Terre Haute, Indiana

My husband and I just returned from Terre Haute, IN, where he was hired as an Assistant Professor at Indiana State University. Our plans are to move mid-August, just before he begins teaching. I will stay behind until my wedding contracts are fulfilled, and will still be available for travel back to Michigan. I will definitely miss all of the wonderful people that I've met here in the Detroit area, but I know that I will be back often to visit with my family and friends.



Terre Haute is an interesting town with a lot of unrealized potential. Because of its location, it has become the chain-store shopping mecca for the surrounding counties. Its central location also puts the residents within a few hours drive of several major cities including Indianapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Louisville. Yet, Terre Haute is a destination in itself, and after our trip these last few days- I'm beginning to see just how great this little city really is.





In the short two days that we were in town, we ate at several unique local restaurants with excellent food & service, visited a few art galleries for student, local, and national artists; toured a few historic buildings, attended an art soiree fundraiser, enjoyed a $3 movie at the historic Indiana Theatre, and even got to see a hometown Detroit band called Bump, perform at the Verve in downtown Terre Haute.


(Clicking on this image will take you to pictures of Bump at the Verve)


I'm really looking forward to all of the possibilities and potential that this small city holds for its residents and surrounding communities. I can't wait to be a part of its growth and development. We met so many wonderful people in two short days that I can't wait to return at the end of the summer. Click on any picture for a short (and insufficient) picture tour of downtown Terre Haute, IN.

Danielle & Brian Engagement

What started out as a simple task of taking engagement pictures at the Joe Louis Arena, turned into a story that Danielle, Brian, and I (as well as two other gentlemen named Louis and Kimothy) will never forget. Since Danielle & Brian are big Red Wings fans, we decided to park at Greektown Casino for some free downtown parking and hop on the People Mover for a ride over to Joe Louis Arena. When we arrived at the Joe Louis stop, we innocently stepped onto the elevator from the People Mover platform, even though the gentlemen already inside the elevator seemed to be confused as to why they were not on the ground level. The doors close. We wait. We don't feel any movement. The doors don't open. We push buttons. We push more buttons. Pushing buttons, pushing buttons, pushing buttons... nothing happens. We are trapped in an elevator. GREAT!



Now, this wouldn't be too much of a problem except that I like to schedule engagement sessions to take advantage of peak lighting hours and I do not plan in extra time to get stuck in elevators! We pushed the little button to call someone and an operator answered, saying they'd send someone in 10 minutes. Well, 10 minutes isn't so bad. Ten minutes pass and no one comes, no one calls. We push the button again, the same operator answers again...
"We're stuck in an elevator by Joe Louis Arena, is anyone coming to help us get out??"
"We've sent someone, they should be on their way there in about 10 minutes."
"That's what you said the last time.."
"I know, he's still on his way."

Now mind you, I have a job to get done here and time's a wastin'! Unfortunately we were a little more inhibited due to the fact that there were two other gentlemen in the elevator with the couple and I. The gentlemen were... not thrilled to be stuck in an elevator with a photographer who's asking a couple to kiss in front of them! HA! Kimothy, was on his way to work at Joe Louis arena- and if you happen to come across this loveable guy, tell him I said Hi and I hope his mother is doing well (whom he called on Danielle's cell phone while we were stuck in the elevator). Louis, well.. he's a very private person and preferred not to give us any personal information whatsoever- in fact, he only introduced himself after being in the elevator together for about 45 minutes.



So, I don't have a modeling release for these extra gentlemen, but I have to take some pictures of the couple in case we don't get out before the sun sets. The poor gentlemen had to move to the corners of the elevator so they wouldn't be in my shots and the lighting was horrible, even with flash, the gray walls were just eating up all of the light. Needless to say.. not the ideal location or lighting for an engagement session! To top it off, my husband called while I was in the elevator to tell me that he got hired for his first full-time professor position- which meant that we would be moving to Indiana in the fall. How ironic that I receive a life-changing phone call while stuck in an elevator!

Finally, after an hour of waiting in the elevator, and many calls to the people mover operators, we get out. At the very moment the doors opened, I caught this picture of Danielle which says it all... what a relief!!



Luckily, we still had a bit of sunlight left to do pictures around the arena and in front of the hockey wall of fame. When we got back onto the people mover, can you guess what we didn't take up to the platform?! I also got some fun shots in the people mover and still caught a little bit of sun-kissed closeups. Click on any of the images to view Danielle & Brian's Engagement Session.

Jen & Chris' Wedding

Jen & Chris were married at the Candlelight Wedding Chapel & Hall where they had one of the most unique themes I've ever seen!! You guessed it- NASCAR! Now, before you make any judgements (because I KNOW what you're thinking), consider how carefully this theme was thought out and how much work it must have taken to pull it off...

