CLIENT PROOFS |  KIDS/NEWBORNS |  SO IN LOVE  |  SENIORS | 
BOUDOIR |  MATERNITY |  FAMILY  | 

Attention Class of 2011



Summer is right around the corner and this years juniors are already starting to think about their senior pictures. Every "senior to be" usually always has one thing in mind, They want their pictures to be different from everyone elses. I totally agree, you are not like everyone, so why would you want the same pictures as everyone else? This is your time to basically call the shots and have the pictures you always wanted. And I am more than happy to deliver that to you.

One big thing you will not find with me is...

* No cheesy backdrops. I am an all on-location photographer so you get to pick the location you would like and that helps reflect your personality best.

We also will these the 1980 poses back in the 80's. You'll find classic and fun portraits here.

Meet Sophie, one of my senior reps for the 2011 class for Brandywine HS.




She is such a classic beauty and she completely cracks me up. I love our sessions that we have had. She's a wonderful student, an amazing piano player, and the love she has for her family ((especially her sisters)) is admirable.

Sophie, your wonderful, even when you look and act dorky ((just kidden =))....I love it!!








Next is Emily. Her sister Bethany and I have been friends for quite sometime now. Emily is currently being home schooled and for people who are not home schooled I think we have this mind frame that is far from the truth. Emily seems to genuinely love it. She is so super cute and just has that sweet, girl next door feel going on. But don't let her fool you, she has a FIERCE side that came through in her pictures too..



I mean F'REAL...AYKM? I love it!




I am currently booking for Senior Portraits. Contact me at simplygorgeousphotography@gmail.com to find out how we can make your senior pictures completely unique, gorgeous, and oh yeah....affordable.

Check out the website to see more at HERE

Simply {Family}



Oh...my...sweet...goodness.....it feels like I haven't blogged in forever!

Been pretty busy though and I 100% LOVE it! The weather has been pretty nice out and summer is just around the corner.
On an exceptionally nice day a few weeks ago I met up with the Crabtree family at one of my new favorite parks in South Bend.
I have known Renee (Mama Crabtree) for quite sometime now. She was the older, eclectic sister too one of my BFF's. I think she is the one who introduced me to Violent Femmes "Blister in the Sun" when I was about 13. Anywho...she's all grown up now with a beautiful family and runs a very successful business that she started all on her own. I contacted her back in January to see if she could help me put together a new website. See... when it comes to technical things like websites, if you don't show me something, there is no use in telling me because I won't understand. Don't "You gotta find html codes and blah, blah,blah" me. But with her help and the fabulous showit site peeps my new site is better than I could of imagined.

So we worked out a little deal....she helps me and I get to spend a beautiful afternoon following around her family and their bee-u-tee-ful puppy. Ummmm...I totally think I got the better end of the stick =)

So with out further ado......The Crabtree Family...


Check this next one out...can you see the little interaction between the little girl (Bailey) and their puppy (yes she's still a puppy).



Here is the newest Crabtree family member Lucy.


Now I have watched many episodes of "The Dog Whisper" so you would think I would have enough common sense to not baby talk to Lucy and get her all riled up, but..............I didn't. She's an Airedale and has the softess coat/hair/fur.

Now meet the cuteness that is Bailey and Tai.


Look at those eyes! Almost identical. This kinda captures their personalities quite good. Tai seems to be quite serious, the thinker. Bailey....she just wants to do her own thing (a girl after my own heart)

But one thing is certain, they sure do love each other.


We walked quite a bit and finally reached a park and let the kids play for a little bit.

Tai played restaurant. Towards the end, and after already ordering quite a bit of things he informed me I must order 9 more things so that he could reach his daily goal. So I did as I was told =)


And Bailey took off to the tube slide.


Then we tried to sneek a shot or two of just mom and dad

(( there is a whole lot of love between those two let me just say))

Then our session came close to an end. Like any 5 and 3 year old picture time can only go on for so long before we hit a wall and some meltdowns are close by. And that's the last thing I want.
So I took mom off for some headshots and meanwhile told Bailey to stay behind and try to lick her elbow.

((come on, you know it's funny))



Go check Renee out at http://www.myassistantcan.com




There are even more pictures from my session with the Crabtree family here.

Stay tuned....next up is our GORGEOUS 2011 Senior Reps!!


I heart Faces





Mmmmmmmmm....dessert..............

This week I heart faces's theme is DESSERTS! Here in Michigan the weather is just starting to break and we are trading our normal puffy winter coats for flimsy spring ones, or perhaps no coats at all!

No other dessert reminds me more of summer than Grape Salad.

First start off with 1.5-2.0lbs of both green and red (washed and dried) grapes.



Discard any over mushy/broken ones. Hey, we can't all make it to the big dance...



Then in a separate bowl add 8oz of softened cream cheese and 8oz of sour cream and dump 1/2 cup of sugar on top...


Then grab yourself some oh-so-yummy vanilla. Add about a cap full..



Then whip it all up into a fluffy concoction of sinfulness...



Then add the grapes and coat everyone of them lil buggers until all nutritional value has been all covered up....


At this time a few wanders may come your way. Don't let them down....share the love...


Now transfer the grapes to a longer, more shallow dish. You have to do this because your about to add a delightful topping and it's of the upmost importance that every grape gets covered. Yes you have to dirty a whole new dish, but my hubby does the dishes so really what do I care? =)


The recipe call to cover it in 1 cup of brown sugar, but I'm a good girl and usually only use 1/2 of 3/4 of a cup.

Then take some pecans...I don't know about half a bag and throw them in the food processor..



And give them a few pulses, you want them fine but not a pecan flour


And go ahead and slather em on top.


And Wa-La! Yummy Yummy Grape Salad. It's like a summer on a plate.

