personal :: winter at our house

as a birth photographer, i sometimes do secret work. work that's lovely and meaningful, but not for everyone to see. hence the quietness on this blog of late. 

but i've been shooting my own family like crazy. as a family photographer with some seasonal affective disorder, this is sort of therapy for me in the long winter season. and i have to say, friends, i'm lately really sentimental about my little people. because HOW are they suddenly so big, so capable, so smart... and so hilarious?! these days -- long as drag-on difficult as they sometimes are -- are numbered, and i'm grasping to capture them. 

so i give you our winter, in no particular order, in photos. mostly taken in the morning hours. 

I'm looking for a few good men -- er, families -- willing to invest in a half day family photojournalism session. without cleaning up first, without looking your best or trying to impress anyone at all. just you, as you are. read more here.

belly :: the ayoub family

Elizabeth and Nick are quickly approaching the EDD of their miracle baby girl. And while they wait, they are dating. I met up with them downtown as Nick was leaving his office for the day, and followed them around on a brief date around town: hot chocolate at Kilwin's, a walk through soft-falling snow around Rosa Parks Circle, and then some wandering around the city's famous old Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.

They were drawn to this form of maternity photos because they see this pregnancy as an unfolding story. We paused for a few belly portraits, but mostly they had a very typical date. Through it all, these two engaged in animated conversation, punctuated by laughter and bolstered by great affection. I might as well have been invisible. And that's exactly how I like short story photojournalism sessions to go. :)

snuggle :: the sissons

one of my recent rather impulsive ideas was indoor mini-sessions on a couch or bed in an otherwise empty room on a cold winter day. with hot chocolate and a roaring fire nearby. because is this not preferable to being outside in the frigid cold in your possibly not-very-cute winter gear?! yes, i think so. 

i needed someone to demo this idea, however, so i could show you all what i was envisioning. so i recruited these cuties to come over and test drive the concept. they rocked it. 

if you want a snuggle session for yourself, the tickets are on sale NOW.

here are the sissons, snuggled up -- complete with slippers, mugs, and blankets! 

birth :: lois joy

be warned. the story that follows is long. but it's a really, really good story.

lois' mama and daddy, charis and jordan, are our people. we do our everyday life with them. jordan is the only other staff at the stockbridge boiler room with my husband tim, and the nature of our church family and ministry is such that we are together multiple times a week, all up in each other's business, praying and dreaming together, sharing our things, and even pushing each other's buttons from time to time. ;) they actually live in our first house, the house where my own first two babies were born. 

tim and i lived in that little house the summer that jordan and charis told us, during a visit from KC, where they were living at the time, that they were about 12 weeks pregnant. but only days later, charis started to bleed. and so it was at this little house that they hunkered down to endure that sad delivery while me and my family vacated the premises to give them space.

later, they moved back to Grand Rapids and started living in this same little house. but it was well over a year before they would have another positive pregnancy test. as they waited -- with such honest wrestling and also incredible grace -- through more negative pregnancy tests than anyone should have to endure -- they faithfully kept their hands in the work God had given them, loved our children with gusto, and geared up to begin foster parenting (a call they'd felt on their lives for a long time). 

one day in May 2015, i went over to photograph them in the room they had made up for the two little boys they had just accepted a foster care placement for. sitting in that beautiful little room, they told me that they were pregnant again. shrieking, i threw myself on charis and happy cried with them. the timing was hilariously stereotypical: say yes to foster care or adoption, and immediately fall pregnant. why does that seem to happen so often?! but at this point, no one cared about being a cliche, because this was the best cliche ever. 

as charis' belly grew, she and jordan grew in their parenting grace as they invested themselves wholeheartedly in their foster sons. we watched them be transformed by their yes to parenting, however it would come for them. their foster sons were reunited with their blood family just a couple of months before charis' estimated due date. she turned the boys' bedroom into a nursery for their baby girl, did some house projects, finished up her jobs... and together they waited.

