East Grand Rapids High School Senior Portraits

It is hard to believe that summer is threatening to wind down with the start of the new school year just around the corner.  As I watch  my own son and his friends enter senior year at East Grand Rapids High School my heart beats an extra step to see how much these kids have grown and matured.  We have a deadline of October 7th to have senior portraits completed and turned in, which give us a deadline of September 18th to conduct your full Signature Session.  Head Shot Only and Mini Sessions have an extra week, ending September 30th.  If you haven't booked in with me yet, quickly send an email to denarobles@gmail.com to reserve a spot.

This is a sneak peek for Emma of our recent full Signature Session together here at Reed's Lake.  I can't wait to get her full gallery to her.  Don't ever let her tell you she isn't photogenic!  

Grand Rapids Family Photos--Downtown

Here is a gorgeous family with three energetic young men, all with distinct and individual personalities roaming the streets of Downtown Grand Rapids for photographs...the possibilities are endless with this combo!  It is very hard to pick favorite photos to share here, these boys were pros.  

Fall mini sessions are starting to book.  This is the only time of the year for family mini sessions. Check your calendars for October 8th and 9th (and a reserve rain date of October 15th.) Watch the blog and facebook for more details or email me at denarobles@gmail.com to get on the schedule.

The Mitchells were photographed downtown grand Rapids, Michigan on Kodak Portra 400 with a Contax 645 and Canon Eos-1v, processed and scanned by the lovely pros at ProPhotoIrvine

School Photos

I am trying really really hard to ignore all the 'Back-to-School' ads, catalogs, chatter, supply lists, and sales. I'm a devout lover of summer and want it to last forever.   Unfortunately if we wait until school starts to shop for class supplies the shelves are empty and the shops are pushing halloween costumes. So, with the inevitable first day of school looming in just a few weeks I also start to think about school photos. That inevitable packet of one-pose awkward mugshot pictures.  The ones that my mom still has hanging in the hallway of her home...highlighting the history of 70s and 80s hairstyles for your enjoyment.  I was sorting through one of my storage boxes last week labeled 'kids' school stuff' and found TWENTY-EIGHT unopened envelopes of school photos spanning the formative years to date of my own children's schooling.  Unopened, untouched.  Why?  Our school supply lists no longer have pee-chees or trapper keepers on them. They have Mac Books, wireless mouse, headphones, internet accounts, coding books.  With all the advances in photography and the surge in availability and creativity of visual arts isn't it time to rethink the school photo too?  I mean, why not? Wouldn't it make grandma's heart sing to have one of these personality-filled photographs instead of the awkward mugshot?  Wouldn't it make our kids much happier to see themselves 20 years from now as they truly were during the school years?

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ReThink the School Photo  micro sessions -- $45 per child -- park location -- August 30th, September 8th or September 17th only.  Email me at denarobles@gmail.com to reserve a spot.

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Downtown Grand Rapids and the 3 Girls

These lovely ladies have been friends since 3rd grade.  In just over a month two of them will be starting high school together in Grand Rapids while the other moves across Michigan.  Sad face. These are the times that we feel so fortunate to have our relationships continue so easily with social media.  It doesn't hurt to have a few special outings and a fun photo session to help remember the best times!  This is downtown Grand Rapids on a chilly and windy early summer day, captured on Kodak Portra 400 film.  

That Michigan Moment in June

It's that Michigan Moment in June when the two day rainstorm has finally subsided and the air is as hot and heavy as a wet wool sweater and the sun is trying to break through the sky. The only sounds are the guitar strums from the upstairs window and the laughter of the girls in the pool two doors down. The tastes you are craving are the fresh cold berries from the market and the abundance of mint growing in your garden all dripping in fresh lime juice and a splash of rum as you sit on the still wet porch to peruse an old favorite book about summer, all while waiting for dusk. Because with this heat, and this humidity, tonight could be the night that the fireflies make their first appearance of the season.

