So many times throughout our job we hear “Wow! That’s a nice camera, I bet it takes good pictures!” And although it’s meant to be a compliment about our equipment, it makes me realize a lot of things. Would you say to a surgeon “Wow! That’s a nice scalpel, I bet it performs great surgery!” Get my point?

The photos taken of your wedding day will be placed in an album or slideshow and looked at by your kids, grandkids, great grandkids, and many more generations. If we have all of this trust in the technology in cameras, which most people seem to do lately to save a buck, the photos will not be around for those kids to see. Andrew and I take pride in our work and know that 100 years from now, the people looking at the photos will see great quality work (a little dated!) But still great work with proper technical skill.

Photograph Bucket List:
#30. Themed Vintage Shoot
This photo was taken by Andrew 100 years ago. lol Just kidding, obviously. These kids our actually our nephews and niece.

I shouldn’t really call this post a wedding preview because I actually have all of the wedding photos completed. I sat down to work on the blog preview and had so much fun looking at their wedding photos that I decided to just get going on the whole thing. So if you’d like to see all of the photos hop on over to our proofing site and take a look at their gallery.

Jodi and Tom were married 2 Saturdays ago, Zach and Analisa were there to capture their big day. If I rememebr correctly there was a chance for rain the entire day but it thankfully held off! It’s always exciting for me to edit the weddings that the associates photograph. I like seeing how their day unfolds.

Jodi chose what I think is the most perfect dress for her! The series of photos of Jodi and Tom’s send off from the ceremony I LOVE! Her dress looks amazing from the back all poofed up, I love it!

I had so many great photos to choose from, It was hard not to choose them all for the preview!

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Part-time Office Assisant / Babysitter
5-15 hours/week (depending on the time of year)

Office Assistant Duties Include:
Answering studio calls
Responding to client emails
Taking and placing print orders
Making CD’s for clients
Scheduling photo sessions
Studio prep
Light office cleaning
* Assisting photographers during photo sessions (if you have experience)
* Editing (if you have experience)

Babysitting Duties Include:
Caring for our 2 children in our home, a 2 year old and 5 month old
Very light house cleaning

You must have experience in caring for children and office work. Although it is a plus, photography experience is not a must since the position is mostly office/babysitting.

Please email tiffany@marc-photography.net with resume and references.

In times of sorrows and tragedies people always ask “why”. In fact, I just did. But in trying to figure out where I wanted to go with that question, I realized that I didn’t need to even ask it. I already know that answer. The bible is very clear about there being sorrows and tragedies on earth. It’s also very clear about those who trust and believe in God will be blessed for eternity in heaven.

There really is no getting around the fact that cancer just completely and utterly sucks though. Andrew’s Aunt Corla passed away from cancer this fall, and her daughter posted something on facebook about it today. Of course I had a full on cry session. We’ve been lucky enough to have Andrew’s dad around 2 full years since his first diagnosis, and Jamie lost her mom in just a few short months. A few months before that, another one of Andrew’s aunts (Aunt Barb) passed away from cancer. The August before that, Andrew’s grandpa passed away from cancer, and then the almost exactly 2 years before that Andrew’s grandma passed away from cancer. Four people in four years all from the same family passed away from cancer. I pray everyday that it won’t be 5 people in 5 years, or 5 people in 10 years. How ever grim the outlook seems though, the promise that you will see your loved ones again someday is what gets you through the pain of cancer. Jamie reminded me of this today. And as tears ran down my face, I couldn’t help but smile because her words are so true!

About a month ago during one of my cry sessions over cancer, I turned to some pinning therapy on pinterest. (Seriously, you should try it sometime. It’s better than a therapist. Well, I’ve never been to a therapist. But it truly works wonders for cry sessions! lol) I searched the word cancer on pinterest because I was looking for a specific quote. My sister-in-law had found this picture with a quote on it about what cancer cannot do awhile back, and I wanted to find it to boost my mood and read it to Andrew. Good news – I found it! It reads as follows.

Photograph Bucket List:
#72. Capture Personality
The photo below is Andrew’s grandpa. Andrew took this picture of grandpa when he came to see our studio just before our grand opening. In all honesty, this is one of my top 5 photos that we have ever taken. It completely captures his personality, and when I see this photo I feel like grandpa is sitting next to me telling a story.

