Tonight we did a last minute photo shoot with the Gryniewicz family. We became friends with Ron and Amy after shooting their wedding earlier this year and they wanted to do a family shoot which worked out great because Ron’s parents live right near by us.

Early in they year, Kathy Parker was one of the students in my photography class that I taught. Her and her husband Scott have family all around the world and once a year they all come home for 24 hours over Christmas time. Kathy and Scott’s five kids come along with spouses and grand children and they gather, laugh together, and enjoy that special 24 hours. Kathy’s daughter Keri hired Cheridy and I to come out as a surprise for Kathy and do some photos of the family.
Here are a few of those pictures:

Back in October we had done senior pictures for Alyssa. In November, she brought her sisters back to a photo shoot as a surprise for their parents. It was REALLY cold and snowy that day so the shoot was short but we were able to get some fun pics that made a great present.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I spent some time working on Chris and Lindsay’s Album today. Here are a few of the page spreads.

Tonight we went to Kensington’s Christmas service. For those that don’t know, Kensington is the church that Cheridy and I have attended for about 7 years. Every year they do a spectacular Christmas service. This year there were 22 services spread out over the three campuses with well over 25,000 people in attendance. It is such a blessing to be a part of this church and to witness the arts being used to serve God. It is also a blessing to be a part of the Kensington Community. This year the church did a drive called Christmas Care to raise money for causes such as faminine relief in Kenya, aids medicine for an orphanage in Brazil, and MANY others including the one near and dear to our hearts - feeding a community in eSikhawini, South Africa which is where Cheridy and I visited earlier this year. Anyway, just in the last few weeks, Kensington attenders have given over $170,000 to support these causes. God is moving and we’re so thankful to be a part of Kensington to see all these things happening!
Here are a few pictures that we took from the service this evening.:

Last night Chris and Lindsay got married at Cornerstone Church and had their reception at Blossom Heath. Blossom Heath was one of the first locations that we ever did wedding photos at except for that couple, they didn’t have their reception there and only went to use the grounds. We haven’t been back since. When we got there last night, we noticed the little stone gazebo that looked very familiar. Unfortunately it was too dark to shoot there last night.

Yesterday we were doing a shoot for the Salvation Army and part of the shoot required shooting some street scenes that show some of the blight in Detroit.

Here are a few images from this morning’s shoot with baby Abrum:

This afternoon we went to The Skyline Club to shoot some photos for their advertisement brochure they’re putting together. The Skyline Club is part of the same organization that owns The Renaissance Club where we shot pics of a few weeks ago. The layout is very similar with lots of big windows and an incredible view!

We live in the city of Sterling Heights and every year they have an annual Christmas celebration. There was music, animals, carraige rides, and of course…Santa Claus!

This is a photo of the Upton House which is historical house right by City Hall.

Mayor Richard Notte just before giving Santa Claus the key to the city.

Santa gets the key.

There was a steady crowd around the bonfire to keep warm.

Horses pull a carraige around Dodge Park.

An inflatable snowman is one of many decorations.

Keep an eye out for The Knot’s Michigan magazine for Spring/Summer of 2007 where they featured one of our weddings in the “real weddings” section. The didn’t choose the most unique or creative photo but hey…at least we’re in the magazine. This was from Ed and Gretchen’s wedding in December of 2005. Ed and Gretchen got married at the Pine Knob Mansion and they are now living in northern California.