Thankfully, the brides dressing room was air conditioned so it was a lovely oasis.

It was a really laid back day and everything fit in really well with that cool barn. The food was incredible as well. However, I did come to find out the next day that the AMAZING green beans I was gobbling down were cooked with like a million pounds of butter and bacon grease. With how sensitive my stomach is these days, I think it’s a miracle from God himself that I didn’t get sick because I ate a lot of them, haha. They were probably the best green beans of my life.

Anyways, there are a lot of photos here so I hope you all enjoy them!

Better as a hat or as a tutu? I’m on the fence. :)
hahah I couldn’t resist putting these 2 photos together! This could be my favorite image of the whole day. This cake… oh my goodness. Ryan forced me to stop eating it. I know that was the right choice so I don’t get sick…but I just wanted a taste. Then, when it turned out the taste was SO GOOD how could I stop? It was very difficult, thats how. I talk a lot about food lately. I just miss all the tasty kinds of it.  Many great new posts are to come. I’ve been everywhere over the past 2 months and have not had time to blog very much but I’ve got at least 3 really awesome posts coming soon! :)

Tara had emailed me a little while ago about maternity photos but since she was on bed rest, that would be hard to make happen. Instead, we planned for family newborn photos. Tara is the owner of The Fitness Loft in Battle Creek and I’m going to be letting her kick my butt and get in shape soon. I’ve never exercised and I don’t think my body knows what that feels like so this will be interesting. After a year of healthy eating, I’m shocked at how different I feel so I think this will be a pretty awesome experience.

Anyways – moving on to super cute, super tiny baby Chloe! :)

These little boots are just to die for! I say little, but really they were GIANT on Chloe, haha. Someday soon, she will be the cutest kid around in these little fur balls. Ok so there are a few photos of the puppies in here… I just couldn’t resist! They were so cute and this little one was especially loving. Ooooh my goodness, I love happy babies! It’s so crazy to see how tiny her little legs and feet are compared to her Dad’s arm. At first, I thought this was a clever idea with the lamp. Then, I realized it might look like it’s cooking her…. then once I got it edited I thought it might be cool again…. so I’m really kind of undecided. hahahaChloe is making a little kissy face! Talk about really awesome timing, hahahaThe last two here are possibly my favorites. I am just nuts about the black and white one and the other one is just so peaceful and lovely. This is why I love shooting family newborn sessions so much. Outside of a wedding, they are the longest sessions I shoot but the photos are so worth all the extra time. 

I’d like to say it was as warm outside as the pictures make it look, but it was not. haha

Will this be the END of the fosters on my blog? FINALLY?! Nope. Not even close. :) I made the decision to vicariously live through them a while ago so I’m in it for the long haul. :)
They have this as a HUGE print in their house. I like when people actually print photos and display them. It’s nice to them to stop being just on the internet and become real. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It was not only getting colder by the minute but it quickly became bedtime and that means that everyone was officially done with photos. :) 
All photos shot by Holly Gauper and Copyright of GAUPERphoto.

Unfortunately, Lacey isn’t pregnant when it’s all sunny and lovely out as we are in the middle of winter. It has been such a light winter this year but it was still absolutely freezing so we were inside for most of the session. There wasn’t any heat in the building and was almost as cold as outside but didn’t have the bite of the wind and such which makes a huge difference. However, it should be warm and pretty for Hudson’s 3 month session so it all works out. :)

I’m super excited about these photos and even more excited for when he is finally here. It really could be any day now. It’s been amazing to see her at each stage of pregnancy since I’ve been doing her progression photos since week 15. I even saw him move. This may seem like nothing to most of you, but I have not been around babies or pregnant women much in my life and I’ve never actually seen one move while in the womb. It seemed like he didn’t just push out or move a little but like he was doing a backflip, it was crazy. I officially believe there is a baby in there, haha.

I think learning about pregnancy and babies has been one of the most fun parts of shooting maternity and newborn photos. I know, I say that with every post but I’m just super fascinated and addicted to knowledge. God choosing to have humans grow inside of other humans is pretty crazy and impressive.

Hudson isn’t even born yet but I’m positive he will be awesome because Lacey and Dave are awesome and I think it’s genetic. :)

This is Rufus. I still have my stuffed monkey I got when I was little and if Rufus gets even half the love that my coco has gotten, he has a happy life ahead of him. :) Yes, Dave plays the ukulele. I very much appreciate what a weird sort of guy he is. I absolutely cannot wait until Hudson learns how to play it, especially when he is the perfect size for that to look like a full guitar. YES!!The ukulele is both romantic and hardcore. Seriously impressive. :) 

Favorite! Happy, weird people are the best. The photo on the left haunts my dreams though. Not sure how I feel about that. hahaa
It’s unfortunate there is no reference to being pregnant but I don’t care, it’s one of my all time favorite photos. It should their personalities perfectly. We did brave the cold for about 10 minutes. I figured we would all regret it if we didn’t do some outside photos with that super cute coat of hers. …and to end things, another one of Dave….just being Dave. I think hudson has a very fun life ahead of him. :)

Renn’s Newborn Session

They just bought a house so we had new places to shoot which was nice for variety’s sake. Renn will be 6 months old and it will be warmer out for our next session so we will be outside then! I can’t wait!

