Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

For years, I’ve photographed letters and numbers and signs. Don’t know why.  Just do!  Signs fascinate me; “Big Ass Beer”, “Moose Crossing”, etc.  One of these days I’ll create something with all my photographs of signs… or at least I think I will. LOL.

I’ve always meant to do what others have done and create letter art using the alphabet and numerals so I can create these cool name plates for people.  Procrastination!  I was again inspired between our trip to New Orleans in October and our trip to upper Michigan this month.  So here is my name.  I have more than enough images to create the alphabet several times over so I think I’m finally going to quit procrastinating about it and start working with them!  Check my website, J. Love Photography, and also check Dexter Picture Frame, where I have my work.  I’ll keep you posted! And don’t hesitate to contact me with an unusual letter or number you see out there somewhere.

I am going to write a monthly newsletter going forward and send it electronically. If you haven’t already signed up to receive it, please consider doing so! It won’t be long and I promise it will have useful information. Click on  this link to read the first official permission-based newsletter (okay, I’ve done it before, but it hasn’t looked  as ‘pretty’ as this one: July 2010.

Newsletters are a way for a business to keep clients abreast of specials, important news, and relevant information. I like electronic newsletters because I can read them when I have time. I’m a ‘tree hugger’ so I like to save paper where and when I can. Truly. Ask my family how I am about recycling. I make everyone crazy. LOL.  At least paper is better than plastic. I’m so off plastic right now!! STAMP OUT plastic please! Okay. my brief rant is over. Whew.

Anyway, back to the newsletter… congratulations to Marni Schmid who answered my teaser question that came with a $10 gift certificate to Corner Cup Cafe. The question, as well as the prize, were not easy to find in the newsletter. Did my heart good at the number of people who read it and answered it correctly so quickly! Thank you! The question was who said “No try. Do or do not. Try not.” The answer was Yoda.

To ‘try’ to do something is to set yourself up for immediate failure. Put your eye on the prize. Try not. Just do. When my girlfriend, Elaine Barber, recently published her first book after having it be a dream for 20 years, and we all finally got to purchase a signed copy, I told her that someone said “The world needs dreamers. And the world needs doers. But what the world really needs are dreamers who do.” She is a doer! Amen.

So wherever you are, you have a choice. I love to ‘be’. And I love to ‘do.’ But try? As Yoda would say…. no try.

Michelle & Zoey

27 years ago, my mother and I were supposed to go shopping for a birthday gift for her.  Instead, I took a detour and delivered her first grandchild on her birthday.  A day later, it was her mother’s birthday.  My mother’s first great grandchild was named after her mother, Zoe.  It’s complicated.  But what is simple and true is that families, their legacies, and their love are what life is ALL ABOUT!

My siblings and I, some of our children, the birthday girls, our spouses, and my dad got together to celebrate.  The longer I live, the more I realize the treasure of moments together with people we love.  I don’t normally take a lot of snapshot-type photos of moments like this.  I should.  But I brought my camera and snapped a few pics of the evening.

I look at the images of mom, Rod and Zoey, Shell hugging Z, and I’m reminded not only of how important it is to photograph these moments but how important it is to PRINT the photos, STORE the photos, SAVE them!  I heard yet another story of a friend who lost all of her images on her computer when it crashed. No backups.  No hardcopies.  Tragic. 

Phyllis Joy Beach Love

So yesterday we all laughed and enjoyed each other in the moment.  Thank goodness I brought the camera!  I wish I would have snapped a few more. Maybe it’s the imperfections of snapshots I don’t like.  But I was reminded that time is fleeting.  Perfection is irrelevant.  Printed photos are keepsakes, treasures we’d grab if our house burned down or a flood came, but a computer disk or hard drive just can’t tug on our heart strings! So tomorrow I’m going to print all of these so we can enjoy them for years to come!  I hope you remember to do the same.

Happy 80th Birthday to my beautiful mother, Phyllis Joy Beach Love and to my amazing daughter, Michelle Janette Haman Rauser. xxxxxxxooooooo

Phyllis Joy Beach Love

Everett here is another of J. Love Photography’s little friends who are in our Baby Love program. We photograph babies through their first year, doing three portrait sessions.  Sessions can be created for maternity, newborn, 6 months, one year… you choose! This was Everett’s 6 month session. I love this portait because I can see joy in both of their eyes. It always makes me smile.

