Believe Photography

New Year, New Blog, Newness

2010-01-04T13:47:00.000-08:00

I want to thank everyone who supported me and helped me through my first year of owning my own photography business, I learned alot! I am so blessed to have such wnderful family, friends, and supporters.

This year I wanted things to be different, life changes all the time right! That is one of the reasons why we rely on photography so heavily, to help us remember days gone by. But I digress, the real reason for this post is to let you know I have moved! Yes moved! No, I didn't move out of Bronson, and yes I still live in Michigan. No I moved blogs! The new site is here CLICK ME TO GO TO THE NEW BLOG

Go ahead, click it-I dare ya!

♥Jennifer

First Winter Snowfall

2009-12-20T20:10:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't been doing a good job blogging lately and I will apologize for that. I will start making up for that soon! I have had a lot going on and things are beginning to calm down a little so I will have more time, I hope!

With that being said, next on the agenda is SNOW!!!! It finally snowed in south central Michigan, and I couldn't be happier! Not only do I have a ton of fun sessions lined up, but I also have my family session set for a good snow fall! While the sessions didn't happen this weekend with the first snow, I did get to take the kids out and hang with them while they played in the snow. Any seriousness you see is fake and completely staged by THEM! Alot of it is pure silliness, and believe me it was alot of fun! Here are a ton of the shots I got today! I couldn't pick a few fave's and i may even add more later!

♥Jennifer

Good Directions and a Contest

2009-12-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

You may recognize the older in girl in these photos as Elizabeth, I did a birthday session for her last spring and she was one of my very first posts! This time I had the pleasure of shooting her and her brother, along with her two cousins and the weather couldn't have been more beautiful for autumn in Michigan. We went to a little park a couple of miles from Bronson and played for a couple hours, the girls even went for a little wade in the cold water! They were so much fun and I loved meeting Valerie and photographing her children!

Now leave me a comment on this blog and you could win a free session. Here are the rules.

1. You must leave me a comment on this blog.

2. Session will take place within a 25 mile radius of 49028, no exceptions.

3. Session includes 25+ pictures in your own private gallery on my website. It does not include the prints or the disc. The disc fee is 30 dollars and will include all of the images from your gallery.

4. Prize needs to be claimed 10 days after the announced winner and weddings are excluded.

The winner will be chosen on January 2, 2010 and will be chosen by a random number generator so good luck!

♥Jennifer

Post Kids

2009-12-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

I want you all to meet the Post kids. Brendan, Jayden, Katie, and Cody-what a fun bunch! I actually did Brendan and Jayden's session on a different day than Katei and Cody's because of illness, but both sessions were so much fun! I love photographing children in a natural enviroment they feel at home in, and that is exactly what I did with these four! Let me know what you think!

Thanks Nancy, Jessica, and BJ-it was fun!
♥Jennifer

Rah Rah

2009-12-01T21:47:00.000-08:00

I took some shots for friend of mine who is the cheer coach for the older group of Bronson Rocket Football Cheerleaders. She approached me and asked if I could take some shots of her daughter, who is on the team, so she could have a few for memories. If you would like some shots done you can contact me by clicking the contact link above, I would love the chance to photograph your child playing the sports they love!

♥Jennifer

Southern Moon

2009-11-24T22:22:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, yes I am that far behind on blogging, I had such a good time photographing a photographer friend'sof mine family from Kalamazoo. Her name is Mia Geer and her site can be found here.
Her family is the cutest and the location was so amazing! We held our session at Southern Exposure Herb Gardens and I loved it so much I decided to have my family portraits taken there also. Can't wait for those, but I am trying to hold out for the snow (please come soon.)

So here are my favorites from day spent with Mia and her family, also watch soon for the photos we will be posting from our photo walk we are planning in downtown Kalamazoo, MI in December-I can't wait! Thanks again Geer family and my thoughts and prayers are with you while Lance is away! Mia's husband, Lance, is being deployed to Afghanistan so let's keep our brave soldiers and their amazing families in our prayers and let them know they are never forgotten!

And here are some shots from around Southern Exposure

See more on the website by clicking here

♥Jennifer

A day by the river

2009-11-19T20:58:00.000-08:00

I had the chance recently to spend the day in Three Rivers, Michigan with an awesome family. Karen and James Tennant are such good people and their kids were great to photograph and very creative, I love how children see pictures everywhere! We walked almost the whole River Walk in downtown Three Rivers and it is such a beautiful spot to be in the fall! There was a little of everything to offer! The river, bridges, leaves and the woods, animals to pet, ducks and geese everywhere, and we passed a fellow who found a new friends in the wood and let us pet him.

Here are the rest of my favorites with this great family for more you can find their gallery at Believe Photography's main page or by clicking here!

Loved that spray painted heart!

How much fun is this? Thanks for the great idea guys!