Well we had 2 ER trips the past week. All 4 of us have been sick, Kenlie with croup and Audyn with RSV. I think that I’ve only left the house twice in the past week… definitely going crazy here! I have been able to work on the website and client welcome packets a bit. Which is great, I have been wanting to update them for about a year now! ha!

This is the time of year where we take care of stuff for the business and get passionate about photography again. Spring, summer, and fall takes a lot out of you and you get to the point where you aren’t as excited about photography. As our photo sessions are more spread out in the winter time, we really start to miss it! I found a photo bucket list on pinterest today that I printed off for Andrew and I to look at and hopefully achieve. To my surprise we have already captured about 80% of the photos on the list. There are some pretty random pictures on the list, so I thought it might be fun to post the ones that we have already photographed. A few of them involve traveling to other countries… so I guess that gives us a good reason to travel! Not that I ever need a reason to travel.

Photograph Bucket List:
#1. Raw Emotion
The 2 photos below go pretty well with the raw emotion I do believe! Although we obvisouly have more photos that are probably better candidates for the “raw emotion” I wanted to include these 2 sweet girls because they are mine. Their laughter is the only thing that keeps me sane, and I want them to live forever. (Hopefully you clicked play on the video like I told you to!)

One of my facebook friends posted this a couple of days ago. I seriously laughed out loud when I saw this for 2 reasons.

Reason #1: I honestly think this is a quote from me. I can specifically remember complaining to Andrew about how people always post about the weather when it is snowing or really nice outside.
Reason #2: About 30 minutes before my facebook friend posted this, I was one of the million other people on facebook posting about it snowing. Ha!

Well ladies and gentlemen, my post today isn’t about how it is snowing outside (although it is). It’s actually a post about the man who walks all day every day in downtown Zeeland. I’ve been trying to stick to my blogging the last few days, and every day that I sit here thinking of what my next statement shall be, I see this man pacing Main Avenue in Zeeland. I can’t imagine how cold he must be. Or maybe he’s been out there so long he’s not even cold anymore. He simply paces… in no certain direction with no plan as to where he is going. Every once in a while he will stop and pick up something off of the sidewalk or road, glance at it, then slip his mittens back on. I’ve never seen him sitting… I guess the walking helps to keep you warm. But I wonder, is he homeless? You would think you would see him sitting somewhere. At night he just disappears…

Maybe he is happy to walk up and down the road? I could certainly get the answer I’m sure if I went and talked to him. But I’m scared. It’s sad that I am scared. Maybe I have resources to help him if he needs help. Then again, how do I know that he even needs help? You’re probably thinking “just go talk to him”. I suppose I just don’t want to make the assumption that he is homeless or needs any help. But what is worse? Hurting his feelings because he’s not really homeless and doesn’t need help, or avoiding him when he actually would appreciate a helping hand.

I guess I just feel like I am just one small person and this situation is too big for me.

We’ve also been putting some thought into changing our logo. I’ve been playing around with it a little bit on our facebook page and the flyer I made for the workshop. Not sure if it’s the one for sure yet, but we’ll see. I’m excited to simplify things a bit!

We’ve got homemade chicken potpies in the oven and possibly watching a movie after the kids are tucked in. Oh the glamorous life of photographers. (I seriously just sang Fergie’s song to make sure I spelled that right! Thanks Fergie!)

Now for the photos of Miss Mallory. Adorable!

Andrew camped a lot when he was a kid. His family drove their motorhome to the Grand Canyon. Who does that?!? That’s like the ultimate right there. lol

Kenlie is getting old and Andrew has been fishing more the past year or 2 so I think it will be fun to do outdoorsy-type things with the kids. Plus I’m looking forward to hanging happy camper lights off of an awning and drinking out of a plastic cup with an umbrella while making s’mores. Oh the life of a camper.

Below is a photo from a couple of years ago. All of Andrew’s siblings and parents stayed a few days at East Lake near Hopins. We stayed 1 night… does that count as camping?

If you are an amatuer photographer looking to move from auto to manual, a mom who wants better photos of her kids, or somebody just looking to understand the settings on their camera, this workshop is for you!