograph and their family photos are full of love and laughter. I walked away from that session feeling inspired and refreshed. Thank you for letting me be apart of your families memories :)
They ended up ordering a lot of large wall portraits for their home in black and white, so I am going to post a series of black and whites for this post. Even though, I promise, I did do color images too...lol :)




These image melt my heart!! What I would give to have images of my family like this!!

The look of wonder and excitement on his face, I just adore in this one. I just love photographing children, they are so honest and refreshing!!

Can you hear the laughter...love this!!

I adore these, there were a few like this, but this was the one they selected for a large print.

And here is the whole series of little man "D" bring his mom a flower, I adored this moment so much had to put it in a storyboard. :)

Next time, I'll share some of the little guy by himself, I love those images too!! Such a beautiful session!!

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!!

Their Words~My Art Thursdays...{Mid Michigan Family Photographer}

"The world is filled with undiscovered wonders. Come, little one, let's find them out together."
~Emilie Ahern

The "N" Family {Mid Michigan Family Photographer}

This family sneak peek is long overdue and I thank you so much "M" and "D" for your patience!! You saw their beautiful little girls in my last blog post playing "ring around the rosie" but as I said this session was mainly for family photos. I had such a hard time picking which series to show from thier session because we did so many fun things. Yes...get ready for some major proof overload guys...and by the way those will be coming today too.

I do want to thank all my clients who have been so patient with me while I have had to re-schedule sessions and delay proof galleries and ordering due to being ill. I am still not feeling the greatest but am finally at a point where I can get out of bed and that is always good!! :)

Now onto some fun :)



A little goofing around from the kids...always brings some laughter :)

And...yes, we had to have the whole family join in on the "ring around the rosie" fun. Everyone was a kid at heart on this day :)

Thanks again for letting me continue to be apart of your family. I look forward to many many more sessions with you, no matter where they take place ;)

Imaging USA 2010 {Mid Michigan Photographer}

Sadly...no I was not there in person. I really wanted to go but once again my fear of flying won the battle. But it worked out for the best anyway, as our family got nailed with the lovely flu bug. Had I planned on going, I would have had to cancel anyway, as I spent the weekend quite sick. Imaging this year was in Nashville, TN which I happen to love Tennessee, but only when I am able to drive there ;) But winter time...not a good drive...LOL. Anyway, a couple of my very good photog friends (and fellow Pixel Chicks) Julie Monacella and Sherry Boles made the trip and their first stop at the Expo was just for me :) Julie checked in Sunday night with our group to share the pics and tell us about meeting up with Sherry. She even got a shot of Sherry in action taking pics of my work on display at the booth. Yes, that is what I said, my work on display...can you believe it!! How exciting is that!! Recently I ordered some new business cards from my lab and the next day I got a call from them asking if they could use them as samples at their booth at Imaging. They also asked about using my work for a few other things at their booth (from the pics I can't wait to see them in person)! So from the pics Julie took, you will see they used my new square business cards...which I loved how they displayed them on the table. They also used one of my favorite images in a canvas gallery wrap and paired it up with a new product they are launching. You will see the canvas and the circular print side by side on the table. You will all recognize "The Truck" :) I wish I could have been there in person, but am thankful for you guys sharing in the excitement with me :)

All pics from the Expo are courtesy of Julie Monacella Photography

Thanks for letting me share this exciting news with you all :)

till next time...

Merry Christmas {Michigan Child Photographer}

"Believe" in the magic of CHRISTmas.

Not sure with the last minute craziness if I'll get back to the blog before Christmas so I want to take a moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope it is a time of blessing for you and your families. And I hope the true meaning of Christmas is near and dear to your heart this holiday season.

It has been a year of blessings for me...so many things to look back on and be thankful for and so much to look forward to and be excited about. I know I say it often, but I truly am thankful to be apart of so many of your lives. I look forward to our continued relationships and making new ones with the changing of the year. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me capture your heart and soul moments.

God Bless,
Hayley

till next time...

