Melinda Ann Photography - Maternity, Newborns, Children, Family, Portrait Photographer Blogsite

It’s official, the Bow Chick is now royalty | commercial work {Michigan Commercial Photographer}

January 20th, 2012 | Posted by Melinda in Commerical Work | Fun Stuff - (0 Comments)

Well, she has done it again! The lovely, Beth Schell, owner, operator and creator of The Bow Chick has started creating BEAUTIFUL fabric crowns! They’re SO SO SO cute! I was so anxious to get my hands on some! And lucky for me she had two ready to go when I came into town this last weekend. PHEW! We have to throw some shoots together very last minute but thankfully we have little girl models at our disposal. And they’re happy to do it! PHEW again! Beth and I thought it was a great chance to get to introduce Jacqui of Jen and Jac Designs, and showcase some of her pieces. This was the first time that my sister Jenni and I met Jacqui and within minutes we loved her. She’s as nice in person as she seems online. Truly. Jacqui is going to be a Guest Vendor at our first Be You Marketplace of 2012. We’re VERY excited and the hostess is just as excited, which makes us even more excited. That’s a lot of excitement!

We decided to check out Flint Crepe Company for our shoot. They were kind enough to let us shoot there and didn’t seem to mind when we were moving tables around. It was SOOOOOO delicious!!! You HAVE to check it out! They serve wonderful coffees, savory crepes (which are more meal based) and dessert crepes. I had the Peanut Butter & Chocolate crepe (dessert at 10:30am, yes please!) and a Dirty Chai Latte. Double Yum! Flint Crepe Company is a wonderful addition to downtown Flint. I’ll definitely be back there whenever I’m in town. Mmm…now I want a crepe.

Flint Crepe showcases young artist from around the Flint area. Isn’t that awesome?!?!? What a GREAT decorating idea.

The girls are one month and a day apart from each other. Grace turned 7 the following day and Abby is a valentines baby. So the crowns were VERY fitting for them!

Check out Beth’s *NEW* product on her Facebook page by clicking HERE!

And Jacqui’s awesome designs HERE!

We’re excited for Jacqui to be our very first guest vendor one week from today!

Thanks for looking!

xoxo

Melinda Ann

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she has the glow | Martin Family Maternity {Michigan Maternity Photographer}

January 19th, 2012 | Posted by Melinda in Family | Maternity | Sneak Peeks - (0 Comments)

Melisa is such a beautiful pregnant woman! She carries herself so well and makes the last few weeks of pregnancy look so comfortable and appealing. haha When we scheduled her maternity shoot back in late November, we didn’t have a lick of snow and there wasn’t any heading our way. We were pretty nervous that we would be taking pictures in frozen dirt and dead grass. Although we missed the HUGE snowfall by a week, we thankfully had just enough to enjoy it! PHEW! I really enjoy outside shoots in the winter. Although I’m not a huge fan of playing in the snow for hours (even though my birthday is the first day of winter), I appreciate it and love how beautiful it is. It really is a beautiful time to get pictures. Especially when you’re with a family that loves the outdoors just as much as you do!

Congratulations Martin family! I can’t wait to hear what sweet baby #2 is. Only a few more weeks! Archer will be SUCH a wonderful big brother!!!! (Check out Archers baby Facebook album here!)

ENJOY!

xoxo – Melinda Ann

I adore the dramatic lighting in the black and white. LOVE!

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my lovely valentines | My Loves Showing of the Wonderful Bow Chick {Michigan Child Photographer}

January 11th, 2012 | Posted by Melinda in Fun Stuff | Kids | ME! - (0 Comments)

I’m always impressed with Beth, the amazing Bow Chick, and her creative eye. I would never be able to look at a pile of fabric scraps, ribbon, and jewels and come up with the hair pieces that she does. Absolutely outstanding! Her hair pieces can withstand A LOT too! Leighton and Piper really put their headbands and bows through the ringer and not a thread comes loose. I appreciate quality in everything!

Go to THE BOW CHICK‘s Facebook page to be able to buy one of the these three pieces…. or all three.

I’m using a few of these photos for Pipers ONE YEAR birthday party!! :*( Where did the time go?!? I can’t believe my baby is one in a little over a month.

ENJOY!
xoxo
Melinda Ann

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mini-mania | Showing Off the Minis from 2011! {Traverse City, Michigan Photographer}

January 11th, 2012 | Posted by Melinda in Family | Fun Stuff | Kids | Sneak Peeks - (0 Comments)

Wanted to show off some examples from the mini-sessions in November and December of 2011. We were not blessed with a soft snowfall but we did have some very cold wind on a couple of the days. Brrrr! It’s so hard not to complain about the weather in Michigan from November till April. We never know what we’re going to get. We may have lots of sunshine at 46 degrees in January (todays weather) or dark overcast and 20 degrees in April (like last year; please not again) We have to just roll with the punches. Thankfully, the sessions are quick so they are somewhat painless. Right?!

