{ J + K = best friends}

In a world where schools are now suggesting not having "best friends" and kids growing up so quickly, they miss important steps on being young and enjoying the simple kid life...

it was EXTREMELY refreshing capturing these besties!

the pure and simple joys of life....friendship

remember when kids would carve their initials or names in trees?!

they carved their names in this tree...and we went back to visit it :)

These two made me giggle, gave me hope for the world, and lifted my spirits up!

Oh, yeah and they helped me carry my camera equipment through a wooded lot, helping to stabilize me as well as the camera as I jumped down the side of a hill along side the tracks all while I was in a skirt and flip flops!  I think my last words as I left my dear camera behind to get assistance from K down as I was sliding and thinking "I am going to biff right about here!".....were J, what ever you do....DO NOT DROP THAT CAMERA!

...and on our way back out of the small "forest" J actually carried my camera WITHOUT dropping a thing as K reached out to grab my hand and pull me and my Old Navy flip flops up the side of the  muddy hillside!

Can you find any sweeter young ladies in this world...well maybe...but it would be a great challenge for sure....I am going to bet, it is going to be difficult to say the least!

Thanks so much K & J....you both are beautiful inside and out!

I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to capture your friendship :)  

God Bless

{a special session with T}

My session today was simple

and special

we just took a quiet little walk down an old alley way 

that I had begun shooting in 7 years ago.

The subject....T

I have known her since she was the tender age of FIVE!

Her mother is a hair stylist

One of the best!

T's hair looks so amazing all of the time :)

She is MODEL perfect

She loves to shine :)

Her legs are endless, she seriously needs to get into modeling....

I told her that about a gazzillion times during our shoot

She is just as sweet as can be!

It was a nice diversion from our hectic week of depression due to a family death.

My oldest daughter came on the shoot...

she actually chose the location

and she was the assistant as well.

She is LEARNING to hold the reflector...

I had to remind her BOTH hands a few different times!

She however, does take beautiful images when she gets ahold of the camera.

Today she opted out..

Can't say I blame her, her little heart and soul just were not in tune with being artistic.

T kept her smiling during the entire shoot :)

Thanks T for  simple .  sweet  .  beautiful shoot!

{Summer/Fall Sessions}

We are successfully almost completely booked for June 2010,

if you are looking for a session for Summer Portrait Art 

we urge you to contact us and make your appointment soon!

We only take a set number of sessions each season due to weddings, 

so jump on in and make yours today!

We will be booking our Fall Portrait Sessions

starting July 1, 2010.

We have had a beautiful spring and if it is any indication to how our fall is going

to be, it appears it will be pretty heavenly as well!

Don't dilly dally....contact us starting July 1st for your fall session!

{closed, yet again till 6/18/10 due to an untimely death}

This month is proving to be a bit trying.

We were getting ready to head to Indy for a bit of relaxation (mini vaca for the kiddos)

and a business adventure for myself,

when we got the devastating  call...

My mom's young cousin had passed away!

Talk about disbelief...

She was in her early 60's, routine surgery...which by the way she had on Friday afternoon

and by Sunday morning, she was in Heaven with God's angels....

It truly seems like we are in some horrific dream bubble, 

where our reality just keeps getting sideswiped!

One thing for sure, 

life does not stop when we think we ourselves need a little break..

it just keeps going on with or without us standing beside it.

Nancy was an angel...

A fantastic woman with a heart of gold and a smile permanently on her face!

We grew up right across the street from Nancy in our little hometown of Kouts.

She was a blessing to everyone she knew...

and a very dear friend to my Grandmother and mom.

Always stopping by to see little Richard and helping with this and that on the computer when they 

would get caught up on some virus etc.

She would stop by after work just to say hey...

how blessed we all felt that our grandparents had her.

She was more than a niece, more like a daughter and more than a friend.

It all seems so crazy and hectic in our lives right now.

I apologize for our absent from our business yet another week...

but right now it is most important for my children and I too be with family and friends.

I thank you for your loving support, prayers and good thoughts sent our way.

God Bless xo

{closed this week}

We are closed this week due to the death of my children's grandmother Arlene Blue.

We have known for some time how ill she had become, 

but didn't expect her to leave our earth just yet.

She was 1 month shy of her 60th birthday, 

it seems like such a young age....

My beautiful little dolls have lost both grandparents on their paternal side...

to say the least, it has been difficult for them :(

So I am closing up shop and going to be with the wonderful little angels God lent me, and showing them a fabulous time this week, despite all the chaos and depression going on here.

We are CELEBRATING LIFE!

We will reopen Wed June 16th.

We will return all emails and calls on Wed.

Thank you so much for your love and support!

{Our Summer to do List}

We decided that it would be a great idea if we made a Summer to Do List and see how far we got with it this year.  Capturing our moments along the way and enjoying all the special memories we create together.  I encourage you to make a list as well.

I discovered this idea on a random blog I came across this past winter.  

The lovely lady wrote it with colored markers on a poster board...

I of course needed to make this a bit more artistic and personal :)

So I added a special image that was near and dear to my heart

and little hearts by the destinations/idea

where we will add the date we accomplished our idea!

Kinda like a scrap booking idea of sorts!

Lots of images at the end of summer that we will turn into a DVD slideshow!!

See what comes of your summer!