Work Date with Cam

This little guy of mine turned 9 years old this week. I don't know if NINE feels much different than EIGHT for him, but for me it suddenly feels like a leap from being my baby.  TEN just feels so much closer than it did a week ago.  He is a deep thinker, an adventure lover, a sensitive friend, a complex student, and a constant companion.  He spends a lot of his mental energy being conflicted while trying to figure out his exact place in the real world, and also being immersed in an imaginary world suited to whatever his latest obsession is.  Right now, it is everything Dr. Who. A month ago he was Jeff Gordon and an absolute expert on every and any race car.  Next month?  I can only guess, I'm just along for the ride.  I am happy we can have our coffee dates in the back corner of The Sparrows here in Grand Rapids.  I learn a lot in the process about the nature of being Cameron. He uses his sketchbooks to simultaneously tell the stories in his imagination while also contemplating his heart.  "I've been feeling the depressive coming"   "I wonder when my maturity will come?"  "I think my humor is coming back."  So Cameron, I don't know of the places you will go at TEN, or NINETEEN or FORTY-SEVEN, but I call ShotGun along the way.

Color Purple and Relay For Life

This month I revisited the ColorColour Lovers Project with my own take on Purple.  As I wandered the sidewalks and the market aisles in search of purple, I was mindful of all those who have touched my life in so many ways who were also touched and often times defeated by cancer.  Tomorrow I join thousands of people in my small city to walk in The Relay For Life to commemorate those who have battled with cancer and to help fight for a cure.

Summer Portrait Session Calendar is Open!

With graduates, prom, and the beginning of high school senior portrait session my calendar has been filling up quicker than usual this spring!  I have decided  to open my June, July & August portrait booking calendar a bit early this year. Please email me for scheduling or any questions you may have!  denarobles@gmail.com  

Color Colour Lovers and White

I ran out of colors to photograph during the week. And then it snowed.  It snowed a lot.  It snowed for days.  So, WHITE happened.  Not Black & White, but textural, patterned, light-tinted yellow, blue, grey, pink white.  I love the isolation of subjects and the stark interest created by photographing white on white on white... Here are a few favorites.

Rice Pudding with Caramel Pecan Topping

And you thought winter was over?  Psych!   My days of hot, rich, and sweet comfort foods have not yet ended.  Enter Rice pudding with Caramel Pecan Sauce. It is perfect as a breakfast or a dessert. 

If you can't be warm on the outside, at least you can be warmed on the inside!  Recipe to follow.  I started with a googled recipe from The Pioneer Woman and veered away to wing it on my own. Like always  :) 

Color Colour Lovers and Blue

Thank you again to Xanthe Berkeley for hosting this fun and very colorful photography project for the last 6 weeks.  This was exactly what I craved to push me through these cold winter months.  Here is the final installment BLUE!  Now what will I do??  hmmmmm.

Color Colour Lovers and Orange

Here is the next series in the ColorColourLovers Instagram challenge, Orange! It seemed orange would be hard to find, but once we started hunting it was everywhere, and I didn't even get to the carrots...

Holy Guacamole

I solemnly swear that knowing how to make a good fresh guacamole is the secret to a long happy life.  My kids will go off to college with at least this skill in their back pockets.  Those ingredients down there?  Chop them and mix them and mash them and taste them until they are perfect.  Bonus points for extra salt and lime juice.

Color Colour Lovers and Green

Searching for green in my neighborhood last week meant kicking aside some snow, peeping for little peeks of earth and discovering tiny crocus shoots, running into friends to discuss the merits of painting doors green and thus feeling reconnected,  and eating lots and lots and lots of green food.  All good things. 

Michigan Moment in February

That Michigan Moment in February when the relentless cold has you boxed in like a sleepy bear in a cave.  You remain lazy and unproductive, buried under a heated blanket in front of a fireplace waiting out the storm.  The snow is icy and crunchy and brown, not worthy of a snowman or a sled.  You long for the smell of the earth again, a break in the clouds, a tiny sprout of green to poke through the snow pack.  You press your face against the window searching for a sign of life only to pull back quickly from the frostbitten glass.  It doesn't matter what the groundhog sees because living in Michigan, you know you are enduring winter for the long haul.  It's time to warm yourself from the inside out.  

On a quiet Sunday morning the smells from the kitchen are of vanilla, cinnamon, cream, eggs, maple syrup and french bread sizzling in a pan of real butter, melding all the aromas into a comforting and satisfying plate of thick french toast.  You wrap yourself tighter in your blanket, curl up your feet enrobed in warm wool socks, pour hot fresh coffee from the french press and then spoon homemade blueberry syrup from last August's blueberry harvest over the sweet french toast and tuck in to one of the amazing delights of being snowed in. Everything is right with this moment...and winter will pass soon.  Maybe next week is when the first early crocus will sprout through the snow, upholding the promise of the groundhog.

