baby blue eyes

My friend and her baby visited from New Jersey over the weekend. This is the first of many photos of this gorgeous little girl.

six days old

Here's a sneak peek from the session I did on Sunday. At only six days old, he slept most of the entire time and was extremely patient with all of my posing him and moving him around. What a cutie!

head swimming

Where on earth have I been? Everywhere but here, apparently. I've been doing photo shoots, working my shrinking patootie off at the gym, spending time working in the garden, and planning and formulating. I cannot seem to stop moving, and it's a great feeling!

Ever since Leah's workshop, my brain has been on overload, deciding what I want my photography business to be. I know I want it to be a side job - I need my day job for a consistent paycheck and the health insurance. I don't want it to become work work - a fun hobby that turns into a job I dread. I never want to lose that sparkly, giddy, FUN feeling that comes from photography, and I never want to stop learning new things. I'll keep you posted in the upcoming weeks with all sorts of new and exciting happenings.

Here are a a few photos from last Friday's session. Aren't they just the cutest family? We had a blast working together and the kids had fun thinking up their own poses. Then there was pasta. Lots of it. And ice cream.

creative overload

Here is a photo I took of Rachel, a gorgeous 15 year-old who modeled for Leah Profancik's workshop over the weekend. I had SO MUCH FUN at that workshop. Everyone was so nice and supportive, Leah was sweet and generous and shared a ton of knowledge with us, and my head threatened to explode with creative ideas. 

More to come in the days ahead. For now, I'll leave you with a few photos of Leah's bright and airy studio. Feel free to drool - we sure did!

scenes from a spring evening

high-flying ellen

I don't have a lot of artsy photos of Ellen - unlike Katie, modeling is not her thing. So when I saw her jumping on the trampoline on Easter, her bright red and pink outfit popping against the blue sky, I couldn't run for my camera fast enough. These photos completely capture her plucky personality.

katie's 13th birthday portraits

Katie woke up on Easter morning with the most amazing bed head. She'd gone to sleep with it wet, and it dried overnight into all sorts of quirky curls and scraggly swirls. I took one look at her, then at the amazing golden morning sunlight in the yard, and said, "Get dressed. We're doing your birthday portraits."

She had all sorts of fun jumping around with her crazy hair, and I couldn't get enough of the gorgeous backlighting on my gorgeous niece.

200th post!

Sometimes I like to photograph my beer in the driveway before drinking it.

This is my 200th post on Blogger! What better way to celebrate than a St. Patrick's Day glass of Guinness?

me

This week in Susannah's class we're exploring memories in photos, both good and bad, and looking at ourselves the way we were. I began sorting through a box of old photos, searching for something that sparked an especially strong memory, when these fell out of an envelope.

There are two things in my past that cause me intense rage to talk about. One of them is my years at Lutheran school. Above, scattered across the lawn, are the faces of some of the worst people I've ever met in my life; my tormentors, my bullies, my attackers, and the teachers who watched it happen and did nothing.

I sometimes wonder why I keep them. I could easily use them for kindling and make a lovely fire to warm my hands. But I don't think I could do that to the girl whose photo is on every sheet. It was her battle and she survived it, and I owe it to her to remember. Me. The girl in the black pants and the chunky shoes with a leaf on the toe, standing in her yard on a windy day in March.

the magical flying dress

This is the dress I want to wear to my brother's wedding in August. I got a great deal on it, and it's been waiting in my closet. Unfortunately, I need to lose some poundage before I can fit into it. I decided to take a photo of it to stick on my refrigerator, thus motivating me to eat lots of veggies and hop on the treadmill more often.

So I gathered up my dress, set up the shot, and clicked away. I'm sure my neighbors were thinking, "oh, look, there's that wierd girl who photographs her clothes outside."

It's 60 degrees here today and windy.

Oh no! And there it goes, crumpling to the ground. Which is what I will do if this dress doesn't fit in five months.

favorite things, part one

This week in Susannah's class, we are taking photos of our favorite objects - things we keep for sentimental reasons or things we just love. Above are my grandma's wedding rings. They are so tiny - she was just 5'1" and 90 lbs. when she married my grandpa. I do not take after her! I hadn't realized how pretty these rings are. They need to be cleaned, and in person are much smaller than they appear in the photo. My grandparents didn't have much money starting out. My grandma moved off her family's farm, and my grandpa was barely back from World War II when they got married. They bought a little house, he got a job, and they had a baby girl who would eventually become my mom.


This is my grandpa's glass eagle. He kept it on his desk at Dow Corning where he was an accountant. After he died in 1993, my mom gave it to me since I was in college and was so inspired to have a successful career like him. When I got sick with Lyme disease-but-didn't-know-it-was-Lyme-disease in 2004, I held it while I laid on the couch, feverish, hallucinating, and crushingly exhausted. It felt so cool in my hands and I'd just clutch it and hope that some of his strength would help me through. I always had it with me when I went to sleep those first few months of being sick.