the morning of the day that their baby would be born, charis and jordan came to our house for breakfast, as they do nearly every friday. she confided that her water had broken that morning and there were a few promising signs that labor was imminent. we had breakfast, then parted ways. charis and jordan had an active day -- playing Just Dance 2016 (charis), babysitting a friend's child, sitting in meetings with my husband, and going for a run (jordan) -- but by late afternoon the contractions were getting more distracting. however, having it in their head that this process would take a long while, they hunkered down, anticipating a long night with the baby coming sometime the following day. 

at about 8 pm they called the midwife, sara (who is also my beloved midwife) to come check in because things felt very intense and though short, the contractions were very close together. they alerted me at this point, too. a few minutes after sara and her student becky arrived, i got a text that said, "sara says you should come quick!" luckily, i live two blocks away, so this was no problem. :)

it was harder to watch my friend in pain than i had anticipated. but she worked so hard and she was so fierce and strong. jordan was tender, fully present, and constantly flashing her the most loving and pleased smiles. then suddenly - just after 9 pm - THE moment was upon us. jordan was summoned by sara to "the other end" to catch his emerging daughter, who flew out in rather a hurry from her watery home and into her daddy's waiting hands. after clearing her mouth and patting her off with a towel, sara passed baby through charis' legs so that she could gather her up off the bed and up to her chest and kiss her little face. and then we were all just a tearful mess (and guys, i actually don't usually cry at births)!

this little girl is the culmination of prayers and longing and the fruit of ton of love. she's the luckiest to be born into a family with these parents. lois joy, we are so very glad to welcome you into our world and our lives. 

i have some openings left for 2016 births and fresh48 sessions. if you're at all interested, start the conversation ASAP.

life with a newborn :: jameson charles

oh, baby j! what a darling babe he is. his mom and dad decided to make me theirs, officially, for five years, starting with his birth. there aren't words to adequately say how happy that makes me. because watching this family grow through the years is going be awesome. 

jameson is about 4 months old here. his mama was home with him full time until just last week, at which point she returned to work. i watched from afar as karissa found the courage to leave him at daycare and go back to the office, wearing black as a way of mourning the end of a sweet season that had been all about her and him bonding and cozy at home. she did it, even if through tears, and was relieved to find that it wasn't as terrible as she feared, and that he did so much better than she imagined he would. they're going to be okay. 

this "newborn" session at home was done at around this big shift in their life to capture and celebrate their bond. a bond that will absolutely survive some distance on the weekdays. ;)

and though this is definitely NOT the point of the session, i really love the way nick and karissa have decorated and set up their home. it's definitely a bit of eye candy, trumped only by the chubby-thighed, blue-eyed baby who inhabits it. 

also: bull dogs! and a cello!


family photojournalism :: the tenderos

it's "off season" here, which means it's time to do some back-office work, add up all the miles i've driven in 2015 for tax purposes, tweak the website, and reflect some on my evolution as a photographer in the past years, as well as what i want to be/do in 2016. 

i've been thinking a lot about family photojournalism sessions, and how I can continue to refine how i communicate about them and shoot them for maximum impact and value. that's multifaceted. in thinking about that, i've been returning mentally to one of the first family photojournalism sessions i ever did. at the time i was calling them "Slice of Life" sessions. this was a portfolio piece, which means i begged my dear friends - who live every detail of their lives with intention and beauty - to let me test this idea out on them, and they graciously agreed. 

i gave them firm instructions not to dress up or do anything special. they obeyed. even though i knew her daughter's florescent green t-shirt was absolutely annoying to my friend, she stuck with the plan. they ignored me, they left their messes out, and i just shot away happily while they did their thing, just being a family. they did some homeschooling, played outside, welcomed dad home from work, prepped dinner, sat on the porch, had some screen time, chopped wood, and then sat down for a meal.

i'm sharing this one from the archives. it's very long (i spent an entire afternoon with them), but so full of beauty. 

(ps: if you make it to the end of this post, there's a little coupon code available for your use)

These friends have since moved from this house. They've been on long, testing, and life-changing journeys since we made these images. And looking at these photos now -- from an "era" in their family that feels so distant -- they seem even weightier with worth than ever. 

Book your own Family Photojournalism session between now and January 31st, 2016, and enjoy $50 off. When you contact me to set up your session, just mention the code MESSYANDREAL.