♥Jennifer

Sisters

2009-11-17T21:41:00.000-08:00

Sisters are so much fun! These two little sisters were a blast to photograph and so much fun to play with! We started off in the park and they were such good sports, because it was cold, and they were sweet enough to play with no coats on!

There was the best bike trail in the park we were playing at so we decided to take a little walk down it to see what we could find. We found LEAVES! I love autumn and the fall colors and the girls were having fun playing with the leaves!

Then we went over to the lake where they have some really nice hiking trails and took another walk, it was so much fun! Thank you Jennifer, for letting have so much fun with Alivia & Alyson! I hope we get to do it again soon!

♥Jennifer

Glamour Girls

2009-11-03T04:51:00.001-08:00

I recently was asked to shoot some photos at a glamorous birthday party for Madi and a couple of her friends. It was so much fun and by the end of the party the girls were really in to it and I think they could have kept me going all day! Madi and her friends were fabulously fun to be around and were magnificent models to photograph! While I was at it I did a few of the family!

The party started inside with nails, makeup, hair, and wardrobe pampering the darlings while they ate cake and sipped on some delicious punch. After all the luxuries were bestowed upon them we got to business.

Madi is such a beautiful girl and was a real pleasure to shoot.

Her friends are equally as beautiful and flaunted it for the camera

Thank you Nicole for inviting me to such a special party for an amazing little girl! I hope you had as much fun as I did.

You can see more of these photos by going to www.believephoto.com and clicking on the galleries link.

♥Jennifer

Halloween

2009-11-02T23:04:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share with you some of my families pictures from our Halloween celebration. We carve pumpkins, scour the town for candy and share this fantastic holiday together-the main reason I love this time of the year!

We get our pumpkins and gourds from Swift Pumpkins here in Bronson every year.

Then we take them home and have our way with them! We usually free hand draw and then carve our pumpkins and this year they never saw fire because it was pretty nasty out after we carved them!

My daughter was so proud of her cute little pumpkin

then while her brother was concentrating on getting his finished

She finished her homework on the dining room floor. Our Lab Savannah supervised to make sure she was doing it right...or was just wondering why, if Caycia is on the floor, she isn't playing with her.

For Halloween my kids decided to be vampires and we all know that real vamps have black or white faces and never show their teeth to a human unless they are going to bite. It was fun and Caycia got to pretend she and Edward Cullen had a chance for one night.

I hope you enjoyed these memories as much as we enjoyed making them and a little advice: Never carve a gourd!

♥Jennifer

Friday Fix-it For the end of October

2009-10-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

As you all can see I haven't done a Friday Fix It From the i ♥ faces blog in a long time, but this week I just could not resist! This picture is ADORABLE!!!! So I had to give it a shot! Here is the original:

And then here are the ones I did, it was so much fun I almost didn't want to stop! Let me know what you think! I love comments!

Thanks for looking!

♥Jennifer

Timeless Traditions

2009-10-26T07:07:00.000-07:00

One tradition my children and I have is spending a day together at the local County 4-H Fair. This day mostly consists of them riding all the really BIG rides and giving me mini heart attacks and me spending a bunch of money on that game where you put in your token and the little pusher fills in the spaces and if you are lucky you may get a rubber skeleton or more tokens. But we have a good time and always leave with smiles on our face and our teeth aching from all the sugar. Here are some photos I wanted to share from this years trip.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed taking them!

♥Jennifer

Take a little ride on my big, green tractor.

2009-10-25T21:38:00.001-07:00

Meet the Sikorski's, Kelly and Keith and there super awesome family invited me out to their farm to take pictures with their HUGE pride and joy-a John Deere Combine-and man was that thing sweet! I had so much fun with them, the whole family was really funny and made the photo shoot go so well even though it was pretty cold outside! Here are my tops from this shoot, you can check the rest out here

Thank you Keith and Kelly for being so hospitable and making it such a fun evening!

♥Jennifer

The McIntosh family and apples

2009-10-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

This is my photographer friend Erica and her super cute family. I met Erica on facebook and we have grown to be friends through critiquing and just general chit-chat on late editing nights. When she asked me to do a session for her I was honored and couldn't wait! Who doesn't love apple orchards? I didn't know it was goign to be so much fun to shoot this session and I am so glad I agreed to do it! Here are some of my favorites and believe me there were alot!

Thanks Erica, I had such a blast! Can't wait until our next session!

♥Jennifer

Kinslea

2009-10-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

First, I would like to apologize to my faithful followers for not being on here lately, I have been swamped with sessions, photo editing, Cheerleading because I am now the Bronson Junior High Sideline Cheer Coach (yay me!), and my family. Also...I have a website now! WOOHOOOO-celebrate good times, come on! So, I had to take a little time and do some design. But I am back and ready to post a few sessions!

This is Kinslea, she is so stinking cute and was up for anything I asked! It was so cool to be able to put her places most kids wouldn't go! I have known her mother for years and was super excited when she booked a session, I knew it would turn out great! Here are my picks from my time spent with them.

Thanks Deb, it was so much fun and I am looking forward to our next session!

