Jennifer's Senior Sneek Peek:

Jennifer's shoot started on the Lost Lake trail at the Ludington State Park. For the first hour or so we were on a constant hunt for shade. The big beautiful clouds that graced us with there presence all morning had dissipated by 5:30. So we headed into the woods and the bridge that takes you over Hamlin Lake was completely shaded and lovely.

We had wanted to do a cool sports picture for one of our Seniors and when Jennifer told us she ran Cross Country and was in Track, we had what we thought was a pretty cool idea. So we said, "Hey Jen? Could we throw mud at you?" and she said with a nonchalant shrug, "Sure."

So we mixed up some good ol' black mud and flung it at her legs. We were trying to create how someone might really look after running 3 miles through a wooded trail. So below you will find our favorite Cross Country shot we took that day.

As the sun started setting we left the State park and headed down Ludington Avenue. We had another location in mind, but when we saw the Inns that line the Avenue and thought about how Jennifer and her Mom were following us in a van stuffed full of prom and homecoming dresses we figured a change of location would really suit Jennifer's classy style. So we switched gears and knocked on the door of the Ludington House Bed & Breakfast and asked if we could do a photo shoot on their front porch. Of course they were ever so gracious and said we could even come in to take pictures if we wanted! I love living in a small town. A huge thank you to Ludington House Bed & Breakfast!

Then we went across the street to the Cartier Mansion and they were equally as lovely. They were busy preparing for an event and they kept trying to work around us! They were very accommodating and we want to thank them as well. Thank you for not stepping on us as we laid in your driveway to get the perfect shot.

We are loving our new wide angle lens. It allows us to get these pictures that feel "big" and it adds real scope to a photo.

Heading out to the grand front porch!

Final Mansion shot.



One last location, you cannot live in Ludington and deny the pull of Lake Michigan. It is practically begging to be photographed. And, you simply can't go wrong with a gorgeous girl surrounded by a gorgeous landscape.

When we arrived at the beach there were a group of men standing around drinking. One of them, noticing our cameras, scoffed, "You picked a terrible night for a sunset!" We rolled our eyes and carried on with the plan, we don't often take advice from strange men who've been drinking. And, I would like to say, "Take this mister! You so didn't know what you were talking about. Sunset delivered!"

Thank you so much Jennifer for allowing us the privilege of taking your Senior pictures! You were an absolute delight to work with and so easy to photograph. Your mom even held it together through the whole thing! A couple of times we thought we might lose her, it's hard watching your baby grow up. So until your wedding Jennifer. Oh dear, then we will lose your mom for sure, she will be a puddle.

****A side note to all of our readers, many of you have remarked that you have tried to leave comments but haven't had success. This makes us so sad because we love to hear from you. I have found if I preview my comment first this almost always pushes it through to posting on the blog page. If that doesn't work, I am so sorry:-( We are working on linking this blog to our facebook page so that you can comment in either spot.

How to Dress for a Successful Photo Shoot

Are you a Warm or a Cool? I never had any idea what my skin tone was. I knew one thing, I burn really easily. Duh! This is a sign of a cool skin tone. But not all cools burn & not all warms tan beautifully. It gets more confusing as you search around the internet trying to figure this out.

Why should you care you may be asking? Well, when we take your photo we do our very best to make sure we capture who you really are. We are concerned about lighting, shadows, filtering, blah, blah, blah... What we can't do is dress you. If we could, we would. What you wear goes a long way to making you look like your true self, and not just personality wise. If you are wearing the wrong colors for your skin tone you can look washed out or if things get really bad you can look yellow or blotchy red!

So I trudged through the mire of information and came up with, what I think is a fairly concise way of determining what skin tone you are. Once you've got that figured out you will find choosing make-up, clothes and even hair color much easier. So here we go...

Lets conduct a couple of easy and painless tests...

The Vein Test  Sounds scary but it's not. All you have to do is look at the inside of your forearm, if the veins are Blue, then you may have Cool Skin Tones. If the veins appear Green, then you may have Warm Skin Tones.

Gold or Silver Test  What looks better against your skin? Try to be objective, I know that white gold, platinum and silver are all the rage and that yellow gold got left in the 90's by most people. Personal preference aside, what actually looks better against your skin, especially up near your face. If you are simply stunning in Silver then you are most likely a Cool Skin Tone. If you look glorious in Gold then you are most likely a Warm Skin Tone.

