Flash Back Friday 127: The Julia's Go Fishing Edition

Oma, 1950's


Me, 1987

The Big Seventy!

What if you were turning 70 years old today? This might be a good thing to get in honor of the big day - especially if you were born in a Mercedes dealership in The Netherlands!! A few weeks ago, Dad came up to GR and found this sweet car. When John & I picked it up for him a few days later, I posed it in a good spot to take some photos. Pretty fun!

Wishing you a very blessed birthday Dad! Have fun!

Breaking a Leg

This past weekend, Bridget was in her final show of the Reluctant Dragon.


This is part of the cast that had been working together so hard for a month!


Bridget loved my seat number because it's also her nickname for me.

Another Amazing Day

Last week, Skip, a friend of mine from church, asked me to take pictures at the wedding of Stella and Marcus who also go to our church. It was such a gorgeous day for this beautiful bride and groom and it was such an honor to be there in the midst of it all. A couple of these photos I think are among the best ever that I have been able to capture. Stella has a brain tumor which made this wedding exceedingly special - we are all praying for her!

Stella hugging her dad who she hadn't seen in about 3 years


Stella with her 2 daughters who were bridesmaids


...and with her youngest son.


Her dad walks her down the aisle and Pastor Mary performs the ceremony.


Pastor Mary and Jeremiah react with joy as the bride & groom kiss.


A very sweet moment after the ceremony...


.. and another.

The whole family gathers around the wedding cake.

Latest Home Exhibition

Self-portrait painted last week by Maria

Flash Back Friday 127

John & Julia, 1988

I'm flashing back here to one of my faves - it came to me in a stack of old pix that belonged to Oma. Anyway, I also had the honor again this past week of photographing another wedding. So, so amazing! I hope to post it soon.

Clouds

There is nothing on this earth like a day with great cloud cover like this. Last week we had so many days in a row like it and I went nearby to a field with Maria to capture some of it. I do love sunny days, but think of all there is to see when the clouds have such great form. I thought of the Joni Mitchell song:

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
Ive looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

Ive looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
Its cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Introducing a New Band...

Moving from wedding photography to rockstar photography... in the rain no less.

The band's name is John FourteenSix and their first song is a remake of "I Wear My Sunglasses at Night." Yesterday, I came across a story about an American lawyer in the 1800's who wrote a song to a bar tune. His name? Francis Scott Key. The song was, of course, the Star Spangled Banner. So yes, it could happen!

This band, though not serious, is serious in its intent to have fun!

This is Michigan!

Edward jumps into the beauty...

Opening Night

Bridget performed last night in the Master Art Theater's production of The Reluctant Dragon. She played the part of Jennifer. They said "no photography" at the beginning. What? This cannot be! Surely they must mean "no FLASH photography". After all, I had taken pix last year. I stole a few anyway and when I asked the director at intermission, sure enough, I found out that it wasn't allowed until a special showing on the last day. Here are a couple of sneak previews which I took without flash...

Bridget's role was quite serious. I was happy to see the expressions back on her face after the show!

Flash Back Friday 126

Mom & Dad, 1961

Continuing on the wedding theme here for flashback...

Amazing

I've still been looking at all the shiny happy people from the wedding last Saturday and I don't know how to do a post to capture all the love and beauty and indeed the miracle of the day. This is maybe one of my favorites taken before this wedding by the river next to the historic, landmark sixth street bridge.

It was a beautiful day for this beautiful couple to get married! I thought I was going to pop from the excitement - it was just so amazing to be a part of it all! We walked along the river and next to the old restored factory buildings that are near our church. What an honor to be there with them during this time.

Oh, wow.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Yesterday, I spent 9 hours taking hundreds of photos an hour at Gracie's wedding. It was so much fun to be part of the wedding of this amazing couple, Gracie, aka Diana and her new husband Barkley.

I never knew my camera was so heavy and I didn't know it would be like an aerobic sport :) My friend Deirdre helped me out for a few hours in the afternoon and it was so good to have a fellow photographer there to talk about ideas. We had a blast!

About a month ago, I had a dream where I saw a cougar and an elk in the woods. They were so gentle and the lighting was so perfect. I wanted to take a picture of course, but my shutter froze. What a nightmare, right? So yesterday, as the honored guests started to come down the aisle, what do you think happened? My camera froze! Really!!!! I crossed the aisle and told Maria, who was using my old camera, that it was ALL UP TO HER!! But she tossed me her camera and I started using it instead. Meanwhile, Maria, with all her presence of mind, took the battery out of mine, blew on the contacts and put it back in. Voila! It started working and I was able to get the bridemaids and the bride coming down the aisle. Of course, in the re-telling of this story it has morphed into my shutter freezing just as the bride was coming up the aisle. Seriously folks, that's what it felt like. But it's all good and I now have about 2000 photos to go through/edit so I'll be busy for awhile!

Flash Back Friday 125

June 11, 1988

Weddings on my mind today - tomorrow I'm shooting one! Pray for me :)

Happy Birthday Shari!

We left the Sleeping Bear Dunes area July 5 and drove up to see my cousin Shari & family who were at their family cottage near Torch Lake. Today is Shari's birthday - she's now my age for a few months!

Our kids, all 3rd cousins, had a very lovely lunch together while the adults ate out on the deck overlooking the lake. We talked and talked.



We "facebooked" each other about the get together, and "texted" afterwards about how we wish we lived closer. We also had this good-bye portrait taken. What a fun time!

The Annual Dune Climb Challenge

This is the 3rd year that Edward has attempted his own dune challenge on the steep, 450-foot drop dune on the Pierce Stocking Drive of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore! His 2006 time was 9:07 and in 2008, he did it in 8:31. The average person does it in 45 minutes, it would take me a few weeks. Could he break his record? John & Brian were also up for the challenge.

One thing that is nice about the area is that while they are gone, there are pictures to be taken of the surrounding scenery.







The sun was about to set. Would he make it?

Here he comes. He touched the sign at the end at 7 minutes, 39 seconds for a new record! I should also add that he was up early for a 5k in which he received a medal for 2nd place in the 19-24 age group and he ran about 8 miles in the afternoon. I don't know how he does it. Brian & John also made it up a bit later...

Celebrating the Sunset

The sunset over Lake Michigan is one of the great things about this state we live in, and last weekend, we saw a couple of them. But first, we celebrated John's sister's July 3rd birthday..."Aunt Susan." We always think Maria looks the most like her Aunt Susan.

She received a couple of big puzzles as gifts...

The 4 girl cousins are always happy to see each other!



We went to see the sunset after supper. As we were waiting for it, I turned around and saw a sight just about as beautiful, maybe even moreso, at least to me...



The sun set again and another day was done...

And Bridget jumped for joy.