How often does the groom actually get to have the wedding of HIS dreams? Most guys have to suffer through the girlie flowers and maybe even strut a flashy pink tie all for the love of his bride-to-be. Not this groom- I think he may have even done more of the decorating than the bride (but I'm pretty sure it was an equal effort)!

First, let's start with the wedding logo and centerpieces: a converted Nextel Nascar logo, custom designed by the groom with their names and wedding date! Not only did he custom design the logo, but look closely at the car.. ALL of the decals you see were custom designed and printed by the groom. I don't know much about the cars or drivers, but I also think that the other advertiser logos on the cars are accurate as well! (A little tip he shared about DIY decals- let the ink dry for a day before attempting to put them on anything.) Now honestly girls, how many guys are THIS dedicated to the centerpieces for YOUR wedding?

Second, the table numbers and color scheme: people are always looking for unique and creative ways to distiguish what tables guests should seek after picking up their placecards. These table numbers, were not just any numbers... each number represented the car that was in the center of the table. To keep a simple color palette, they choose black and white with splashes of red and silver. They could have gone overboard with checkered print, but instead it appeared subtlely in the silver bouquet ribbons and on the rotating platform for the model cars.



Keeping with their black & white color scheme, they also had a "tiered cake" made of Hostess Twinkies and Cupcakes. Even though they decided not to "cut the cake", I think that cake disappeared faster than any other wedding cake I've ever seen! I mean come on, who doesn't like hostess chocolate CUPCAKES?! Mmmmm... creamy filling... :P

Of course, this couple wouldn't be seriously die-hard NASCAR fans if they didn't have the ultimately NASCAR souvenier... an original, used, NASCAR racing tire (which was used as a card holder on their gift table)! Here's what Jen had to say...
"The tire that we used for the cardbox was one that we bought at MIS last summer. It's actually a race-used tire. Chris's dad made the stand and the wheel part of it w/ the card slot."

The best part of the wedding was that everyone had fun- and that's what makes a wedding great!! Click on any image to preview their wedding day in pictures.

Save-the-Date Postcard

Remember Joy & Brian's Engagement? Within two weeks of our engagement session, I received this awesome save-the-date postcard in the mail! I had to laugh when I saw their clever use of the picture!! ;-) The postcards turned out great with a semi-glossy finish and the picture quality looks excellent! So, of course I had to get the scoop on where the cards were printed and how much they cost so I could share the idea with everyone else! Here's what Joy told me...

"I used vistaprint.com. You can get 100 free postcards when the are running a deal. Usually it is every other week but it does change day to day/hr to hr even. Just need to keep your eye on it.

The shipping cost are (approx. prices):
• 3-day delivery $24.99
• 7-day $17.99
• 15-day $12.99
• 20-25 day $5.99

* I got my delivery sooner than what they said :)

You do have to pay $4.99 to upload each image and $1.99 for a proof which is emailed to you. Please note that you only pay for a proof if you use that layout. I personally viewed the proof and then went back to the editing window and resaved the postcard I wanted with another name and didn't have to pay the $1.99.

Other cost: If you want to have color on the back of the postcard they will charge you a flat rate of $9.99.

They have lots of different layouts and graphics to choose from for the postcard or you can upload all your own stuff. It is pretty user friendly and they turned out great. They also have other stuff you could use for save-the-date stuff (ei. cards, magnets)

Please feel free to use this info for other brides!

By the way all of my family loves the enagement pictures/ slideshow! I put your link on my website :) It worked out great!"

A big thank you to Joy for sharing all of this great information!!

Edit 3/14: I just signed up to hand out discounts for vistaprint, so feel free to use this coupon!! 50% Off Post Cards at VistaPrint.com!

The People

I've unofficially been an exclusive photographer for The People for over a year now. The People recently held a CD release party at their favorite venue, Xhedos Cafe and asked me to make the most of the extra lighting they had on hand for the evening. As any concert photographer knows, lighting is everything and without great lighting it doesn't matter what kind of camera equipment you have. We did run into a little snag when the smoke machine set off the cafe's fire alarm system, but after 15 minutes of standing in the cold, we were able to get the show back on track and had a great evening... without the smoke effects. ;-) Click on any image to view the full set of images from the evening in a flash slideshow.

Risks

I feel like I'm surrounded by a lot of people at the moment (myself included) who are in the middle of big changes that involve taking risks. So, when I came across this drawing, I just had to share it with everyone. This is one of my mom's favorite artists, Mary Engelbreit with a quote by Mark Twain...

March Desktop Image

Every month or so I change my desktop image to a recent photograph I've taken and I thought it would be fun to share these images in my blog so that you can download them for your desktop as well! Every month I'll try to post a new image that is suitable for displaying at desktop size and resolution. Click on an image to download a copy for your desktop.