As a member of our Baby Love program, you are entitled to discounts on product and portraits. Included in the program price is a beautiful, fine art collage of your baby’s first year that is printed on an archival, gallery-wrapped canvas. We end the first-year session with a birthday party complete with bubbles, a hat, and birthday cake!

We have fun, little costumes for the babies to wear as well. I’m working on getting more little boys outfits, as it’s always easier to find things for little girls. I’ve just added a little pea pod outfit for 0 to 3 months and a teddy bear outfit for one year-olds and up. Many of you have seen the array of tutus I have for little girls as well.

When my little babies toddle off after the year is over, it’s sad for me. I know I will see them again, but it isn’t the same. To watch a newborn grow into a toddler and celebrate their first birthday is a joy I cannot explain. I feel so blessed to capture these moments for their families and them.

Yes, I get peed on, pooped on, thrown up on, and sometimes a baby will cry and cry. It’s much harder on the parents than me. I’m used to it. I’ve had a few sessions where the parents are sure we weren’t able to capture a thing. But good light and quick reactions in the split seconds they take a breath between crying often gives me a perfect image of a baby that delights us all!

And then I get babies, especially the recent pack of little boys I’ve had, who are all smiling, happy babies who just ham it up for me and love every minute of it! I know that a lifetime from now, these images will be passed down in their families and be treasured keepsakes of moments that will never be forgotten. How can I not love what I do? It’s what makes my heart feel so full.

Here is what a recent mom whose son, Karl, recently completed the Baby Love program had to say:

“I am so happy that we found you just in time to memorialize our son’s first year of life!  The images that you took ages 3 weeks, 6 months and 1 year capture Karl’s essence.  When I look back now at these brief moments in time, I am overcome with gratitude for your artistry.  Thank you also for making the photo sessions a fun experience for Karl – he seemed to really enjoy himself!

I also appreciated how quickly you were able to share the images with me and process the order.”       

Megan Fink

If you know of someone who is pregnant or has a baby and might be interested in capturing those moments by a professional who cares, please share this blog with them! I’ll leave you with a few more images today of Everett being his sunny, little self. Doesn’t it make you smile?

I had the honor of being the guest speaker for the evening at the Ann Arbor Camera Club’s Annual Awards Banquet dinner that was held at Weber’s Inn in Ann Arbor.

The evening is designed to recognize and award those members with exceptional fine art photography they’ve created throughout the year. I was fond of many prints, but I remember two hats being illuminated by a lamp as a favorite. Most of the images were fine art nature and landscapes, but there were some fine art portraits there as well.

The gentleman who had created the hat print I really was drawn to happened to sit at our table.  To really add to the synchronicity, part of my presentation was a slideshow of my combined endeavor with the Dexter Community Orchestra. Lo and behold, this gentleman played cello that night and missed it because he was busy playing. So he got to see the visual presentation I created to go along with their beautiful performance of Aaron Copland’s Quiet City. It was such a bonus for me!

I don’t know if you’ve eaten at Weber’s lately. Not only is the food excellent, but the desserts are out of this world. We ate there for my birthday this year and the crab cakes are the best I’ve had anywhere around here. But did I mention the desserts? LOL.

 For any hobbyists or professional photographers looking for a club to create commeraderie and go on outings together to photograph and learn with people who have common interests, this is a great club of Ann Arbor area photographers.

I’m not a natural at getting up in front of people and speaking. It was tough! I practiced for days. But it seemed to be very well received and I felt really glad when it was over that I tried something different and new and challenged myself to go outside of my comfort zone. I also showed fine art portraits that I’ve made that have touched me in some way as well as talked a lot about my journey as a photographer and the defining images that I’ve made over the years that have become old friends with the lessons they’ve taught me and the memories they bring me.

Today, I’m relaxing. It’s been a challenged many days. But it’s such a joy to be able to share what I love to do. It fuels the fires….