Standard Color Test  If you look good in White or Black you are likely a Cool Skin Tone. If you look much better in Off White or Brown then you are a Warm Skin Tone.

Towel Test  This is the last test I swear! Grab a nice white bath towel, scrape your hair back into a ponytail, wash that gorgeous face, put a mirror near some direct natural light (sunlight), now hold the white towel against your face. If your skin appears to have a yellow color to it then you are a Warm Skin Tone if your skin appears blue, then my darling, you are a Cool Skin Tone!

Genetics When all else fails look at your Mama or your sister. Chances are good that you share skin tone. So if your sister always seems to look stunning, take notice of the color of her make-up, jewelry or clothes. She may have figured all this out and never told you, because sometimes sisters do that. They like to be the fairest in all the land. Especially big sisters.

During all those tests I kept saying "you may be this skin tone" or "you are likely this skin tone", that's because these tests are not conclusive because, get this, there is also something called Neutral Skin Tone. If you are a lucky devil and you have Neutral Skin Tone that means you can wear anything and you can skip this whole blog post. Cools are most common, then Warms then Neutrals.

I have collected some images from around the world wide web to show the three main hair colors with the two most common skin tones. Lets start with blondes because we all know they have more fun regardless of their skin tone.

Blondes

Red Heads



Brunettes

O.k. now that you know what skin tone you are what the heck should you wear for your photo shoot? I think we can help you there as well.

Rule #1

Now, don't get me wrong, I love Hello Kitty as much as the next girl, and my sister and I used to rock as much Esprit and Guess as we could get our hands on. My mom however would not let us wear printed t-shirts on school picture day. No way. She said "someday that won't be cool anymore and you'll wish you wouldn't have worn it." Well, she was right. Nothing dates a picture quicker than a novelty tee or a shirt with a brand name plastered across the chest. As for the heavy prints, it simply detracts from your pretty face and oddly enough it can clash with the setting you've chosen. If you are wearing a heavy floral print we are not going to be able to take your picture by flowers. Think E.T. blending into the pile of stuffed animals.



Rule #2

Jewel Tones. They just look good on almost everyone, but look really good on Cool Skin Tones. So go out and buy yourself a beautiful blouse, yes I said blouse because that is the lovely girlie way of saying shirt, in a jewel tone. You will love it and you will wear it with jeans, skirts, or even slacks. O.k. so lets not say slacks.

Rule #3

So rule #3 really shouldn't be a rule because it only applies to my Warm Skin Tone ladies. Earth Tones. Earth Tones are gorgeous and I wish I could wear them. I have Earth Tone envy. On a Warm Skin toned girl these muted earthy greens, browns and slates go from blah to deep, rich, and beautiful. Rock it if you've got it Sister! All us Coolies will be jewel toned-green with envy.

I'm out of rules. But I put together a few layouts to show you some good photo shoot outfit options that are classic and not going to be dated in two years.

This next set is important. If you have a favorite pair of Jeans and you just can't decide what top to bring, bring them all. We got ya covered if you need to whip off your top to do a quick wardrobe change.

No worries, won't take picture of you changing. Our mom told us that would be rude.

So if you are stressing about what to wear, do the favorite jeans and as many tops as you want to swap out. Simple. Done. Then we'll go have ice cream before DQ closes for the year.

I hope this was helpful to someone out there. I know it was actually quite helpful to me. I'm a Cool and proud of it baby! Also, these neat sets I've made that make me look like I'm a professional at fashion layout and should be in NYC working for ELLE magazine, well I made them on a very fun website called Polyvore. Go check it out.

Letting Go

The first thing you should know about starting a blog is that regular blogging is the key to a successful blog. Apparently we didn't get the memo. Sorry for the delay in posting, we've been doing some letting go of our own over the past few weeks. In light of the events our family has dealt with I wanted to write something about letting go, but as our emotions are a bit tender right now I thought I would use an example from 2009.