HEY!!!! What the?.....



Oh it's just Ava. When you melt your mama's heart you are basically free to do as you please.




Grape Salad
1.5lbs of green grapes
1.5lbs of red grapes
8oz of soft cream cheese
8oz of sour cream
1/2 cup of sugar
small cap full of vanilla

Topping:
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 bag of chopped pecans




Simply {Check it out}





Guess what????



Simply {Gorgeous} Photography has an official WEBSITE!!

It's still a project that's in the works. Hoping to add the last few final touches on it within the next few weeks.

But come check it out and let me know what you think.

I Heart Faces Entry...


I {heart} faces theme for this week is "bundled up".



Just look how that little girl is not only bundled up with her puffy coat and faux fur hood, but also in her mama's love.




Simply {Boudoir}


First off..........

I did my very first bridal show this past weekend. I was nervous. Very nervous and very excited. Because really, that I know of, I am the only woman photographer around this area that is pursuing boudoir photography. Some photographers may dable in it, but I really want to bring it main stream. So when women think to themselves "oh, that would be so awesome to do, what in the heck do you even call sexy pictures", they will now know it's boudoir photography and it really is no longer a taboo word.

Because I guarantee you 95% of woman have thought about it. Every woman wants to feel sexy. Every woman wants to break out of the everyday mold and do something maybe even she is not expecting. And helllllooo, show me a man that doesn't want to see pictures of his woman feelin confident and sexy.

But let me just THANK YOU so much for all the brides that stopped by my booth. I think some woman were shocked, some were intrigued and some were excited and some were all three. But the overall response was positive and it just instills in me that this is were I'm supposed to be, and this is what I should be doing.





Secondly,

Here are a few images from the "Better late than never Valentine" boudoir marathon. A few amazing woman did amazing jobs and I actually had the opportunity to speak to one of the girl's boyfriend personally and he RAVED about how awesome his girl looked and how much fun she had.

That makes me happy =)









Simply {PLease LAWD!!!}


I about fell over this morning while doing my check-in at facebook with my cup-o-joe. I {heart} faces is doing one heck of an awesome giveaway....a FREE (my favorite price tag) spot to Amy Wenzel's May workshop.

Ummmmm helllllooooo... this is the Amy Wenzel. What an exciting opportunity, not to mention the loads of awesome knowledge my brain can soak up as well as hopefully connecting with fellow photographers and perhaps new friendships. I'm all about new friendships =). Senior season is upon us and I would be over the moon to learn so many things from her and apply it this year, and the years to come.

I live in southwest Michigan and she is located just about 3 hours north of me in Grand Rapids. As a mother to 3 and a wife to a grad student, travel far and wide is just something that is not feasible to me. But guess what??? Traveling 3 little measly hours is =) So come on and shoot some positive vibes my way while reading my entry, MY STORY-How I inspire others. I hope it inspires you!





My life really began at 16. For many people they say their life started at 26,27,28,ect when you typically get married, buy a home and perhaps start a family. I did all this at 16. My life took a different turn than what I had expected one early May morning when I should have been at my first class, but instead I was staring at a pregnancy test with weak knees as the two lines stared right back at me.


Those nine months were a whirlwind of ups and downs. I gathered the courage to tell my parents that their teenage daughter was pregnant, I finished high school through correspondence(2 years ahead of schedule), I married my wonderful husband, we bought a home and welcomed our little baby girl just 1 month shy of my 17th birthday.


The first four years were very hard, I’m not gonna lie. My husband and I were growing up. We were growing up together, and sometimes apart. We were both going to college, raising our daughter, working full time, and just the stress of everyday life was sometimes overwhelming. But it only seems this way when I look back on it. At the time I felt like I had it all, because basically I did. I learned so much about myself those first four years that I would never trade them for anything. I found out I was much braver, stronger, smarter, loving, stubborn, and hard-working than I thought. My confidence grew and grew and so my outlook to tackle more things grew as well.


My husband joined the Air Force and we moved to California. We spent another four years out their and welcomed our son during that time. We had no real family or friends out there so we were basically all by ourselves. We grew together, all four of us, so close as a family. We had no real outside influences. It was our time to grow together, just us, and I am so thankful that.


Now we are back home in Michigan. Which if we hadn’t moved back to Michigan, we may of had not welcomed the newest addition Ava Marley Mae into our family. And a crazy idea with a friend of mine bloomed into a new love of photography may of not happened. You just never know where life will take you.


My husband and I just celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary. We have three beautiful children together. Each and every step in the journey to come to this point is in no way where I thought I’d be. But in all honesty I threw out plans years ago, and all I do is live in the moment.


I hope my photography/story inspires other photographers to throw out all those negative feelings that may hold them back. Don’t be scared. If I was scared of the “what ifs” all throughout my life, look at all the wonderful things I would be giving up.While I have not been into photography long I think my story reflects the kind of person I am and I hope that shines through in my photographs.

I took a fairly big step diving into the world of Boudoir Photography. No other photographer really around my area does this so at first I thought there might be some negative feelings from others about it. But I believed in it more than my fear about it. Does that make sense? =)



My favorite quote

“Do not follow where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail” -Ralph Waldo Emerson.


I hope

* You are your biggest cheerleader. You have to believe in yourself for others to follow suit. So go ahead and toot your own horn.


*Don’t be scared if you had a vision for your photography, but as you learn and grow your ideas morph into another


*Do connect with each one of your clients. Treat them as you would a friend, and more than likely they will become one.


*Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Your client hired you for you and your photography, so why try to be someone and shoot like someone your not.


*Take pictures that reflect your client. And then add a little of your style in the mix.


*Connect with other photographers. I love making new friendships.


*Love what you do, and do what you love. period.



Encourage one another-

-Kelly