We met this awesome couple last year at a friend’s Halloween party.  They are originally from Iowa, where my husband is from and where I spent 7 years of my life.  We love to chit chat about Iowa and how great it is to not live there anymore…just teasing. Leah and Brad won my portrait session at last year’s auction to benefit the school that our kids attend. We knew it would be a holiday time shoot for them, but I was excited to finally work with them. The girls are adorable twins full of spunk and humor.  Their son is a ball of energy, full of life and humor too!

Definitely watch this to get the whole take on the shoot, there are hilarious video clips….

My words are difficult to pull together right now, there are so many thoughts that I want to put down and they are all racing through my head in an unorganized manner.  I’m supposed to be working on my client’s images but instead, I’m trying to rush through this blog post so I can share these images of my own family. I’m so in love with them!

There have been a few events in my life this year that have made me wake up and realize that I need to practice what I preach; a kick in the head so-to-speak. I have never hired another professional photographer to take photographs of my own family.  I decided this summer to contact Deb Schwedhelm, an amazing photographer and artist who lives in Tampa. I have been following her work on Facebook for some time now, had been following her blog (read this post) and I’m absolutely in love with her style.  I knew she was the right photographer to capture exactly what I wanted of me and my family, together, happy, healthy, loving and having fun.

Family sessions are really popular at this time of year, getting ready for the holidays and such.  If you have not made the decision to have your photographs taken, do it now. NOW. I don’t care who you hire as long as it’s someone whose style you LOVE, not like, LOVE.  Hire someone who you know will give you the results you desire, who will show generations to come who your family is and how you felt at that exact moment. Search for that person- it’s so worth the investment to have those treasured memories!

I have thanked Deb about a thousand times by now, but I’ll do it again and think it every time I see my photographs.  I am so completely thrilled with them and hope you will enjoy getting to know me as ME, not a photographer, but a wife, mother and individual.

Find Deb here: Facebook, blog

After Michele Van Son had introduced me to this place to shoot, I had to take my kids there. Nathan had been out of town for the weekend so the kids and I got to go play.  As you can see- we all had fun.  The images of them sitting together playing came from me saying to them, “Okay just play, pretend I’m not here,” and that’s what they gave me.  I may have prompted the hugs and kisses on the cheek….

James and Kaitlyn you are the lights of my life.  I hope you stay best friends for the rest of your lives.  I love how you not only like each other but you love each other. Daddy and I love you so much.

Love,
Mommy

I am extremely pleased to be offering my professional services to you and your family. I am a certified professional photographer with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Portraiture from Brooks Institute.  I am a specialist in children and family photography who also acts as your personal art decorator for your home.  I’m also a mother, which gives me great insight into working with kids.  I know how to get your kids to laugh at me and what makes them come out of their shy shell.  I do the usual photography work that you can find around town, however, I am proud to say I take it one gigantic step further.

Let me explain.  Here is an example of the usual photographic experience.  Usually when a family hires a photographer, they coordinate a time to do a shoot, meet that day for the session, spend 30 minutes to two hours capturing the photographs and they go their separate ways.  The photographer puts an abundance of images on a website for the client to view and order.  The client stares at the computer and flips through them over and over and can’t pick their favorites because so many of them are so similar.  If the client can even come up with choices to order, they then get a package of paper prints and it’s up to them to go find frames, put the pictures in the frames and hang them on the wall.  Even if they actually get them framed and they don’t live in a drawer for two years, they still may not be happy and feel unsatisfied and regret the whole process, reminiscing about what a hassle it was.

There can be a lot of guesswork and uncertainty on your part if you don’t have professional guidance.  If it was you in the above scenario, questions like these may go through your head; How am I going to pick which images to get printed?  Which images will hang well together?  Should I just hang one or should I do a grouping?  What size will fit best on the wall?  Am I framing this right?  Should it have a mat?  What if I don’t like the frame in the room and all of my money is wasted?  Why does the picture look so small on the wall?  I thought I ordered a huge 16×20!

Here is where I change the way you feel about professional photography, and it’s really an amazing idea. Wait for it…I help you.  YES!  Finally, someone that knows what they are doing both with photography and helping you with the finished product!

It’s so much easier to plan for the images to hang in a specific place rather than do the shoot first and then have to find a place to hang them.  For this and other reasons, all of my projects start with a required consultation.  These are conducted in your home for maximum benefit for both of us. I see the colors you love and live with, the décor of your home, the style of furniture you have, the essence of your family.  Best of all, it lets us plan ahead for clothing choices for the shoot, where your images will hang best and in what format.  In other words, do you want traditional matted prints in frames or do you want your images printed on canvas, or even on glass or metal?  These are the ideas we brainstorm before the shoot, so it’s easier to visualize the final product.  We will also discuss pricing so there are no surprises.  I will take photographs of the areas that you and I decide would best fit this project.  Why?  Keep reading.