♥Jennifer

School pictures and headshots

2009-09-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for your interest in my back to school special! I think I had a great turn out! The special ends on September 30th so hurry up and book your session!

While I was editing my photos, I came to the realization that I REALLY love head shots! There is something about capturing a person and showing the world who they really are! It is fun and an amazing process! Here are some of my favorites from this past weekend!

These are also examples of my special! They were so much fun to shoot and I would love to hear what you think also!

♥Jennifer

Special Time!

2009-09-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

I am running my first official special! YAY! There will be an advertisement once I design it! OK so here it is:

Tired of school picture with cheesy backgrounds and high prices? Want your kids pictures to actually be cool this year? Have I got a deal for you! One 30 minute session for your family of up to five children, with 3 shot of each child on a keepsake disc to do as you please for the low, flat price of $25.00

Yep that's right! It was going to cost me $67.00 dollars to get my kids school pictures taken and I said no way am I paying that this year when I can do my own! Sure they still have to have the cheesy one for the yearbook, but at least the ones the hand out are awesome!

Here are my children and some examples of what you can get!

The Headshot:

The Chair:

(as you can see this has both of my children and can be substituted for any of the portraits offered-limit one per child)

Standing Tall:

And The Pose:

If you like what you see and want to take advantage of this offer you can contact me at 517-462-8829 or by email @ theoriginalbelievedesigns@gmail.com or on facebook and myspace (links at the top of the page) Remember offer expires September 30th 2009 so hurry and book your session!

♥Jennifer

Triple H...and not the Wrestler ;)

2009-09-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

I want you to meet Haley, Harley, and Hilary

Haley, the oldest, has been friends with my daughter since they were babies; and I have known her parents, Chad and Stacey, for just as long. So when they decided the schedule a session with me I was really excited!

The girls were ready to get their pictures taken, especially Hilary (the youngest) who is now my new best friend!

Then, there was Harley. Sweet, little, I will not smile for my pictures Harley. She was so cute and very steadfast on her issue with smiling!

OH-WHAT'S THAT? A teeny, tiny smile just for me! Gotcha Harley =)

I think she must get the no-smile syndrome from her big sis, Haley! Who didn't want to smile either!

These girls were quite a challenge, but so much fun! I hope I get to have another session with them in the future! Thank you Chad and Stacey-you made my Saturday awesome!

♥Jennifer

Fun in the park

2009-09-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

Recently, I had the chance to photograph these adorable little angels at play. Meet Mason, Addison, and Ashlynn-aren't they super cute? And what fun! We started off by playing in the park and watching out for all the wild animals that were hiding in the sand.

Then we just walked all over the place! There were so many great backgrounds, and these kids were so great about helping me get pictures! Of course, we had to swing! How can you go to the park and not swing?

I had such a fun time getting to know this family and I feel blessed every day for being able to meet and capture all the wonderful people I photograph! Thank you Amy and Todd for allowing me the great pleasure of photographing your beautiful children!

♥Jennifer

Friday Fix it from i ♥ faces

2009-09-10T21:55:00.001-07:00

Here is another Friday fix it sponsored by the wonderful ladies at the i ♥ faces blog. You know I love this because it gives me a chance to test my mad skillz (hee hee) and hopefully learn something new! This week I am learning CS3 (whew) and that is what I used to fix my pic. First I used curves, then the healing preset, the I enhanced the eyes and I used several actions from Pioneer Woman to make her seem angelic and tada! All I have to say is CS3 is my new bff! Here is the before:

and the after:

What do you think?

♥Jennifer

On my International Harvester

2009-09-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

Here are my new friends Jolene and Tom Sikorski and their beautiful daughters again. At their first shoot, we were hoping to include their pretty puppy in the pictures...but who knew that dogs weren't allowed in some parks in Michigan? Come on, my dog is literally part of my family! She doesn't even know she is a dog!

So I promised Tom and Jo that I would come visit at their lovely house and get some pictures of the family-including dog. Well, while I was at it I had the honor of photographing Tom's cherry red Farm-All.

Before that though, I did get some shots of the family with their K9 companion that turned out really cute! Thanks again Tom and Jo-you guys are great!

♥Jennifer

Carter♥

2009-09-10T05:59:00.000-07:00

You might recognize this cutie from the spring pictures I took of his family. Well, now he is one! He is the cutest little stinker and so happy! I love his little smile and his fascination with my camera! His party was quite a success...except for the fact that the birthday boy was wiped out and decided he needed a nap.

Before he took his nap though, his friends played pop the balloon to get the candy inside; the only problem with that is they didn't want to pop the balloons!

So while Carter slept his party away, I decided to get some pictures of what was going on around me.

Then the little prince decided to wake up but he was not very happy! He just wanted his mom even though there was yummy cake just for him!

But mom said lets go ahead and open presents and that cheered him right up!

After the party I shot some photos of him as keepsakes for his mom and he was in such a good mood then! Thank you Jamie and Carter for letting share this special time with you!