Meet Plumpy. She was my favorite doll as a toddler. She is hard, hollow, painted plastic, and now that I really look at her, has a rather unsettling smile on her face. I don't know if she was named Plumpy by the manufacturer or by me, but it sure fits. Especially the side view. It's kind of like how I look after a big taco dinner.

winter reflection

This week in Susannah's class, we are photographing our reflections. Here I am, reflected in my garage window.

Last week we had to list our most important turning points in our lives, beginning with birth, in just 10-20 items. Yikes. It's interesting that most of my turning points are negative; is it because I learned so much from them? When I look back on them now, I'm nothing but proud for having survived it all.

• Nov. 30th, 1969, I was born, a Sagittarius with red hair and chubby cheeks.
  
  
• 1976 - our family moved from Midland to Auburn. I missed my friend Rosanne. Began Lutheran school. Lutheran school was horrid, awful, and evil.
  
  
• 2nd through 8th grades were sheer horror, trauma, and grinding stress. I was bullied, picked on, and excluded. My parents told me to "ignore it and it'll go away." It didn't.
  
  
• At age 11, my uncle began being, um, inappropriate with me. I never told. I thought he was just another bully. I thought if I ignored it, it would go away. It didn't.
  
  
• 1983 - Graduated from 8th grade and began high school. LOVED high school. I had friends for the first time. Joined clubs. Met Beth, who is my friend until this day.
  
  
• Age 17 - graduated from high school, a completely different person than the awkward 13 year old who first entered.
  
  
• July 2, 1989 - finally told my family about my uncle after a final incident. My aunt, who was like my second mother, told me I was making it all up to get attention, and that I deserved everything I got. She said I was a crazy, unstable, spoiled girl who lied her way through life. My uncle admitted nothing and actually laughed like it was a joke. This is a long, painful story, so I'll stop here. This is the single most traumatic thing that has ever happened to me.
  
  
• September, 1989 - left home and went to Western Michigan University. Spent the first year locked in my dorm room, overwhelmed with what had happened in our family.
  
  
• February, 1991 - Had first serious boyfriend.
  
  
• Met Laura after breakup with serious boyfriend. Had a blast that crazy summer, going out every night, dancing, watching 90210, had my own apartment.
  
  
• Earned Bachelor of Arts. Decided to go for Master's degree. Spent two years overworked, underslept, going to school full time, working full time, and figure skating four times a week. Earned my Master of Fine Arts degree. The proudest day of my entire life.
  
  
• My grandpa, one of my greatest influences in my life, died.
  
  
• My nieces were born.
  
  
• 1996 - moved to New York City with Laura and worked in the book publishing industry. Dated, went out in the city, became stronger and more independent.
  
  
• 2000 - turned 30, moved back to Detroit area. I question that decision to this day. It was a major crossroads - did I go the right way? Expected my 30's to rock. They didn't.
  
  
• Got a job, bought a house, got a boyfriend, became involved with community theater.
  
  
• Contracted Lyme disease in 2004, but didn't know it was Lyme for a year and a half. Doctors thought I was crazy or had multiple sclerosis. I have never been so scared or sick. Boyfriend broke up with me. My grandma died. It was a bad year.
  
  
• Halloween, 2005, finally diagnosed with Lyme. Began three years of soul-sucking hellacious treatment.
  
  
• Slowly recovered, got two pomeranians, focused on my photography and general creativity, worked really hard to make sense of the past five years.
  
  
• Got onstage for the first time and loved it.

the big reveal

I'm here! I really am! I've just been extremely busy with theater, work, and life that I'm hardly ever home. As proof, my Christmas tree was up until this morning and my laundry hasn't been done for two weeks.

Here's further proof of my existence: me at a retirement party I photographed on Thursday (work-related) with two co-workers (faces blurred so as to protect their identities). Don't I look just exhausted?

Apparently I can barely keep my eyes open.

Here's me, in a photo accidentally taken by another co-worker as I handed her my camera. Because we always spend our evenings hanging out by the men's room.

Anyway, I have BIG, EXCITING NEWS! Presenting . . .

Yes, it's official. I finally have my own photography website. Whoo-hooo! It took so much longer to put together than I expected, and there are still things I want to tweak.

If you had photos taken by me and are clicking on the "client login" link, please know that this will be fully functional this week. I am still working out the details of pricing and Paypal, so hold tight. You'll receive a password by e-mail when it's good to go.

This website will speed up my workflow in a huge way. The biggest obstacle for me has been finding a way to post proofs for people to view in a timely manner. Now, at the same time they look at their session, they can order prints right away. Fun for everyone!

Oh, and you'll notice that I am calling my photography website "limelight" instead of "lymelight". I figured that naming my business after a dehabilitating disease was not quite the feel I wanted. But never fear! Different spelling; same lymie freshness!

So click here or on the logo above and go check it out. Let me know what you think!