Sophie Senior Pictures

 An afternoon with Sophie is a pleasure.  We started off by going to Wayne State and getting a few shots by the  reflecting pool and talking about the college experience.  I got to pick her brain endlessly about color guard for my girl, Kali, who is in love with the color guard.

Then we scooted off to Belle Isle and stopped anywhere that looked good.  The red bridge was one that she and I both wanted to go to.  The willow trees are right next to the bridge and obviously the light was cooperating with us.
For the bridge and the pier shot I used a high quality UV filter to make sure she didn't get washed out.
We stayed with the 35mm for the shoot though.  I had talked with Sophie and she knew what she wanted.  That being said - she was also more than willing to try an poses I wanted.  We ended up with a pretty wide variety.

Starting 7th grade

Going into 5th grade

Detroit Riverwalk

 Just a few shots from our river walk.  There are beautiful things all over in Detroit.

                                                            

Oh Cranbrook, how do I love thee...

Another scouting trip...                                           

Cranbrook, a museum/ private school/ outdoor gorgeous world near us... is well, gorgeous.  Every time I go there I find new places that are begging to have a family shot set-up.  I take the kids and make them pretend to be a family getting their picture taken.  It's really a win for me - I end up with lots of cool pictures of my kidlets and I also have location shots I can show clients!

 

Below is a favorite!

 

 

The one above nearly makes me want to be a more fastidious gardener.  Almost.

 

Camping next to band camp...

 I took the 4 kids camping this weekend to the camp where all the band families go for the week in our town.  There were dozens of kids there for mine to pal around with and every night we could scoot across the street and see the how far the band had gotten in their routine.  MAN, those kids work hard.  No, seriously,  those kids work hard.  They range from 8th grade to 12th grade and they are working their behinds off.

My older 2 sons want to be in the Marching band, so I thought we would go and we could check it out and the boys could see what it was all about.  Well, by the time we left, my niece, who lives in our district, decided she was all about color guard too.  So, I guess it was a good trip.  The kids were mesmerized and I can think of worse things than learning a killer work ethic.

I, of course, had the opportunity to shoot the camp.  It was nice and I know a lot of the kids already and they were fun to photograph.

The last 3 shots are from the last night.  The seniors march down the lane by their cabin and the rest of the band line the street.  At the end the entire band meets in the middle and they hug and they cry.  It is very emotional and sweet and powerful.  There is a lot to be said for rites of passage.

State Parks...

 I am not sure if we could have asked for better weather.  Camping in Michigan when it is about 83 degrees during the day and nice and cool during the night.  A weekend of being unplugged.  And how weird is it for me that my feet look like the small ones in the dirty feet picture?  Ahk, they are definitely not little ones anymore (well the older 3... I still have the wee one)

                                                                  

 

                                        

 

                                                                           

   now it is time to have a real shower...

Gone camping

See you in a few days, my crew is going to unwind in the woods...

The Awesome Allens in Fabulous Ferndale

 A sneak peek of a super fast/ super fun photo shoot.  (you can see location doubles below in our scout shoot from the other day) We had a break in the weather and moved fast.  I used the 35mm again for this shoot - no filters today.  It was quite overcast. What a gorgeous family - right?  And little Emmit was a joy, ready for anything.

Walk downtown to "scout" photo backgrounds

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 We walked to Downtown Ferndale today, grabbed some ice cream at Treat Dreams and checked out some spots I want to use for a family photo shoot I have later this week.

I used the 35mm 1:1.8  again.  I do love that lens.

 We took Rex with us for the walk.  Notice him on the side?  Rex is a big part of our family right now.  Sage was initially terrified of him and slowing warmed up to him and now he likes to take him and pretend that he is eating up people, dogs etc.  He finds it so hilarious.  I need to remember to tell people who are having toddlers photographed that sometimes a familiar toy that brings them joy can change everything.  Sage only sat down with the rest of the fellas after Rex was seated with them as well.