♥Jennifer

The Cowan's {Wedding}

2009-09-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to shoot my first outside wedding and I LOVED it! How amazing it is to be able to watch two people in love share their unity under God, with the sun shining and the sky blue! I can't wait to do more! Here are some photos I wanted to share!

♥Jennifer

Fun Times

2009-09-04T04:39:00.000-07:00

I am off for the weekend to camp with my family! I can't wait! We are normally tent campers, but we traded in our Jeep for a Ford f350 and decided to get a camper! I promise to have lots of pics when I get home!! I want to leave you with a little preview of what is to come next week! I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday weekend!

♥Jennifer

Polish Festival Parade

2009-09-02T12:47:00.000-07:00

Yep, you read that right, a Polish Festival! The town that I abide in is Bronson, MI and the people who settled here were predominately polish. So, once a year, the good people of this little town celebrate their heritage by eating, drinking, dancing, doing more eating and more drinking. They throw in other stuff like games, rides, tractor and truck pulls, and of course a parade! I love me a good parade with a lot of dynamic feature! This year was really exciting for me because I finally had a great camera to photograph it with! Here are the highlights from the 2009 Bronson Polish Days Festival!

♥Jennifer

Going Green

2009-09-02T08:07:00.000-07:00

Meet the Cary family! They were so nice and friendly! We met at a park and had some fun while shooting all their super cute photos! Jeff and Pam were very nice and I liked them right away! Their children were supremely adorable and so fun to work with! I had a great time hanging out with them and capturing these memories!

♥Jennifer

Fix it Friday!

2009-08-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

Here is another installment of Fix-it-Friday from the wonderful ladies at i ♥ Faces! This picture was cute to begin with so this one was pretty easy! Nothing like taking something cute and trying to make it cuter! ;) Here is the original:

Isn't she a doll? So cute! And here are my fix it's! Enjoy!

♥Jennifer

Travis ♥'s Muffin {Wedding Photography}

2009-08-26T22:38:00.000-07:00

Travis and Muffin are so in love, and you could see the emotions pouring from them during this beautiful ceremony-where I even cried! Let me tell you-it's hard to take pictures while you are crying! The bride was beautiful, the groom was dashing, and the couple are so devoted to each other! It truly is amazing the amount of love they have for each other! I was so honored to be chosen to photograph this special day for Travis and Muffin, and I can't wait to do pictures for them 5, 10, even 20 years from now!

This last one is my very favorite with Muffins' beautiful daughter taking center stage! Thank you Goshorn family for allowing me to capture your special moments!

2009 {SOFTBALL} Westside Girls

2009-08-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

I have to say out of all the teams my daughter has played for, and she has played since kindergarten (she's 13 now), this team was by far my favorite! The girls were great, the parents were fun, Caycia loved her coach, and we had an overall good time! I have like a million pictures from this year and had a hard time deciding which ones I like best. There were so many good ones because we had so many good players! The girls went undefeated! Every girl played great and I couldn't be more proud to tell people that my daughter played for Westside Auto Collision in 2009! Great job girls!!! Here are the best of the best!

♥Jennifer

Saturday In The Park

2009-08-21T21:37:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I spent the evening with the Sikorski's. A super fun and definitely charming family, they made the shoot fun and relaxing! We walked the whole park looking for great places to shoot while just chit-chatting the evening away. It was great and they were so cooperative with the poses and places I put them...in the cold water, and on a tree over the river! How great is that? Can't wait to go to their house to do a session with their puppies! Those pictures will be coming soon enough but for now here are a few of my fave's from this session!

It's Friday!!!! That means...

2009-08-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

It is time for Friday Fix-it at I ♥ faces! I love this part of their blog, just to be able to see what I can do with a photo and to try new things each week-that's fun to me! (Pretty lame huh?)So here is the original photo:

And here are my fixes, I used Paintshop Pro X2 by Corel and began by resizing the image to 300ppi, then I did an auto fix and noise removal. Next I played with the curves to get the light just right, dodged and burned the eyes and after using a couple filters-TaDa!!!

There they are!! I want to thank everyone who commented on last weeks' and tell everyone thank you for commenting on this weeks!

♥Jennifer

Rainy Day Fun

2009-08-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

Well, as you know, I am behind on blogging and have a lot of catching up to do. SO, here are some pictures that I took a couple weeks ago while my kids, my dog, and I decided to go for a rainy day walk. I love the rain and the fresh feeling that comes after that. Like the earth is clean-it is so nice! I love how water drops sparkle in the sun and dance in the wind. I also love taking walks with my children, even when they ditch me because I walk to far-Yes they turned around and went home! =) That doesn't matter though! They are still pretty awesome and some of the best company to have! Now my dog, Savannah, walked the whole way with me and LOVED it! Truly the best walking companion is your dog!! She never cares how many time I stop, as long as we go for a walk!

