I'm Wide Awake | Stylized Winter Session

Very rarely do I get time to do something for me. We were in the middle of moving, life was crazier than it had been in months, it was the worst time to take two seconds out of my day to just play. That's when I KNEW this session was something I HAD to do. You should never be too busy to do things that are good for your soul.Taylor and I had been planning this session for a few weeks, waiting for the weather to break, waiting for me to make the feather jacket for her wardrobe, waiting on everything to be perfect. Another lesson that I learned during this- If you always wait for things to be "perfect" you will never do them. So on a a 20 degree, windy, winter day we headed out to capture a vision I had swirling in my mind. It felt so good to let go, be me, have no expectations, no results I HAD to get. It was just me, my model, and the camera. This is by far one of my favorite sessions I have EVER done. I find that when I am truly allowed to let go, I fall in love with my craft all over again. As time passes this year I am learning "photography" all over again. I am learning ME all over again, and it feels refreshing. I know not everyone will follow me on this journey, and that's ok, but I want you to take a look at what it looks like before you turn back:

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Special thanks to Taylor, my beautiful model, for helping me bring my vision to life and for providing the remaining wardrobe. You allowed me to feel alive again.... that means more to me than you can ever imagine.

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Photographed in Fort Gratiot, MI   |   AJBC Photography 2014

For the Full Beauty Gallery <---- click here!

Check out Brooke's Dark Beauty Gallery here!

For some magic beauty check out Katie in the red Dress!

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The Girl with the Apple

As I sit here and plan for a really awesome, super stylized session in the snow this weekend, I think back to last year when the snow started to thaw- I made a BIG change in my company.  I booked a few shoots and opened my mind. I feel like THIS session was the first time I had REALLY felt alive while I was shooting in a very, very long time. Many, many people have brought up, and still bring up, this session to me, saying, "...the little girl with the apple..." Who would have thought a gorgeous little girl and 1 red apple would start something so big and stick in so many people's minds when it came to AJBC! That makes me so so happy. I wanted to revisit some of my fav shots of that session with you!(Plus give a special thank you to her and her mom for 100% trusting me and the vision I had created for them... along with being amazing and finding an all white wardrobe in the middle of winter!)

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Check out our full family gallery!

For more adorable little ones check out Rebka's gorgeous outdoor session!

For another unique kids shoot check out Corbin's 6th month photoshoot! 

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Dress Up for the Grown Ups

Boudoir. What a fancy word. It sounds classier than just saying bedroom. It almost gives it a sense of beauty, a sense of whimsical privacy.

To many women as of late it means- I want to wear lingerie and get photographed for my special someone. But to a photographer, it shouldn't mean that. For me, it meant- I want to put on next to nothing and have you photograph me for a long time. When I first started out I just didn't "get it." Not being an overly sexy person myself, I wasn't interested in it. I had some requests for it but never got overly excited about it, and there for, that's probably why I never shot any sessions. Then... I started to get in to pin up photography. It was a FUN version of boudoir for me! But as I photographed more and more pin ups I realized something. It wasn't about the hair, it wasn't about the clothes. It was about 1 thing.

Feeling beautiful.

It was also about being confident, and loving who you are and loving someone else enough to share that.

And slowly, I started to really, really fall in love with Boudoir photography.

First off, what girl doesn't like to get pampered?A morning where you don't have to stress about getting your foundation on right, you don't have to figure out how on earth those models get their hair to look so dang perfect. You just sit back and when you're done- you find yourself looking like you stepped out of a magazine. You feel like you have it going on, because you do! Then you get to go to a studio where you play with shoes, jewelry, lace, pearls, sparkles. I don't care how old you are- playing dress up is FUN! You get to transform. EVERY DAY you walk around in what you probably feel is something that doesn't scream- LOOK AT ME, I'm FABULOUS! (Hey- if you do- you go girl!) But THIS, this is totally a time to do that!! And when it's all said and done, you get that moment that you get to keep forever to look back on in your images! You get to carry that moment out.

THAT'S the part I love.

I get to to help you dig deep and be confident enough to do something daring- because why not- it's just us in the studio!

It's YOUR time. I LOVE THAT!

But the best, best, best part is when you get to see your images for the first time and you literally SCREAM in my studio bc you can't believe what you've been missing out on, inside you, this whole time!

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Vintage Maternity Session

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There's nothing I love more than beautiful, glowing sun, and a vintage flair. This session has both- plus a gorgeous mom, in a gorgeous dress.... some things were just meant to be.