family photojournalism :: the malinowskis

in

"I was wondering if you've ever done a photojournalism session in the woods?" she asked. 

The truth was, I hadn't. Except little tidbits of it with my family on our own adventures and trips. But the idea was a brilliant one, particularly for THIS family, who so loves and frequents the outdoors together. She explained that nature walks were something they often did together as a family and wanted documented, but because they were so busy simply enjoying one another, and because they'd had a string of broken camera issues, they were lacking photos of this favorite past time. I asked her to tell me more about a typical hiking adventure for their family. It included nature guidebooks, their dog Molly, the collecting of beautiful things, the stopping to wonder and explore. 

Jessica and Eric have a real gift for being present to one another and to their world. Hiking through Seidman Park for a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon was such a gift to  my harried soul. We saw so many beautiful things around us, and I got to see so many beautiful things between them. 

Come for a walk with us...

 

If you look at this and your wheels start to spin with ideas for your own out-of-home family photojournalism session, I'd like to hear more about it. You can tell ANY story in this way, and I'd be so happy to collaborate with you on it. Maybe you have a special weekly experience with your daughter's dance class, a favorite restaurant you frequent, or an upcoming trip to the beach that you'd like to capture? The sky's the limit, friends. Dream on!

mini-sessions :: fall 2014 (Part 2)

in

We had the prettiest evening for the October mini-sessions, and some beautiful people to work with. Though this is definitely not the point of having a smile session or mini-session, it is a perk: to get outside and wander around in natural beauty, when you might otherwise have stayed indoors in front of a screen. 

enjoy this little sampling of images..

For those who wanted to get in on Mini-Sessions this fall but missed the boat, I'll be offering them again in the late Spring, probably in May sometime. It will be one of my first post-maternity-leave activities. Stay tuned!

personal :: a church story

in ,

if you've read the "about" section of my website you know that i'm married to a pastor, who is the overseer of a small prayer community in a neglected neighborhood in our city. together we've lived here 4 years (though i lived here before marrying him, too). it's home. our work here looks many days like simply living here and showing up and trying to show our neighbors -- whose families are mostly all so broken and painful -- what the Family of God is like, and to be sure they know that they're invited into it. no matter how they look or what they've done or who they are, the Father calls them Home to himself. that's the good news of the gospel of Jesus. 

and in the last few years we started to see that some of the neighbors we've been walking with so long at our weekly community meals (and in other interactions throughout the week) are calling their gatherings with us "church," and are hungry to know more about who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. so we started something a little more like a church meeting, which means it includes some pre-planned worship, a time to hear a teaching or participate in a round-table discussion of a part of the Bible, and some time to pray for one another. we'd been doing it in our three-stall garage, which we converted into a permanent prayer room and meeting place several years ago. but this year, we felt nudged to move it to the same polish hall we rent for our weekly community meals (called Love Feasts), and to a Wednesday night (instead of Sunday), so that more folks might find it accessible and welcoming. 

this past week we held our first church gathering in the hall,  on a wednesday night, immediately before Love Feast. i was happy to see that several friends who haven't joined in the church gathering in the prayer garage chose to take a seat in the circle up in the hall before love feast, where they worshipped, and listened, and even wept. 

i invite you to come along with me to the first gathering of the stockbridge boiler room church family... on a wednesday night.. in a polish hall... followed by a shared meal around the table. 

note: because we meet in a polish hall and this gathering happened on the eve of Pulaski Days, there were many beer banners being hung on the walls as we met. :)

family photojournalism :: the malefyts

in ,

the occasion for this in-home session is an upcoming goodbye. ashley contacted me about it shortly before they put their home of the last seven years on the market (it sold within a week!). this home, which they thought they'd never leave, which has been the one to which each of their 5 babies was brought home from the hospital (or the airport, in the case of olive's adoption), where there have been a million home-improvement projects (some unfinished), and the heights of growing children recorded on the hallway walls. this home... so special, and filled with a gazillion memories, which ashley knew were likely to grow dim in the spaces and details of it weren't recorded somehow. 

so, i joined the malefyts for the preparations and eating of breakfast-for-dinner, a final recording of heights on the wall, the reading of bedtime stories and the tucking in of the bigs, then the after-hours party the littles are still permitted to stay up for, and which included nursing and porch-sitting. 

and all the while, i was smiling in my heart. this session made me want a big family. ashley and karl make it look SO fun. at first, they kept apologizing to me for all the noise and chaos. but the point is, it's HAPPY noise, happy chaos. and so beautiful to me. and what i hope these images can remind ashley and karl of is this (it is also what i hope to remind all of my family photojournalism clients of): that what they have been given, and who they have been given, is a tremendous gift. 

as a side note: ashley and karl operate a hugely successful photography studio in the city, producing jaw-dropping gorgeous portraits of children and families. i mean, these are the sorts of portraits you blow up onto huge canvases and hang on your biggest walls. check them out here. 

find out more about family photojournalism sessions here.

life with a newborn :: hazel

in

hazel june (yes, she shares a name with my own daughter!) was the first baby born in the birth suite at Grand Rapids' first free-standing, midwife-staffed, out-of-hospital birth space, Cedar Tree Birth & Wellness, a place i'm so excited now exists. hers was a quiet and smooth birth, two adjectives that you could also use to describe her parents. 

dana is a counselor and russ is a musician. together they've made this nurturing and peaceful home, filled with the sounds of records playing and the wild greenery of growing things. two times i came into their home to photograph them in their newborn haze. the first time we had grey skies and funky moods, and though we still got some lovely shots out of it, i asked them if i could come back for a supplemental session when there was some sunshine streaming in the windows. from that session came even more loveliness. my favorite: the ones in which russ is playing his cello for his wife and daughter. i actually would have been quite happy to take off my photographer hat in that moment and just linger a long while in the music. 

i love this little baby girl's wild blond hair, and her wide eyes. i love the way she is being held in quietness and affection. and i especially love what her mama had to say about her experience of motherhood thus far: 

I believe four weeks of motherhood can only be described in moments. I have felt much gratitude for a healthy baby and supportive husband, awe that this beautiful being grew inside of me, disbelief that I was ever pregnant, overwhelmed, isolated, speechless, in love, humored, lucky, and definitely blessed to be a mother.

these early days with a newborn are a story worth telling, a sliver of life that feels both eternal and fleeting. have me come by and catch it for you, so you can revisit it whenever you want.