~Another Fix it Friday~

2009-08-14T04:39:00.000-07:00

You know I love fix it friday on the i ♥ faces blog. It gives ma a chance to practice my digital imagery rendering and to see if I can overcome some big challenges and this weeks was a doozy! ;) Here is the original:

And here are the ones I edited:

And here is one I did just for fun and to test out a filter:

Love it!=)

So thank you I ♥ Faces for another great week on the blog! To check out the blog click the logo below

♥Jennifer

Awesome Wedding Entrance

2009-08-14T04:06:00.000-07:00

Ok so I watched this video this morning on a nother photographer's blog and knew it was good enough to share! This is the best wedding processional I have ever seen! You will laugh and dance the whole time-plus I LOVE the song!!!

♥Jennifer

Seniors 2010 {Brittany}

2009-08-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

All I can say is WOW!!! My niece is so beautiful and taking pictures of her was so easy! She looked good in every pose! I can't believe that she is growing up so fast and will be a Senior this year! Time really does fly! Check out my favorites from her session! BTW-aren't the shoes just fab?

♥ Jennifer

My Sweet Niece♥

2009-08-10T23:19:00.000-07:00

Here a preview of Britany's Senior pics!

More to come!!

i ♥ faces fix it friday 8/7

2009-08-08T23:27:00.000-07:00

I know, I know-I'm late, but better late than never right? And I think I may be getting addicted to blogging, this could get scary! lol Anyhow here is my second Friday Fix-it for the i ♥ faces blog and i ♥ that blog! Those girls are awesome! Here is the picture before the magic happens ;)

AND....here is the pic after I threw into Paint Shop Pro X2 (i ♥ PSPx2)

As you can see I cropped the pic, ran some noise removal, burn and dodged the eyes, then threw it into some filters and TA-DA awesome-ness!

♥Jennifer

Class of 2010-Yolanda

2009-08-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

First I feel I need to discuss my watermark. For those of you who follow my blog, you have probably noticed my crazy changes in marking the copyright on my pictures, if not scroll down and check out my indecision-it is amazing! So, I have been playing and playing with what to use! I really love my butterfly, but I don't want to use it on my pics just as a logo, so I have finally decided on one. It will be displayed on the pictures below! Whew-who would have thought it would be so tough to make a watermark?

I finally had the chance to do my first senior session last week and am so excited to share some of my favorites with you! I had the pleasure of capturing Yolanda on film and we had a fun time shooting all these pics! She was a good sport and didn't complain about the mud between her toes, the cold water, the mosquito's and the poses, bless her heart! I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Guess What.....

2009-08-07T06:57:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know what a signature tag is let me tell you a little story. Last year, on January 10th, 2008, my husband left for Fort Benning, GA to become a soldier in the US Army. He was gone for three months (he blew out one of his eardrums and got a medical discharge because he can't hear out of it) and while he was gone I couldn't sleep-so I turned to the Internet. I started off playing games on yahoo and chatting with my friends, then one day I got an email with this very cool signature.

So, I thought to myself-hey I want to learn how to do that to pass the time while I stay up until the break of day! I joined a group, bought the program, did some tutorials, and one thing led to another. Now I have my own tag group on yahoo, and here's the point of this, I am now selling my photos to the tagger world. That is right! I signed a contract with one of the leading companies to offer art to taggers and my images are on sell there right now! The site is
MYPSPTUBES
and they have been great so far! I am so excited to be able to offer this! Here are previews of my first 6 image packs.

Thank you for this opportunity MPT and look for new releases soon!

♥Jennifer

40 years and still in love-WOW!

2009-08-07T05:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending and photographing the vow renewal of Bob and Sue and it was amazing! The love between these two "newlyweds" was so evident that it brought tears to even my eyes! I am so glad I got to witness the enormous amount of love, loyalty, and faithfulness these two have for each other and capture, once again, their vows. Thank you Bob and Sue for instilling in me a sense of hope that love is still alive!

Brad and Jen's beautiful day

2009-07-31T08:55:00.000-07:00

Here are the rest of the photo's I want to share with you from the wedding I shot this past weekend. You can tell that these two are extremely happy to be joining their hearts to make one big, loving family.

Hair and makeup done by Modern Salon & Tanning in Sturgis, MI

Brad + Jen = ♥

2009-07-30T23:39:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of capturing the marriage between two amazing people, Brad and Jen. What a fun time and what a great couple! The love they had for each other and their families was so evident! The whole event was beautiful! Of course, like almost every wedding, there were a couple snafu's-the bride was running late, the groom was more freaked out than his bride, and the kids were being kids, the photographer ran ouot of room on her memory card and had to run to Wal-Mart (oops!) but none of this could ruin the day for these two love birds! Thank you Brad and Jen for allowing me the pleasure of photographing your wedding!

Here are a couple of pics I have for you-more to come!

Wedding Peek-a-boo

2009-07-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a little preview of the beautiful wedding I shot this weekend! Everything was amazing and the bride a groom were so wonderful! What a great family!