After the consultation, we do the shoot according to plan in the location we have agreed on.  If it’s a newborn or baby session, it will most likely be in your home by some amazing window with lots of natural light.  If it’s a family or older children, an outdoor scene is usually best.  I will edit the images and pick about 30 for your viewing pleasure.  I will notify you that your images are done and we will schedule an ordering session.  Here is where the most amazing part comes in….

The ordering session takes place in your home so you don’t have to go anywhere or do anything except sit down and watch your images come to life.  You can even drink wine.  Or beer.  Or fresh squeezed orange juice.  Whatever you prefer.  You get the point.

I will bring my projector and screen and set it up in your living area.  I start with a slideshow set to music and then we go through each image one by one.  Boom.  Your images are there, in front of your eyes, in life size format.  I cannot tell you how much more amazing and emotional this is rather than seeing your images on a tiny computer screen.  Once we reach the final images that you absolutely adore and can’t live without, it is then that we start playing with wall layouts that I have designed specifically for your living space.

Remember how I said that, during the consultation, I take photographs of the spaces that we had decided would best house your images?  Well this is why…I can show you, on the screen, in a virtual room, exactly what your images will look like.  Perfectly sized.  Matted and framed.  On your wall.  In YOUR home.  You can see what you will be getting before you even buy anything!  It’s like seeing yourself in the mirror wearing your custom tailored wedding dress with your hair and makeup done, before you even buy the dress!

After we have agreed upon the layout of the wall collection and the detailing that comes with it, we then choose any prints, albums, books, mini books, photo boxes, baby announcements, holiday cards, DVDs, iPhone cases, or anything else you’d like to order as accessories or gifts for the other amazing people in your life.   I have predetermined collections from which you can choose, or you may buy á la carte.

After your ordering session, we will go our separate ways, but don’t cry.  I will put your images on a website for you to share with your friends and family that weren’t able to join us for the ordering session.  They will be able to marvel and share in your bliss for one week while the gallery is live and they can contact me for any purchasing they would like to do.

When your products have arrived from one of my fabulous vendors, I will do a celebration dance in your honor.  From there, I will call or email you to let you know your order is ready.  The final step is handing the family heirlooms over to you for you to love and cherish for the rest of your life.  As an optional stress saver, I can even have someone come to your house and hang the images for you so you don’t have to lift a finger, er, hammer, or do all of that spacing math.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about how I will make your photographic experience fun, enjoyable and stress-free.  It will be a great honor to create your family artwork that will become heirlooms.  Please remember to freeze those special moments in time, they all go by too quickly.  Plus, it’s all guaranteed to knock your socks off.

This is my grandmother, Lois Casey. These were my favorite pictures of her when I was going through the slides. I love the colors, the scarf and the wind.

When my grandparents would sit around the table while eating dessert and they didn’t want the whole thing, they would cut it into little pieces and just take a small amount. This is what they called “Deloising” something. Delos + Lois= Delois. Get it? So anyway, here is Delois’ better half.

My grandfather passed away.  I never knew him because I was not yet even a glimmer in my parents’ eyes.

My Mom had a box of Grandpa’s old slide film in her storage room for years.  I never saw any of the images because we never had a projector or anything to view them on.  One day when she was out of town I decided to secretly get to work and sort through and scan all of this slide film for her.  The first images I found were of my mother as very young girl, maybe 3 or 4 years old.  They continued until my mother’s late teenage years, specifically the trip that she met my father.  That was amazing to me, to have images of when my parents met! The slides told me stories of my mother’s childhood that I never even knew existed… they unfolded before me, one by one on my computer screen.  The best part was that the images were in color instead of black and white.  I could see the color of Mom’s hair, the pink in Grandma’s lipstick and the red of her shoes.  It was incredible.

I put more than 200 images together and made a book for my mother and for her siblings.  I was giving them a gift, but it turns out that I got the best gift of all.  I felt like my Grandfather was sitting with me and telling me a story every time an image would pop up on my computer screen.

Delos Casey was a pharmacist at Casey Drug and Jewelry in Madison, South Dakota.  He died at the age of 63.  He was a funny man, had his famous phrases like “You can never put enough butter in potato soup.” I think most of all though, he liked to drink with the ladies.

I wish I could have known you, Grandpa.

…he warms my heart!

…what a spirit she has!