Not every family chose to have holiday props included in their shoot. Which is perfectly okay and the beauty of themed mini-sessions! Maybe you’re a current MAP client and maybe you’re someone who wanted to test the MAP waters before booking a full session. Either way, I had fun and was SO happy to meet a lot of new families. I hope all of you had as much as I did! Thank you for being my first mini-session clients! *MUAH*

Had to end this post with one of the sweetest pictures, along with one that made me laugh out loud! Oh Ava, you’re a silly girl!

CHECK OUT THE POST BEFORE THIS FOR SOME MINI-SPECIALS!!!!

ENJOY!
xoxo
Melinda Ann

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2011 Mini-Specials | Family & Couples {Traverse City, Michigan Photographer}

If you’ve been following my Facebook page for the last few months then you’re aware of the large amount of traveling my family has done. If you haven’t, well trust me, it has been A LOT! At one point, my husband and I were talking about how we shouldn’t have a home because we’re never there. We should live in our travel trailer and roam from campground to campground. I was completely joking, he was not. It sounds all romantic and adventurous but going from a home with room to do cartwheels to an area barely large enough to do a somersault was maddening. But this isn’t a post about our travels in 2011, this is a post about some serious 2012 specials!

Let me address some things real quick:

*Isn’t my new site PRETTY!?!?!? The galleries need to be finished on my part but THANK YOU to the amazing and lovely Cathy, from The Concierges! I LOVE it!!! Thank you again, Cathy!

*Be You Marketplace parties have started and wowza! We hit the ground running! We are having SO much fun with this new venture. We have so many ideas and can’t wait to share them in 2012. We’re truly thankful to have so many awesome people who support our small businesses and want to see us grow! THANK YOU again!

*With Be You Marketplace, I was able to try out some mini-sessions. They were GREAT! Thank you to all of you that joined in on the mini-session fun! It was definitely a new & exciting experience for me. There are some changes to mini-sessions that I know I want to make but all in all, they were, again, GREAT! In 2012, mini-sessions (besides ones with BYM) will not be offered daily like a full session. There will be special dates/months that mini-sessions will take place, they will be limited. Mini-sessions are not taking the place of full sessions and I want to be sure that I’m able to keep the amount of monthly sessions to a certain amount. These mini-specials I’m posting about are going to be the majority of the mini-sessions I offer. I will end up filling some spots when it gets closer to the mini-dates but the pricing will not be the awesome special price.

*And lastly, a BIG THANK YOU to my 2011 clients!!! You’re truly amazing and I’m SO blessed and happy to have such amazing, understanding, wonderful and patient clients. However, I don’t think of you as “clients”, I think of you as friends. I totally realize how corny that sounded but it’s true truth. Whether we have had a friendship for a long time, a short time or we had just met during our session. I THANK YOU! TRULY! This is a small thank you in comparison to how I feel. If I could, I would give all of you a big hug and most of you know I’m a hugger! Thanks for never turning down my hugs because a session isn’t complete without a goodbye hug!

TIME FOR SOME SPECIALS! (updated 1/11)

Wednesday, January 11th – Family Specials Listed

Thursday, January 12th – Engagement/Couple Specials listed

The milestone/birthday mini-specials will be listed later in the year. Blessed to have a busy schedule already.

UPDATE 1/12: Only one spot remains the weekend of May 11-13th in Davison area.

Aren’t the punkins in the pictures SO cute?!?! They’re from a couple of mini-sessions this year. LOVE!

xoxo
Melinda Ann

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sweet baby tegan | Springstead Newborn Sneak Peek {Michigan Newborn Photographer}

October 31st, 2011 | Posted by Melinda in Family | Newborn | Sneak Peeks - (1 Comments)

Just before I was leaving for Miami, little Miss Tegan decided to make her appearance. The timing couldn’t have been better! I was going to be home for one day between coming home from Miami and leaving for our trip around the world. (It wasn’t the world, but it sure felt like it.) Mama Jenn wanted to get some shots of her while she was still so little and once I returned (BACK!) we would squeeze in a quick family shoot. Doing a ‘quick’ newborn shoot is next to impossible. Since the minimum allotted time for them is 2 hours. But Tegan was a dream and from pulling in their driveway to pulling out, its as 90 minutes. Thank you Tegan! You’re a professional model already!

Congratulations again on a beautiful and healthy baby girl! She is beautiful!!! See you tomorrow Springsteads!

ENJOY!
xoxo

Melinda Ann

I just love little baby hands.

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Gramma Laurie says:

Wednesday, 2nd November 2011 at 7:24 am

What adorable pics! I love the one of her outside in the basket……not a care in the world! What a sweetie!