Ohhhhhh....ahhhhhhh....Fireworks!!!

2009-07-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the Polish Days Festival here in the little city of Bronson where I reside. The festival starts off with a fireworks show and since my super awesome sister let me borrow her tripod, I decided to attempt to shoot fireworks in manual mode. It was really fun because it was such a challenge to get all my setting right and and make sure my exposure time was long enough. Here are a few of my favorites-let me know what you think!

Thanks for checking them out!!

This week on i ♥ faces is...FEET!

2009-07-20T04:03:00.000-07:00

I love feet pictures, I think they are the cutest! I shot this picture after softball practice last night. It is not the shot I wanted to get, I was looking for something more... girly tough. After we tried shooting the picture I wanted the girls started horsing around and I got this shot after they sat down. It is always fun photographing my daughter and her friends and I just feel blessed to have such a great daughter! Thank you Caycia, Regan, and Dez!

Enjoy!!!

Baseball Boys

2009-07-15T06:58:00.001-07:00

Well the 2009 baseball season is over and I miss going to the game already! My son has been on the same team since he started baseball and the coaches are so great! They had a phenomenal year and came in 2ND in the league! Here are a couple of my favorite pics from this year-Enjoy! I love comments, let me know what you think of my photography!

Sports+Dogs= i ♥ faces

2009-07-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

This week's entries for i ♥ faces is "sports in action" and "pets." I have a ton of sports pictures because my children are very active! My daughter plays volleyball, basketball, runs track, and plays softball; while my son will play football for the first time this year and he also plays basketball and baseball-I am one busy mom!

My entries this week come from my daughter's softball team and my dog, Savannah, who LOVES the water!

This is Kelsey, one of the oldest girls on my daughter's team and also a memeber of our varsity team who made it to the final four here in Michigan! We are proud of all of our softball girls!

This picture of Savannah was taken while we were on vacation at Fisherman's Island State Park in Petosky, Michigan. We came to look for petosky stones and she just had a ball!

I hope you enjoy my entries this week and be sure to check out all the other super awesome sports action and pet photos!

UP NORTH

2009-07-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

This past week we went to Mackinaw City, MI and camped at the greatest campground! We were across from the beach, it had a view of the bridge, a pool, a camp store with an arcade and ice cream, plus great parks for kids! It was also VERY reasonable! We drove all over northern MI and crossed the bridge a few times, and shopped! It was great! Here are some of the landscape photos I shot- I edited some of these is Adobe Lighthouse but alot are as is! Any comments are welcome! Thanks for looking!

New Logo

2009-07-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking of a logo for a long time. i had one I used for design but wasn't sure-so I tweaked it and came up with this! Let me know what you think!

Please do not use this logo as any sort of graphic as it belongs solely to me! All rights reserved and all the stuff! Thanks for looking!

Just For Fun

2009-06-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

I snapped this shot while driving over the Mackinaw Bridge this past weekend. I was taking pics of everything and my son Maverick asked me a question so I just turned the camera and captured this! I love the black and white, it gives me the impression of an older pic, and Savannah, the dog, is sitting so pretty in it! Hope you enjoy!

A slice of northern paradise

2009-06-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my husband and I had the privilege of going up to a little town called Falmouth Michigan. It is right, smack dab in the middle of nowhere and absolutely beautiful! We visited our good friend Mikey and his parents, Mike and Diane, who were so hospitable and really fun to be around! I have quite a few pictures of our visit because we went to Traverse City for the first time and I was very camera happy, but I am only going to share my favorites. I hope you enjoy and leave me comments on your favorites!

This is Mike and Diane's beautiful house in one of the most beautiful parts of Michigan and some scenery from where they live.

The rest of these pictures were taken in Traverse City Michigan-a slice of northern paradise.

This coming weekend we are camping in Mackinaw City, Michigan and driving over to hunt for petosky stones in, where else, Petosky, Michigan and maybe even driving up to the U.P. for a day-look for those pictures next week!

Lauren & Clayton

2009-06-18T22:38:00.000-07:00

This past week I had the pleasure of caring for two fantastic children while their mother worked. I want you to meet super cute and very excitable Lauren and her sweet and cuddly brother Clayton. They were so much fun and of course we had to go to the park with friends! You already know Jacob from previous blogs, but I stll have to say that I love his facial expressions! Thank you, Jodi, for allowing me to care for your children! We had a great time!

Jamie+Tim=Carter

2009-06-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

After our exceptional boudoir session, I had the honor of taking the pictures of the rest of the family! Cute pie Carter and father Tim joined us at the park for some fun in the sun picture taking! Carter is so stinking cute and was full of smiles just for me! Here are some of my fave's from this session. Enjoy, and leave me some comments!

Thanks guys! I had a great time!