We can't say that we are bored or have nothing to do, now can we?!

Though work does come first and play second!!!

We have already made our plans to go to the Museum of Science and Industry, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Field Museum!

Also, a trip to Indy to the Zoo 

and a relaxing trip to Michigan!

The trip to Indy and Michigan will involve work as well....

We are promoting our business with other wedding venues during our visits!

Also a few photog classes that we are attending as well.

It is great to take the kiddos to the conferences!

After we learn and work, we get to play :)

Can't wait to celebrate with the ones I love this summer, 

and enjoy the best job ever!

{Model Rep Cards}

This is and example of what the Model Rep Cards will look like!

The senior girls will have these cards to hand out to their friends.

Be on the outlook for them in your town and at your school...

if there isn't a rep at your school yet, contact us and apply!

{Our Brand New 12x24 Portrait Boards}

LOVE LOVE LOVE 

the new Portrait Boards we will be offering...

Something is just so sweet and delicious about 

"antique" photos

I love the old look of a portrait....especially the edges that they use to have!

I love this new Portrait Board.....which is actually a 12x24 portrait montage....

I love how it resembles a bunch of photos strewn around :)

I LOVE everything old when it comes to photos....yes that includes film!

Film was so wonderful and the look just cant be copied!

Don't get me wrong, the digital age is sweet bliss!

However, I love dreaming in antique print!

Remembering the qualities of a dark room.

Visualizing the image and taking in without checking it out on a LCD screen.

The *magic* of a polaroid.

Looking through old photographs of my grandmothers...

the edges were beautiful!

Some plain and some with a curvy little cut into them!!!

Lord knows how I wish we had some of those days back in the film era...

Hope you enjoy one of our new Portrait Boards!

{Senior Models Needed}

We are looking for Senior Models to represent our Portrait Boutique for the 2010-2011

graduating class!

If you are from the following schools send us an email and apply for the position!

Valparaiso High School (2)

Morgan Township High School (1)

Kouts High School (1)

Chesterton High School (2)

Washington Township High School (1)

Kankakee Valley High School (2)

so ladies, send in us an email and request an application!

We are looking for outgoing fun loving seniors that want Portrait Art!

If you are choosen as our Model Representative from you school you will receive the following:

Artistic Portrait Session

Copyrighted Proofs to share on Facebook and Myspace from session

DVD slide show of Artistic Images set to music!

   Model cards to hand out to your friends

How it works:

You choose  two or three locations that you would like to be photographed in/at around Porter County.  

After your modeling session, we will email you images to share on facebook and myspace to promote to friends and family.

You will receive  Model cards, that we design with the images that we choose!  You will hand them out all your friends!

Your friends make an appointment with our Portrait Boutique for and Artistic Portrait Session.

After your friend has been photographed and orders her portraits, you will receive 10% of her total order in FREE portraits!

Your friend will receive 24 FREE Wallets (same pose) of her favorite pose,  just for bringing in your

 Model Card!

It is a win win for you and your friend!

*MUST APPLY BY AUGUST 15th to qualify!!

{not work, but a whole lot of WORK}

This past weekend, we celebrated Memorial Day in honor

of all the military men and women who put their lives on the line for 

our own lives.  

They are truly amazing people and they need to be told that each and every day, not just one day a year...but it is nice that we have a special holiday

designed just for them!

We were able to have the weekend "off"

but it wasn't without work!

We worked on the patio area in the backyard.

It truly needed a lot of tlc.

We live on clay, so it is hard to get things growing...we hauled in a lot of black dirt for this project!

After starting a filling up the pond...we realized that it was not level :(  We had to remove and dig some more!

We set out the plants in the areas we were thinking we would like them to be placed.

And the finished projects....I LOVE the beach, so we added beach grass in 2 varieties around the patio!  I feel in a very zen sort of place now!  We sat out here Sunday night and listened to jazz music by the fire!  The lights at night make it look so darn pretty!

another angle....

We planted herbs around the pond and in the planter boxes.  We have  sage, 2 varieties of thyme, cilantro, dill, chives, 2 varieties of basil, rosemary in the boxes and lemon balm (great for tea) apple mint and pineapple mint around the pond with lavender.....which I love the smell of!


By the way, Scott aka Jack of  many trades, is for hire.  He is wanting to get his license in Gardening now!  He is a photographer as well as a landscaper....something he picked up a few years ago and is in LOVE with.  I think the whole artistic side of him really helps with the vision of gardens etc.  Not to mention, he honestly is a very hard working man and doesn't mind getting his hands dirty!  Hmmm, maybe a new business adventure is in the future....

 

I clearly could not of done this alone...Scott did all the digging!

I prepared the ground a few weeks before with my youngest daughter.  

There was a large mound of dirt (clay) to the left of this picture area that 

we dug out and flattened. 

It took us 7.5 hours to do that and clean out the pond from the winter mess it created.

I suppose I could of done all this with the kiddos, they are great helpers!

We would however still be working on in!

So happy it is finished....well almost.  We still have to edge it, but that will be later on this week or next!

It took almost 15 hours to dig, plant, and mulch...we had 2 small trips to get more mulch in there as well.

(we are only 5 min from Home Depot...it isn't like a long trip!)

I also took time this week to design a new template for images.

It is meant for a larger wall portrait.

I will share it later this week :)

It is still getting some tweaking!