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my first ‘trash the dress’ shoot YIPPEE | Kurtis and Lauhnna TTD Sneak Peek {Michigan Portrait Photographer}

October 26th, 2011 | Posted by Melinda in Engagement | Sneak Peeks - (4 Comments)

This shoot was definitely one of the most exciting shoots for me! I’ve never done a trash the dress or post wedding shoot. So when Lauhnna contacted me about one, I jumped at the chance to fit them into my schedule before I left for vacation. You may recognize them from their family shoot last year. They were given an MAP gift card at their baby shower. (Such a great gift idea!) It is always a joy to see families return after a year or two. I love hearing what they’ve been up to. In Kurtis and Lauhnna’s case, they’ve celebrated their sons first birthday and got married this summer! HOW EXCITING!

Thank you again for asking me to capture such a fun moment for you two! It was, as always, a great time! And thank you for meeting me in the middle of nowhere, but wow, we lucked out on locations! haha I hope you love the finished product and that it was exactly what you were hoping for.

ENJOY!
xoxo
Melinda Ann

(if you’re interested in a ‘Trash the Dress” or post wedding intimate shoot with your husband, contact me at MelindaAnnPhotography@gmail.com – I put together a small TTD package that includes a 5×5 custom hardcover book.

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4 Responses

Jody Beamer says:

Wednesday, 26th October 2011 at 3:46 pm

AMAZING!!!
erin g says:

Wednesday, 26th October 2011 at 5:17 pm

oh my goodness could she be any prettier??
GRANDMA MARY says:

Wednesday, 26th October 2011 at 5:53 pm

Beautiful!!
Jen says:

Thursday, 27th October 2011 at 11:42 pm

L.O.V.E the black and white (with what looks like a bit of chocolate to it) where Mrs. is looking up!!! Your photos continue to amaze me!

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haylee zyber part two | Haylee Zyber Senior Sneak Peek {Michigan High School Senior Photographer}

October 26th, 2011 | Posted by Melinda in Seniors - (0 Comments)

Don constantly talks about having our girls be professional golfers. Well, in hopes that they are. I’m sure it has something to do with a dream he had for himself but never fulfilled. Needless to say, our children may be pushed into something they aren’t interested in. haha j/k I made sure to get a few golf tips from Haylee. So that our girls start off on the right foot if they do learn to love it.

For Haylees shoot, we did the same thing that I did for Katys (previous senior post). Haylee and her parents came up north for a golf tournament, so we did her first half on the beach in northern Michigan. The second half was downstate at her grandparents old dairy farm. I love when clients incorporate locations that hold memories for them. I think it brings a lot more life to the photos for them. Then we headed to the Davison country club for a few golf pictures. I had A LOT of fun taking these! Glad she wanted some.

Thank you for being so awesome Haylee! I hope you’re enjoying your senior year and your last year on your HS golf team.

ENJOY!
xoxo

Melinda Ann

I love these apple tree shots. Haylee grew up eating apples from the tree that grows in her grandparents back yard.

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travis urbin senior sneak peek | Elk Rapids High School Senior {Northern Michigan Senior Photographer}

October 22nd, 2011 | Posted by Melinda in Seniors | Sneak Peeks - (0 Comments)

Three senior post in a row!!!! GEEZ! WOOHOO! I’m on a roll. SO happy to have my computer running again.

Travis saw my work thru a fellow classmate and decided I was the photographer for him. He was a lot of fun to work with and up for anything! He was happy with all of my suggestions but definitely brought his own ideas. At one point he climbed up a large industrial metal thing (thats a technical term). Like a mother, I was petrified he was going to fall because it was kind of slimy and wet from some air conditioning units. But like a boy, he clambered up, moved around and then jumped down effortlessly. Boys will be boys; isn’t that the saying?

Thanks for being so fun Travis! Great job! I hope you enjoy your sneak peek!

ENJOY!
xoxo
Melinda Ann

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katy thiel part two | Davison High School Senior Sneak Peek {Michigan Senior Photographer}

October 20th, 2011 | Posted by Melinda in Seniors | Sneak Peeks - (0 Comments)

It would be possible to finish a high school senior session in one day but it’s pretty fun to break up the three hours. For Katy’s we did her first session up north near me and the second was downstate near her home. The areas are SO different that it changes the feel of the photos completely. At least for me it does. Splitting up the session seems to work great for the seniors too. They’re always more relaxed the second time around.

Thank you for the lovely evening Thiel ladies. I love you three and can’t wait to see what Katy’s future holds. I just can’t believe she is already a senior…I remember her sitting at our pool during my older sisters open house. :*)

It happens so fast.

ENJOY!
xoxo
Melinda Ann