Stephen & Taylor.. A Love Session

Taylor & Stephen braved a stormy day to have their images taken in Fort Wayne! I think we got some good stuff while having to duck into a few places and take advantage while the sky raged on :)













She could not stop laughing during the whole session :) I love it :)





LOVE LOVE LOVE







Thank you Stephen & Taylor! Cannot wait to photograph your 2013 wedding!

Mackenzie.. A Senior.

A few of my favorites from Mackenzie's session... Her eyes are the most beautiful rich brown :)









Save my favorite for last :)



Thank You, McKenzie!

Losh Wedding

A few of my favorites from Erica & Christopher's big day!



























It was a very beautiful wedding! Congratulations, Erica & Chris!

Kolten, 1 year old!

Little Mr. Kolten turned the big ol' ONE, and his mama Heather asked me to take some shots of him. He is always so cute and playful. He even decided to eat some flowers while we were shooting and it made for some really great faces :)

What a little dapper man :)



Love this pic! Mom was being funny :)



And I absolutely love this series of pictures.. Cracks me up everytime!



Kolten, I hope your birthday was GREAT!

Robert Hunter's Lyrics and my heavy soul

"I feel I've got 10 books in me."- Robert Hunter

I love this quote from Robert Hunter, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. Not only does it mean he has so many stories to share, but you could also take it literally and understand how bogged down he feels when he doesn't write. I have gone a while without writing. That's never a good thing for me. My soul becomes heavy and icky. It's an elephant on my chest feeling to me. So, today, I write.

Robert Hunter's lyrics are so perfect. He explains details in ways that make the words dance around in your head. They are like verbal cotton candy to me. His most famous line, "What a long, strange trip it's been." could be a writing within itself today.

In 12 days, I will have been without my dad's physical body, voice, smile, laugh, scent... here on earth for one year. One whole year. It has definately been a long and strange year. One that has brought heartache and struggle, but I cannot dismiss that I have grown and accomplished things in this year that I may not have done without the sheer determination of my dad in my heart, cheering me on. I am grateful for that. I don't know how many days in this year I have had to peel myself out of bed to make it another day. I cannot count how many times I have had to excuse myself from a simple dinner or a conversation to go cry. I cry behind the camera at every father/daughter dance. I get teary just writing that.

"Fare you well, fare you well, I love you more than words can tell,
Listen to the river sing sweet songs, to rock my soul"- "Brokedown Palace"

It's amazing how true it is that, "you never know what you've got, until it's gone." I mean, I knew I loved him while he was here. But I didn't know how much I depended on him while he was here. There are too many times I have wanted to pick up the phone and talk to my dad. I still have his messages on my voice mail, every single one verbally signed with an "I love you" at the close of it. But listening to a message just doesn't cut it for me. It feels so flat. I want to hear him laugh at my airheadedness sometimes, or guide me through something I need help with. I want my dad. That's just it.

"There is a road, no simple highway, Between the dawn and the dark of night. And if you go, no one may follow. That path is for your steps alone."- "Ripple"

I haven't walked the path of this last year alone. I will make that clear. I have had many people help me back up when I have stumbled. I have had alot of bumps and bruises along the way, especially personal ones. Some, I don't even care to remember because in the light of things, they didn't really matter. The big picture trumped them, and now those things have been put into perspective for me, and they have found their place on a shelf in my past. But the personal journey I find myself on, the one for only my steps, continues to evolve. I thank my parents for that. I'm strong-willed. I am ambitious and stubborn. I work hard and harder if I think something is just beyond my reach. All those things could have been the matter that make up the person my dad was. Those traits were not born into me, they were learned.

"Saint Stephen will remain, all he's lost he shall regain,
seashore walk by the suds and the foam,
been there so long, he's got to calling it home.
Fortune comes a calling, calliope woman,
spinning that curious sense of your own." - "St. Stephen"

Even with the loss of my father, even with that giant void, I am still blossoming. I am in a new reality, and though I don't like it most of the time, I have to call it my home now. Because this is where I live now. A world that exsisits without my dad's physical form in it.

