Backpacking to Mirror Lake

My brother, Martin, was nice enough to let Linda and I join him on his backpacking trip with my nephew, Nick. I had been looking for a little trip that Linda and I could go on together and this turned out to be perfect! I highly recommend this hike for first time backpackers! It was only a little over a mile to hike in and we were rewarded with beautiful site right next to the lake to set up our camp!
I really was impressed with the fact that Linda and I were able to set up our tent and cook our own dinner! However if you asked Linda what her favorite part was - she would tell you "Wild blueberry picking!" She had so much fun picking these wild berries and they made for a great dessert!
Before we headed out on the hike we needed to enjoy some time in the river!

We took a "pratice" portrait of Martin's family in preparation of our photo session in a couple of weeks. I think this picture turned out pretty good too!

Family Portrait at Coulon Beach...

One of my best friends, Carrie (her family picture below), asked me to take their family picture with her Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters and their families. I was more than happy to do this as I know how much fun her family can be! Needless to say, they did not disappoint me. It was really funny to listen to them tease each other - reminding me a lot of my own family.

The sibling pyramid of power!

Grandchildren.....

Logan, Madelyn & Gunner!

Originally we started off our photo session hoping to get pictures of Logan and Madelyn with their very energetic yellow lab, Gunner! Needless to say - Gunner had different ideas for about what he wanted to do at the park! In the last picture it looks as if he is asking me why in the world I am holding a camera instead of a frisbee!

Even with Gunner's silliness I still think we were able to capture some great images of this adorable brother and sister!

Gunner!!!! :)

Is it Senior Season already?!!

I can hardly believe it, summer is winding down and it is

already time for senior pictures! Kudos to Jay for being so on the ball

and scheduling his session early in the season! I had a lot of fun

exploring the downtown streets with Jay and his Mom. We were able to find

several unusual backgrounds that I think added a nice

urban feel to his images - here are some of my favorites...

Okay- usually I don't put my seniors in the middle of the

street - but this was too good to pass up....

I love the look Jay gives as his Mom is helping out... classic Jay!

Jay has a serious side and a fun side - it was a lot of fun capturing both...

And lastly, I love this shot.... you can tell that these two have a lot of

respect and love for one another - what a blessing.

OHMYGOSH! I can't believe how fast this summer is going! We have been having way too much fun! I am waaaaay behind in my blog postings - so I thought I would start off with some fun, recent pics. We just finished with our 20th High School reunion - what a fun event! It was so fun to reconnect with so many classmates! (Pictures from Friday night's event are posted on my event page) A few days before the reunion Carrie, Ang and I were able to get the kids out on the boat for some summer fun!

Before the Saturday night reunion festivities we had a little BBQ at our place - again, it was so fun to spend more time with girlfriends!

Eaten Alive by Mosquitos!!!



This was my first photo session with the Jerry and Diane's family. They were looking for a location and I suggested Gene Coulon Park. We met at dusk hoping to capitalize on the wonderful, soft light. What we got as a bonus was a ton of hungry mosquitos! These guys were such good sports as they smiled through the pain! I regret that I didn't take a picture of all of them slapping themselves and each other! :)





We walked out on the pier for a break from the mosquiots just as the sun was starting to set.

Mom requested images of Jerry and Marie in their letterman jackets. I included two images of the fun poses that came out in between our "serious" shots. I have to admit - I always like the in between shots the most, that's where the true personality always shines through...

Senior Cousins!

I had the opportunity to take Megan and Britney's Senior pictures last week. Megan came back to finish up her sitting indoors. Her pictures from October can be found further down my blog. I intended to keep her indoors but couldn't help myself and went outdoors too. I found that my favorite images of Megan were outdoors - she just has that natural outdoor look...

I wanted to play around with a shallow depth of field to add a little interest to the golf image. I like how it turned out.

Britney did not have the best experience with her first Senior photographer so she came to me. I had a great time with Britney and her mom. Britney decided that she wanted all of her images to be outdoors- my kind of girl! :) My favorite image of Britney is when the wind picked up a bit and blew through her hair. I told her Mom that maybe I needed to add a portable fan to my camera bag to bring along for future photo sessions!

Senior Pictures...

I really love working with graduating seniors! It is so much fun to be a part of this milestone in their life and I love the challenge of visually capturing who they are. The picture above is one of my favorite images of Rachel. I also love the image below - showing a completly different side of Rachel.

My favorite part of Rachel's personality is her playfulness and sense of fun. I have had the great opportunity to see Rachel performing in several high school plays and wanted to capture a little bit of that fun in some of her images.... below are some of my favorites.

Family Pictures at Gene Coulon Beach Park

With a beach/water theme in mind we decided to to meet at Gene Coulon Park. Jeff and his brothers were looking for a family picture to give to their parents to celebrate their anniversary. We started out taking a few shots by the beach and then continued to walk alongthe trail. We stumbled on the creek area above and I instantly knew that this location would be the perfect spot for their family picture.

Are these the cutest cousins you have ever laid eyes on?! I love this image - their love for one another really shows through. No instructions were given to these girls - they just naturally went to this pose - it was adorable!

Usually I prefer to work with families outdoors but the rainy weather kept us indoors for the following family shoots. I typically use my neutral backdrop to keep the focus more on the family. Rylee just learned to walk so it seemed fitting for her to be standing for their family picture.

With large family groups it is always a good idea to do some beforehand wardrobe coordination. You don't have to be matchy- matchy to look like a cohesive group. In this case everyone was asked to wear shades of blue or light pink.

You can go formal or casual for your indoor shoot - every family is unique. The Hafner's are a high-energy family - you could just feel it! Too formal of an image would not have captured their energy. Shots like these ones below seemed to come so naturally.