10 on 10 February 2016

Last month I posted a series of ten sun drenched film photographs from our holiday trip to Puerto Rico.  We experienced more than a bit of climate shock to return to the frozen north and we seemed to develop this 'look' between us.  The silent look that whined "I want to go baaaaack." 

Back to reality.  This month's series of ten film photographs were shot on January 10th.  Winter in Michigan, the direct contrast of winter in the Caribbean.  Winter in Michigan, where I cower indoors under multiple wooly layers, feeling like a bear hermit-ing  away deep in a cave, always looking out the windows. And since I have no choice but to go outside many times a day, always yearning to be back on the warm side of the glass.

Today the ground is bare, the snow has melted and the sun shone for a day, but it is frigid cold and the snow will likely return.  I take my dog for her daily walk and as I dream about hot days at the lake and tending my vegetable garden in bare feet, I notice the tiniest green crocus and daffodil sprouts braving their way through the earth.  And I know the worst is behind me.

Fellow photographers Bethany and Charlene also shared 10 film photos this month.  Please go view Bethany Petrik's blog from Woodland, CA which will then lead to Charlene Hardy's.  

Color Colour Lovers and Pink

Last week on the Instagram Color Colour Lovers challenge my task was all things PINK. There is very very little pink to be found in my house.  As I captioned on one of my pink photographs "I only work in black, and sometimes very very dark grey."  (I AM Batman.)  The funny thing is, color pops up everywhere when you have your eyes open to it.  Every time I spotted something pink my heart did a little somersault.  Pink in all this dreary grey sky and slushy brown snow...I'll take it.

Color Colour Lovers and Yellow

When I teach photography classes I always do a project-based lesson.  It is one thing to sit in a hard chair and have formulas and light ratios and camera manuals and beautiful examples thrown at you just to go home and pick up your camera and say "wha?"  

Each of my classes is based on a start to finish project involving story, composition, perspective, exposure, editing, saving, archiving, artwork creation, printing and displaying.  Along the way, you actually master your camera and the art form and have something to show for it.  Win win. One of my first project-based lesson results in a lovely color collage on a photo field trip, similar to this one.

If you are interested in joining one of my photography classes, please contact me at denarobles@gmail.com  I currently have a middle school group forming, a high school group, and an adult group.

That Michigan Moment in January

It's that Michigan moment in January when the holiday decorations are finally tucked away and the Christmas tree is snow dusted at the curb awaiting pick up.  You gaze out the frostbitten windowpanes at a world covered in ice.  The layers of snow are old, showing their variegated hues of white, grey and slushy brown, the trees are spiky and bare. The rush of December has passed, the novelty of winter has worn off. The cold air bites your skin, and the only sign of life is from the call of the birds hoping for a refill of seed. January is a time to cuddle up and hunker down, to renew your body after the gluttony of holiday baking and festivities, and to replenish your soul with quiet stolen minutes spent deep inside your head.  It is a time of self-care and nourishment. January is what "comfort food" was meant for.  Your efforts turn to the kitchen, to the earthy goodness of oats, nuts, seeds and rich cream, ready to warm your body and comfort your soul as you cultivate the will to forge another day in the frozen north and await the appearance of the verdant and brown earth again.

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Steel Cut Oats are my favorite way to start every winter morning.  I prepare a large pot of oats every Monday morning and have enough to last me until Saturday if I portion it right.  I know there are recipes out there for steel cut oats in a slow cooker, but not being a gadget-y person I have never owned a slow cooker.  I prefer my food to retain texture and a bit of crunch, so after about 20-25 minutes on the stovetop, even my oatmeal is al dente.  You could cook it longer if you prefer it to be creamier.  Sometimes I find I need to add more water or milk during the last 5 minutes.  I hope that you enjoy one of my winter survival recipes which I like to eat next to my bird feeder window and with an earl grey tea latte out of one of my favorite ceramic mugs by artist Gwyneth Leech. 

Color Colour Lovers

After returning from a technicolor tropical paradise I am living in a cold, cold world covered in snow, everything around me is wet, white, mostly grey and sometimes icky brown and slick.  I am craving warmth and color!  I stumbled across this tumblr from Xanthe Berkeley and took her challenge to inject some color into my winter.

Here is one week of my hunt for RED RED RED.  All iphone captures, keeping it simple and quick!  I did take waaaaay more than 9 photographs, but this project (for me) was meant for a great little Instagram grid.  :)