This is the year that my niece raised her first steer. Now heres the kicker to raising a steer, it doesn't matter how attached you get, he can't stay. He will eat you out of house and home. Their big dudes and very food motivated. So from the moment he came home we all knew he would ultimately leave us during the week of Fair. His name was Pyro. Now isn't Pyro a cool name for a big black steer? It would've been cooler if he wasn't actually a kitten. Pyro had no idea that he could absolutely flatten everyone. Has anyone read The Story of Ferdinad? Remember the bull who preferred sitting under the cork tree smelling the flowers instead of bull fighting?

That was Pyro. Not that we wanted him to be ready for the bullring, but his gentle constitution made it really easy to love him and really hard to see him go. The below picture really sums up Pyro and Kayla's friendship.

I mean seriously, this is a little ridiculous! He even made it into our family picture where he promptly put his bulk down on Kayla's bare foot. Hence the irritated face she is sporting. And you thought she was just embarrassed that we made her do this.

For those of you who live in small town America you know that Fair is a BIG deal. Well, last week was our little towns fair and Thursday is Auction for all the kids who showed in market class. So after months of hard work (for those kids who actually care for and raise their own animal, well done and keep up the good work) auction can sometimes be a hard time. It can be difficult because of the excitement of finishing an animal, bringing them along from infancy so to speak, all the while knowing that this week is the end. There is real pride in caring for another life and getting a little recognition for it. Fair week for some is a real conflict of emotion. Also, surrounded by a bunch of seasoned old farmers can make a girl hesitate to acknowledge feelings of sadness about a certain beloved flower sniffing steer.

So when the big day finally came there was some trepidation and some tears. Kayla was reassured by some very dear friends that when their daughter showed her first steer, there were tears and sadness on behalf of the whole family. Certainly parents must question themselves at this point and wonder if the pain of letting go is really worth the lessons they gain. I am not a parent, but I have a niecechild and a nephewchild and I say unequivocally, Yes. The pain of letting go is worth the gain. Consider these events to be the building blocks of letting go. If one never parts with anything until the greater loss of a parent, grandparent, or sibling the pain of that can be devastating, so tremendous you may think you will never recover. Dealing with loss in our formative years inside the loving circle of a family that feels it as sharply and acutely as you, if not more, will help in letting go of a toxic relationship or a career path that is not for you or a friendship that is sucking the life and joy out of your very marrow. You learn early on that it will be o.k. It won't hurt forever and that you will move on as a stronger person.

These events 2 years ago prompted me to write a short story for my niece to chronicle the life of Pyro. And to help validate her feelings, a way of saying it's o.k. to feel this way even if some people say he's just a stupid steer. Because we knew in the painful moments following Pyro being loaded into the trailer deep lessons were being written on her soul that would carry her above and beyond pets and fair animals. We saw her strength in the past few weeks like you wouldn't believe a girl of a mere 17 years would possess. That really goes for every member of our family. There is no doubt in my mind that Pyro lended to her power.

So I am including an excerpt from the story I wrote 2 years ago, maybe it will help you to think about what you have received from loving another soul whether it be animal or human. You will never encounter a relationship of either nature that does not write a few lines of your life and leave an indelible mark on your heart.

"Dear Kayla, Love Pyro"

Now, little one, we have come to the end of our story together and before I go I need you to know these things. You thought you were my teacher, but really sweet girl, I was yours. When I struggled against my halter, I taught you patience. When I bawled intently for my breakfast early in the morning, I taught you the fine heritage of being a farmer. I taught you to earn the title. When you laid against me in the orchard and fell asleep, I taught you trust. When we walked down into the creek bed after school, I taught you to find friendship in the most unlikely of places. When I was born a Holstein Angus cross, I taught you to think for yourself and to ignore the naysayers. When I used your leg as a scratching post, I taught you to be strong. When I tried to ram you that one time, I taught you to stand your ground not let anyone bully you. When you groomed me and cleaned my stall, I taught you the honor of caring for someone other than yourself. When others would warn you not to get too attached, I taught you to love without fear of loss. At steer check, we walked perfectly and I weighed in at 1,269 pounds, I taught you to believe in yourself. When we stood together as Reserve Champion Rate of Gain, I taught you pride, I taught you to hold your head high. As we walked down the chute together into the auction ring, I saw your tears, I shielded you from the crowd's watchful eyes, I taught you to rely on those who love you when life is hard.