Stepping out of my box

2009-06-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the most awesome photo session with Jamie, she is also a bridal client of mine. She emailed me and asked if I would shoot a boudior session with her and I said OF COURSE! It was totally amazing! Jamie is a beautiful girl and we had so much fun doing this! She was so carefree that she made my job easy! I have so many awesome photos, but can only post a certian few of my favorites! I don't want to be to risque, let me know what you think-I would love to hear your comments!

Thank you, Jamie, for such an awesome time! Can't wait until the wedding!

A Day With My Children

2009-06-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

I love spending time with my kids! They are funny, light-hearted, and carefree! They are so amazing to me! This past weekend we went to the park and fed the ducks. It was a great time and I discovered alot of new things about my kids! Here are some of the photos from our fun time together.

I ♥ Faces Friday Fix-It

2009-05-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

Today i have deciede to try the I ♥ Faces Friday Fix-It. What happens is the I ♥ Faces blog gives you a picture and you fix it the way you want! It is really cool to try and fun to check out all the different pictures sent in! I will start by showing the original:

Isn't she darling! It was really fun trying this! Here are my tries, I used Paint Shop Pro X2, with Eye Candy Exposure, I also removed noise and dodged and burned her eyes for enhancement:

Let me know what you think! I love comments!

Track Season 2009

2009-05-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

This was Caycia's first year running track. SHe ran a couple different events and high jump. It rained almost every meet, so I didn't get a lot of pictures but I still wanted to share some of the ones I took! Enjoy!

Mother's Day

2009-05-26T20:50:00.000-07:00

As I said in my previous entry, I was sick for awhile and I am behind on posting here. I was sick on Mother's Day and couldn't really do much so the family stayed home and played! The kiddos played in the hose and washed the car, the hubby helped wash the car and cooked dinner on the grill, and they all three got me a beautiful necklace! Here are some pics I wanted to share with you from my special day!

I am amazingly blessed with a fantastic family and happy times!

Some catching up to do!

2009-05-20T07:59:00.000-07:00

I am sooooo far behind with posting on here! I have been sick and am still recovering, so i haven't been able to really concentrate and then I had the catching up stage of feeling better to go through, so now here I am. =) I am posting some more pictures of the Britten family because I found a few I really love! They are such a fun group and Emily is my best friend, so I have tons of pics of them! I hope you like these pictures as much as I do! I would love to hear your thoughts-just click on the comments link below!

I ♥ FACES-week 19

2009-05-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

The I ♥ Faces contest is a big one this week with a chance to be published in the I ♥ Faces book! I spent a lot of time going through all of my pictures, and I just kept coming back to this one! It may not be my best (who am I to judge?) but it is my favorite! This is a picture of my son Maverick after he spent an inning catching at one of his baseball games. He was tired, dirty, and was talking to his coach and I thought he looked adorable, then I loaded the picture onto my computer and saw the emotion on his face and instantly fell back in love with him! He is my sweet boy (one day he will probably be really mad I posted that) and this is the picture I feel like belongs here! I would love to here your thoughts! Thanks!

I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb book photo contest. If chosen, I grant I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

Liz's Big Day

2009-05-04T05:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Elizabeth aka Liz or Lizard. I had such a fun time with this session. Liz is so creative and very colorful! She is funny and sweet and one of my daughter's best friends. I had so many favorites from this session but I chose these to share with you.

I also took some pics of the rest of Liz's family! Here are my fave's from those.

SNEAK PEAK!!!

2009-05-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

Today is Elizabeth's birthday, she's the big 13! SHe has been like a second daughter to us for quite a few years now, so for her birthday I suprised her with a session! I discovered some really great places and we had such a fun time! Here is a peak...but there is more to come!

Pretty flowers in the trees

2009-05-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

My neighbor's house is up for sale and is standing empty. They have these beautiful blooming trees in their backyard, and I just felt it was shame to let them go to waste! So on a rainy day I snuck over there and took some pictueres of my kids & company in them! The pictures turned out great, and now the blooms can fall off fulfilled!

Some of the pictures I took in the rain

Waiting....

2009-04-30T13:39:00.001-07:00

At least one day a week my friend Emily and I "go to town." Usually we leave between 10:00a.m. and 11:00a.m. Most weeks I end up waiting at least a half an hour longer than we planned. It doesn't bother me, and sometimes Emily has to wait for me, but usually...I do the waiting! Well, today was one of those days! I waited for Emily for about 45 minutes and I decided to bust out the camera and shoot some photos of me! I also edited them in Adobe Lighthouse and Corel Paintshop Pro and want to show you how they turned out! Leave me some comments because i really hate posting pictures of me! lol

See what I mean? I was so bored I was being stupid! I was taking pics like my 13 year old!

I am on a color kickright now so I had to add some flair to this one!

And the last one is me just flipping my hair around and i love how my highlights look! lol

My Windy Day With the Britten/Scheenks Clan

2009-04-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

I finally got to do pictures of the family together! With all of our kids, and the activities that they are in, we never seem to have time to get everyone at the same place at the same time! This was a fun shoot and here are my favorites from the afternoon!