I just brewed a cup of decaf and tucked my kids into bed.  Friday night isn’t necessarily the best time to publish a blog in the social media standpoint, but this one I want to get out into cyberspace as soon as possible.  I know it’s longer than usual, but trust me, it’s worth your time to read this story.

This blog, for me, is going to be a difficult one to write because I’m not a writer, I’m a photographer.  That said, the difficulty that I am experiencing trying to put my feelings into words doesn’t even come close to the difficulty that this woman, Michele, deals with on a daily basis.

I met Michele a few years ago when our children were in Pre-K together at the Methodist School here in Winter Park.  I had seen her around and recognized her from other places like spin classes at the Y, children’s birthday parties, karate classes and so on, but had never gotten to know her.  I always marveled at how beautiful she is, not only on the outside, but could see the beauty in her soul radiating outward through her smile.

I can only imagine that this is what Jeff fell in love with when he met his future wife; a beauty that radiated in a way that his soul was meant to be matched with hers.  I have heard from others that their marriage is one of a kind, that they are true soul mates, best friends on a quest to raise their three children in this world, together, with God by their side.  With all of the talk about the increase of divorce rates, hearing about a marriage like that is truly exceptional.

A few months ago I asked for nominations of families who have had a difficult year, whether it be a financial reason, an illness, a tragedy, etc. I wanted to gift a session to a family that otherwise wouldn’t be investing in professional photography to capture family moments.  Those entries were very hard to read, difficult for me to get through reading without wanting to just give in and gift them all a session, but I knew I had to only pick one.

My friend Jamie nominated Michele and Jeff. Although I had seen Michele around town as a casual acquaintance, I had not known that Jeff had been diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD). It is a terminal disease of the brain that slowly takes away his personality and motor skills until he passes away.  I really didn’t understand what all of it meant when I read the nomination and knew I had to talk with Michele further about what she wanted to do with the session. I didn’t know if it would be a family session or maybe just the kids and Michele, I had no idea.

Michele and I exchanged emails once Jamie had notified her of the gift. She was surprised and grateful but also leery that Jeff wouldn’t be a good candidate for the photo session. This is part of the email she sent me:

“Jeff doesn’t ‘interact’ really. He can only follow simple instructions (sit here, stand here). His behavior is spontaneous and self-centered (in the way a child is, what his needs are is what we must do…). When we do gather as a family, there needs to be someone present — and Jeff often steps back and locks his hands behind his back and just stands there, watching.

Now, when Jeff and I are together, it is good. I can often engage him in a way that we interact in simple terms. I can make him giggle and when I turn on certain songs in the car his face lights up. These are the beautiful moments and visions in the midst of such tragic loss that inspire me and make me still very much in love with him. Even as I write this I am smiling really big, but I have tears at the same time.

The pictures I’d like to capture the most of are Jeff and me. I imagine when the kids are grown, they will have lots of questions about this awful time… and I want them to see the love they came from.”

The next time I saw Michele was at a spin class.  After it was over I had gone to do my stretching on the mat and she came over to join me.  This is one of, and will remain, one of my favorite memories of Michele.  We were lying there on our backs looking at each other and she was explaining to me, with tears in her eyes, how much this man means to her.  She was telling me about FTD and how people with the disease could get violent suddenly because they have no control over what they are doing.  Fully expecting to have to deal with this during the session, I asked if there was a chance that Jeff could do that when we would be shooting and she replied, “No.  He doesn’t do that because this man has no hate. He has no anger inside him.”  I was blown away by that. We continued to talk about the disease, about Jeff, about what to do with this project.  It was then that we decided that we would take this opportunity to photograph their love, without the kids, to have something to show the kids when they are old enough to understand what the word love really means.

I asked Michele if she would like to write something for my blog about how Jeff’s disease if affecting her life.  When we met so I could show her the images, she told me that she deals with what is going on by believing that what is happening to her is not her story to tell.  It’s God’s Story. This is what she wrote:

“I am stunned that Meredith captured with her lens how I feel about this man.  Jeff’s Frontotemporal Dementia has stolen his ability to dress, eat, bathe, toilet, think and speak– but nothing can take his Light and Love.  Although disease and dying is happening to us, that is not our story.  Because we are living God’s Story, we know not just life AND death, but also Life IN death.  By the grace and power of God, ours will forever be A Love Story.  Thank you Jamie and Daniel Cochran for nominating us and thank you, Meredith, for sharing your gift of photography with a phenomenal depth of presence and Spirit.”

Thank you, Michele, for allowing me to capture these moments for you.  Thank you for letting me into your world, showing me the love you and Jeff share and for helping me tell God’s Story. You are a phenomenal woman whose strength and faith is truly inspiring.

Song credit: “Come Around” by Tyler Stenson