The "F" Family Continued...{Michigan Child Photographer}

As promised, here is the official sneak peek for the "F" family :) I put a teaser out the other day since they were being so patient with me. They were the family on the tractor, here is a link to their post :)
Last time I did a session for this family it was just for their daughter, but this time I got to meet their little man. We did lots of pics to celebrate his 1 year milestone, some family pics and of course I got to hang out with the beautiful Miss "P" again. Their older son even let me grab a couple photos of him ;) I must say, I am pretty lucky...I have quite a few clients that have awesome property or houses filled with the best props to use and this is definitely one of those clients. I always LOVE visiting this location, it's like a big playground :)
Thank you so much for allowing me to continue to capture your families milestones and memories. I have so much enjoyed watching your family grow and change. You have a beautiful family and I love being able to capture the heart and soul moments of your life for you :)

Okay get ready for some major image overload :) This first one...melts my heart, and he's not even my kiddo. Those eyes, amazing!!

Peek-A-Boo :)

I love this :)

This barn, I love. I'd like to take the whole thing...LOL. It is the coolest thing ever and so unique :) Anyway, last time I took photos of their family, I have one of "P" peeking through the barn door and you can see the whole barn...anyway, it is one of my all time favorite photos. I look at that photo and then this one and wow, how time flies...

He was so cute :) At this age, if you get any photos, you are doing good :)

Oh little "J"...this became a game. This was funny, I had this grand vision in my head well then every time I'd walk away he'd stand up and lean over the crib. Yeah, that didn't work...LOL. So mom and dad both had to stand close and I couldn't get as much of a pull back shot as I wanted but boy do I sure love them!!

Yes...I must say, I really love this...

And 1 more. The joy on his face says it all :)

I hope you enjoyed your sneak peek. Your proofs are almost done and I'll be in touch soon.

Oh and mom...the antique firetruck ones, absolutely loved those too, but I had to save some surprises for you for your proofs :) I could have kept right on posting, but had to stop somewhere...LOL

Till next time...

The "F" Family (Michigan Family Photographer}

Don't worry "M" this is only a "teaser" as there is SO much more to come from your guy's session. I just didn't want to leave you waiting any longer without something to see :) So here are a few of the fun ones from the session.
I have to say I always love visiting this location because there are so many cool things to use, I always tease grandma and say I am going to load my van up before I leave. :) Thank you for continuing to allow me to be apart of your family, I adore your kids and their will be lots more to come :)

More to come soon :)

till next time...

Family Fun {Michigan Family Photographer}

First off I want to say, I know there are many of you out there waiting on sneak peeks from your session and I promise I am working as fast as I can to get them to you :) Thank you for your patience.

This was a fun fun session as you will see. And I will add, most of these will be in B&W per mom's request. When mom booked the session she said how much she loved my b&w work so I knew we'd be getting along very well :)

First off was a little hopscotch, like I said..fun, fun, fun :)

I can still here her saying 1, 2, 1, 2 as she jumped. It was the CUTEST thing ever!!

Then onto some fun in the leaves :)

And if there's stuff to play on, have to do a little of that too :) I was bummed though, the sun was going under the clouds as I took this so I didn't get much flare.

And we had to take some time for little miss "B" to have some dress up time. Oh do I love these :)

Even found some wishing flowers :)

Hope you enjoyed your sneak peek. I will load some to facebook as soon as I get a chance :) Thank you for hanging out with me and braving the cold!! I had a fun time with your family!!

If you are stopping by, feel free to leave a comment :)

till next time...

The "M" Family {Michigan Family Photographer}

My clients have had to brave some pretty cold weather this month in Michigan and this session was no different. It was cold and windy, but they were troopers and braved it with me!! I know you have been patiently waiting to see your sneak peek, thank you so much for your patience!! I'll be sending your gallery link to you very soon :)
And as soon as Facebook will let me sign in, I'll load some there too ;)
Enjoy your sneak peek!!

I love this one, I can hear her laughter as Dad decided it was time to have a little fun and do some tickling :)

And yes, this would be the same family as the previous post. I absolutely love this series!! Hopefully I"ll have some of my own family like this some day :)

Hope you enjoyed your sneak peek.

till next time...