I remember clinging to one thought through his last day. I remember comforting myself with the notion that my dad's outer shell, his cocoon, was what was in the bed struggling. It looked like my dad's face, his arms, his hands, his legs, his feet; but it was not his soul. I remember telling myself that God would not have made a man so strong to suffer like this now. I knew in my heart of hearts that God had already taken his soul to paradise. That his outward body was only suffering because the most important part of him, the part we all miss now and what made him who he was, was no longer residing in that body. He shed his cocoon, to spread his wings in paradise. I could never ask him to return

Cora. 6 months.

It's always great to see little Cora, her big sister Ruby, and Meghan for Cora's Kicks to Coos session. I love to see how much she has grown and she always shows me something new she has learned when I come to shoot her session. Annnd, Meghan always has so many options for me to shoot with. She has a gorgeous home :)

Love the simplicity of these shots. And yes, I know there are a LOT of black and whites, but I loved how they looked, and it's my blog, so... ;)







She was very smiley this time around and gave alot of giggles! Big giggles!





Meghan said something very important here, I think.. ;)





Ahh, lashes :)



I know sometimes I post pics like this next one, and people just don't "see" it like I do, but Ijustdiiiiieeeee everytime I look at this shot. I. love. it.



Thanks, Miss Cora and the gang! I'll see you again soon :)

Nick's slice of heaven...

There is something about quirky places and seeing the unusual in an ordinary location that makes my heart do flip flops. It makes my brain go 10,000 miles a minute and inspires me immediately. This is how I am able to drive around during a session and then just see what I want in a particular location, without having to do a bunch of scouting beforehand. I think it is one of my finest qualities as a Senior photographer, the ability to be spontaneous. On a "day date" with my husband, we had a lot of time to do nothing, and so we decided we would check out a place off of St. Rt. 33, outside of Wapak, that we always pass on the way to a few shows we had went to see. It looks like an old, ordinary elementary school with a sign out front and painted wood cut outs of musical instruments tacked onto the building. There is an old fire truck parked out back that always caught my attention. Little did I know that what was inside was what I was really looking for.. As soon as we opened the doors to the Famous Old Time Music Company a cow bell on the door of a very quiet building echoed through the halls. The air smelled of antiques and the walls are lined with old furniture and vintage music memorabilia and instruments. We headed to the showroom, and it was ike reaching the end of the rainbow. A jackpot of vintage mandolins and guitars; stringed heaven, I would called it :) My next thought after I began breathing again was Nick Thompson. You know, "The Hair".. The cutie pie with awesome hair who had my favorite Senior guys Session for 2012, the guy who played his guitar for me while I shot and seriously sat there and just started at him while he played because I didn't want to interrupt the amazingness? Yeah, him. :) I asked him if he would be willing to come to this magical place I had found and do a few shots just for marketing. He agreed. I wish I could have bottled the look on his face when he walked in :) The shots we got that day were exactly how I pictured them in my head. They turned out perfectly. Thank you, Nick, for playing music to me all day and for the beautiful pictures :)

2013 Senior Marketing

It's that time of year again :) I had the opportunity (miracle, really!) of shooting 4 girls from Crestview this year! I want to thank them for coming to my rescue on such short notice! I was so super excited for this shoot. Not only had I lined up an old downtown apartment in Ohio City, but a Van Wert business that I LOVE allowed me to use some of their GOREGOUS refurbished furniture for this session. If you are in Van Wert, stop into Rehab Fab and check it out! They have amazing pieces at very affordable prices! I already have a wish list! All chairs and suitcases are from Rehab Fab :) Thank you to the Village of Ohio City for permission to use the building, Rehab Fab for the furniture, and to Holly Genth, Taylor Springer, Taylor Hamrick, and McKenzie Nofer. :)

The Kinnicutt Girls...

I was so ecstatic when Kristy got ahold of me through facebook about having pictures done of her two ABSOLUTELY beautiful girls :) Beauty runs in this family! Love these series of pictures. Such a sweet momento of sisters :) Those eyes! So sparkly! I just love someting about this picture. She is such a beautiful little girl, smiles or not! A little game of Ring around the Rosie :) Lots of giggles ensued :) Thank you to the Kinnicutts!