a picture's worth

what's in a name?

a picture's worth photography

To me, pictures are one of the most important things in my life. I've had a camera since I was about ten years old, I think, and I have books and books full of pictures from elementary school through high school and college and onto marriage, travel and my kiddos. My pictures are worth so much to me. I look at them and I'm instantly transported to a different time in my life. My first crush, slumber parties with friends, life in the college dorm, being a newlywed, living in Germany, traveling around Europe, our first home, the days my son and daughter were born. If not for pictures, I may have forgotten a lot of the details of these times in my life. I cherish these photos and believe so much in the importance of photography.

When I was trying to come up with a name for my business several years ago, I kept thinking about what I wanted it to represent - how important photography is to me. I toyed with a lot of names and considered using my own name as so many photographers do, but in the end I decided on "A Picture's Worth" because of how much I value my pictures. They are priceless in my eyes. Photography captures moments, freezes time forever, there in that image. A father glancing at his daughter just before he walks her down the aisle, the first time the groom sees his bride coming toward him, the joy on the newlyweds faces as their minister says "I now pronounce you husband and wife." These are moments that go by so quickly and to be able to capture them is one of the greatest joys of my life.

Most of the pictures I post here are my recent wedding/portrait work, so I've decided to start sharing some of the pictures I have taken through the years so you can get to know me a little better. I apologize in advance for the quality since a lot of them are film and I'm scanning them in. :)

Thought I'd start with this scrapbook page I did last year of some pictures from my trip to Italy with my college roomie Julie. Jake and I lived in Germany in 1997 while he was stationed in the Army so I had the opportunity to travel around Europe and see some of the places I had only ever heard about. Julie saved her pennies and came to visit in June of '97 and we took some tours to Paris and Italy. Our last day in Italy was spent in Venice, riding gondolas, shopping, walking the streets. It's an amazing place that I would love to visit again someday. Maybe shoot a wedding there ... hint hint. hehe! ;)

I hope by sharing, you'll see just how much my pictures are worth to me. :)
Thanks for stopping by!

september 6th • now available

My wedding scheduled for September 6, 2008 has been cancelled. So ...

SEPTEMBER 6, 2008 is AVAILABLE

I have turned a few couples away who inquired about this date and have now booked other photographers. :( If you are getting married on September 6th of this year, please contact me. I would like to fill this date, so I am offering the same pricing the first couple booked at (2007 pricing).

Thanks! Hope to be part of your September 6th wedding! :)

easter • my kiddos

Every year, Zach and Chloe help their grandma color eggs and frost cookies. They have so much fun with her. It's become a tradition ever since Zach was old enough to help. We braved the blizzard on Friday and headed over to keep our annual egg coloring/cookie frosting extravaganza! :D

We also get together on Easter and the kids get a special basket of goodies from grandma and we have a little egg hunt for the kids. Since it was snowy outside, we hid the eggs around the house. It doesn't matter to them how they get the candy, just as long as they get it. ;)

Hope you all had a very special Easter!

aletha @ pearls events • vendors

A couple weeks ago, I had a nice lunch with Aletha Vandermaas of Pearls Events. We met at yummy Panera Bread and chatted about my photography and her wedding coordinator business. I am so impressed with Aletha. She's such a sweetie and for having just started her business this past year, she is booked pretty solid for this year and is already booking into 2009. This girl does it all. She does day of coordination, where she will show up on your day and make sure every little detail is in place, or she can help you with more of your planning if you need it, such as budgeting, meeting with vendors and more.

As a photographer, the service that she offers is helpful to me as well. A bride who has a well-organized coordinator to handle all the little details will be much more relaxed and simply enjoy her day more than one who is scrambling around trying to handle everything herself.

So, if you are from the Grand Rapids area, please contact Aletha to help you with your wedding. You'll be so happy that you did!

kelley + chris • show me your walls ... err, scrapbooks

I was SO blessed last summer to travel to Texas for the wedding of my dear "blog friend" Kelley. We are both very into scrapbooking and that's how we found each others blogs a few years ago. Kelley just finished up her wedding scrapbook and I thought I'd share a few of the page layouts that she put together and posted on Flickr.

It was so fun seeing my pictures organized this way! Kelley had so many pages, she had to break it up into two books. But now she has a beautiful set of books to display and share and help them remember their special day. :)

Kelley really wanted the high resolution disk of wedding images with her wedding package for this purpose. She knew she would be making a lot of prints and could do it herself with the disk. Plus, she now has the disk to store in a safe place so she always has a permanent copy of her pictures.

The high res image DVD we offer includes a signed release giving you permission to make prints at the photo lab of your choice. I also encourage couples who get the disk to burn their own backup copies and store them in safe places just in case. :)

If you are a past client of mine, feel free to email me some snapshots of your wedding, family, baby or other pictures displayed in frames, on shelves, or in a scrapbook. I love sharing these here and inspiring others to get their pictures displayed so they can enjoy them! :)

Also, if anyone is interested in having Kelley design a wedding scrapbook for you, please feel free to contact her.

rachael + nick • show me your walls

show me your walls is a fun feature that I started here last year for my clients to share the way they've displayed my work in their homes.

Rachael sent me a few snapshots of their wedding pictures framed around their home. I loved seeing these! :)

If you are a client of mine and have some of your pictures framed on your walls, on a shelf, on your fireplace mantle, in a scrapbook, wherever ... I'd love to share them here so others can be inspired to get their photos displayed so they can enjoy them.

baby eva • slideshow

Here are a few more pictures from sweet baby Eva's photo session in Chicago. :)
View larger version HERE

a day in chicago

As I mentioned a few days ago, Jake and I took a trip to Chicago this past weekend to take pictures for Christina and Alex of their new baby girl (see the post a couple down with pictures of baby Eva) and we stayed for the day to explore the city. We took tons of pictures, of course, and instead of posting 20+ pictures and making you scroll down the whole page, I decided to put them in a slideshow. Click the little arrow below the picture to scroll through them.

It was my first time in Chicago and I loved it! I'm definitely looking forward to going back a few more times this year. And let me just put out there that if anyone is getting married in Chicago, please don't hesitate to contact me. I love to travel and would absolutely love to shoot a wedding in Chicago. :)

claire + ella • slideshow

Enjoy the slideshow with more pictures from Claire and Ella's photo session last week. :)

View larger version HERE

eva • babies

Saturday morning, my husband Jake and I dropped our kids off at my parents house and took off for Chicago for a baby photo session. It was so great to see Christina and Alex again and meet their new baby girl and this trip was extra special for me since it was my very first time in Chicago (I'll be sharing some pictures we took in the city in the next day or two.). Here are a few of the pictures of sweet Eva.

She's so tiny and precious. I like this shot of her all tiny on the loveseat with the rows of pictures from the wedding above. It's so fun to see my work displayed. :)

Eva's nursery is adorable!

I love baby feet. :)

This one is so precious.

I love these next two! Such a sweet little family.

hehe ... naked baby. I thought this one was fun because she loved looking at her mommy's striped robe hanging on the door the whole time so I had to get a shot with the robe in the background. :)

I adore this one.

Congratulations again, Alex and Christina. It was so fun seeing you and God has blessed you with a sweet little angel. :)