I ♥ Faces = Reflections

2009-04-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for this weeks I {{heart}} faces contest. I took this at the zoo on Saturday. This is my niece and she was trying her hardest to see into the building we just came out of! It made me giggle so I snapped the shot for memory's sake and now I am glad I did!

Let me know what you think!

Thanks! ~Jennifer

A day at the zoo

2009-04-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to the zoo with son, my sister, and niece and nephew. We had a great time and I got in some amazing shots! I really want to share my favorites with you!

More pictures of my children

2009-04-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

What can I say? They make great test subjects! I needed to practice Apeture shooting and RAW file usage,, plus check out my in-laws as a potential shoot site and who better to shoot than my own children! They complained and griped, but as you can see they had a great time! Let me know if you think I did a good job or not! Comments are always appreciated!

This one cracks me up!

Easter Sunday

2009-04-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

Our Easter Sunday this year was spent at my husband's parent's house. They live on a farm and it was so nice outside that I decided we should do aome pics! I am so happy the played along! Here are my favorite!

My husband is an avid gun collector and enthusiast, he loves to shoot!

Look at my son's face in this picture! To funny!

So in love after all these years!

Thanks for a fantastic dinner and a great over all day! Love you guys!

Blowing Tiny Bubbles

2009-04-15T21:43:00.000-07:00

I just thought I would experiment today with bubble blowing. Try to enhance my focus techniques and abilities, but it turned out that I would teach my husband how to use a bubble wand! Thought-how does a 29 year old man not know how to make bubbles? Well he does now!

A day with the Scheenks-Britten children

2009-04-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

I love new places to shoot, it is always such an awesome experience to experience the world around you, as well as taking pictures with some fun kids! We went to a little park in Leonadis, Michigan that was a little flooded, but still very pretty! There was waterfalls, bridges, rock walls, and new flowers blooming! It was a great morning spent doing my favorite thing! Not to mention I got to shoot my kids too-my favorite subject!

First here are the pictures I took of Kelsey, Kyler, Kahle, and Jacob

These pictures of my kids are amazing to me! They are growing so fast! It's right before my eyes and sometimes it takes my breath away to see a picture of my children and realize they are little adults

I ♥ Faces-My First Entry

2009-04-06T21:04:00.000-07:00

It's week 13 at the I♥faces blog and I am finally entering one of the contests. It is hard trying to figure out which picture suits the category of the week, which is "My friend & I", and I really had to give this some thought! I chose this picture of my daughter Caycia and her best friend Liz. It was so spur of the moment and I pushed just at the right time! These are the kind of pictures that keep you picking up your camera! I hope you like it too!

Spring Break in Michigan

2009-04-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

Well, spring break has just begun here, and so far it has been rather...SNOWY! The kids have been sport though and spent part of the day enjoying (if you can call it that) the weather! It was cold-but we still got some great shots!

Our day Checkin' New Sites!

2009-04-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

I spent the day scooping out a new site for shoots with Emily and Jacob. They are fantastic sports and so much fun to shoot! Here are my faves from today!

Caycia and Dez, Maverick and Gavin

2009-04-02T20:05:00.001-07:00

You know I had to grab the chance to shoot these cuties! I love taking pics of my children and their friends! They are so charasmatic! Here are my favorites!

Preview of New Goodies!

2009-04-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

I have had a great time shooting some great kids and one fantastic adult! Here is a preview of the pictures I have taken the past two days! Keep your eyes open for alot more!

My son Maverick

2009-03-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

We were sitting around the house today after Maverick got his homework done and he said to me "Come on, lets go outside and take my pictures!" How could I refuse such sweet face? No matter how hard I tried though, he would not wash off all of his Kool-Aid moustache! I guess it is just part of him. Here are some of my favorites-Tell me which one is yours!

Relaxation

2009-03-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things to photograph is the world! Especially nature! I love the beauty of our planet and it's amazing features! It is awe inspiring to just think about how God put us together, and even more so during season changes! I like to take pictures of the Earth when i am stressed out and want to share some of them with you!

My day with Caycia and Liz

2009-03-28T17:29:00.001-07:00

Today I spent part of my day at the diamonds with my daughter and her best friend Liz. Of course I had to take my camera and I got some great shots! They are such hams and very creative! I always have a fun time shooting them! Thanks ladies! Can't wait until next time!

Spring has sprung!

2009-03-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

I found these while visiting my mother-in-law and I was so excited I had to take some pictures!
I love this time of the year, the time of change and new beginnings.

My Test Day with Jacob and Emily

2009-03-28T14:34:00.001-07:00

These pictures were taken on Thursday March 26 at The Waterworks Park in Coldwater, MI. I decided that I needed to do a test shoot with my new camera and Emily was more than happy to let me take pictures of her handsome son Jacob! What a pistol he is, busy running back and forth to feed the ducks!

I adore this littel boy and had a great day with him! Thanks for helping me Emily!