This is one of my very favorite family photos I’ve taken. I like how it’s got things that are personal to them but still has an interesting composition.
Hope mentioned that Yertle the Turtle was Renn’s favorite book and I didn’t understand how a 3 month old baby has a favorite book. Evan started reading and Renn quieted right down and just stared at the pages the whole time. It was crazy….and adorable. :) That face! Those forehead wrinkles! I love that he is like a sweet little old man. hahaha! Gross. Mr. Smarty Pants! I think it’s going to his head.
Aww disappointed we took his genius glasses away. :( Can’t wait for our 6 month session! It’s incredible to watch him grow!

I learn so much with each session I do so I thought it would be fun to share my favorite bits of new knowledge with each session. I learned that newborn babies apparently can’t focus on anything so everything is just blurry blobs I guess. Thats crazy! All this time I figured they were just watching everything and see things the way I do but apparently not.

Seriously? I am just nuts about this photo. He is so cute! Little monkey feets! I have a problem when it comes to cute baby clothes. I wish I could get away with wearing monkey feet jammies, haha
Hey! Thats for the babies photos kitty! A little unsure as to what is happening, but he caught on eventually. :) One of my favorites. Oh wait, THIS might be my favorite. hahahArtistically, this is the best of the session with her amazing hair but as far as cute moments go, the one where his dad was kissing him a few photos up takes the cake.

Oh, and I can’t leave the other kitty out. :) Those eyes are amazing!

I hope you all enjoy the photos! :)

]]> http://www.mudeyes.com/hayden-wilson-family-newborn-session/feed/ 0 http://www.mudeyes.com/housener-family/ http://www.mudeyes.com/housener-family/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:51:43 +0000 Holly http://www.mudeyes.com/?p=4245

Melissa emailed me a while ago about a family session and since shooting families is my new favorite thing to do, I was pretty pumped. Since all of the family was in Michigan for Christmas, we planned the shoot for the day after Christmas. I figured it would be snowy and, you know, look like family Christmas photos.

Well, not this year! I have lived in Michigan my whole life, much of it up north in Muskegon and I have never experienced a Christmas without any snow. For me, I was pretty happy because It’s not as much fun to shoot when it’s absolutely freezing out.

It was just such an amazing day. The sun was out, the sky was blue. For December 26th in Michigan, I couldn’t have asked for a nicer day. It was a bit chilly with the wind but they were all troopers when I made them shed their coats. :)

I just love working with families like this. It’s so rare to get everyone together sometimes and I think quality photos of everyone together is just one of the most important things to photograph.

haha Most awesome hat EVER. 

The last time you saw Dexter he was in the womb. If you missed that post, you can jump over here to catch up. PARSONS MATERNITY

Well he is now out in the world with the rest of us and we are happy he is here! Kim might be the most happy as she was really running out of space should he have decided to stay and grow for a few more weeks. :)

I think it’s official that I love black and white photos. It’s a tough balance for me because I also embrace color so much. I wanted to do this whole post in black and white but just couldn’t handle it. I’m still taking baby steps. :) Thus, I figure half and half is appropriate. It’s so interesting how different the vibe is from color to black and white.

haha oh this one is one of my favorites. I would love to know what he is thinking. However, he was under a week old at the time so really, what could he possibly be conspiring. Perhaps he had to poop. 

…and after a long dang of being handsome, Dexter made sure everyone knew he had enough! haha. I absolutely love his cry face. It’s sad that he is upset of course, but c’mon, it’s still adorable. Smiley memories are not the only precious ones. :)

I have really been trying to enjoy my camera more and I’m so excited for this “off” season. It won’t be so off for me as I am rebranding my dad’s business and starting a bunch of new personal photography projects but it will be a nice change of pace and some winter income.

Now that I’ll have a little more time. I’m going to get a bunch of medical problems fixed as well. Personal health insurance is not cheap so I would not be opposed to taking on a winter wedding. That would be AMAZING and quite possibly pay to get my hernia patched up. :) So if you’d like to be my hernia wedding, send me an email and I’d love to work something out. haha

Until then, I’m just going to enjoy each day the best I can. It’s so easy to get caught up in all the hype of Christmas and, not to mention, all the pressure. I’ve been working non-stop up until Christmas Eve…which is tomorrow so I better finish this last wedding album tonight. Because of that, I have missed a lot. It seems like it is only when we are so far gone or have our standard of living threatened that we realize the error of our ways.

I’m thankful to have a supportive family, electricity, the internet, clean water, good food, heat, most of my health and a lovely home to live in. All the other things are luxuries that so many people have become so used to that they assume they are entitled to them and just lose perspective.

Enjoy the small, subtle things this Christmas. :) I know that I will be enjoying HOURS of time playing with Duma. I have neglected her so much this month from all my work so I’m pretty pumped to give her more attention than she can even stand. Then, we shall nap.

I really love couples who are able to laugh together. I feel like laughter is such an important part of life and people who don’t laugh very much, well gosh, I don’t know how you continue to exist. It’s proven that the physical act of smiling will in fact make you slightly happier so I can only assume that laughing is way more effective. When I go a whole day without laughing, I just feel very bleh, like the life has been drained from me. I think if you can find someone to laugh with for the rest of your life, well, you’ve got it pretty good.

Being able to laugh off awkwardness of having your photo taken is great for me. Being able to laugh through big struggles and disappointments in your marriage and life is simply priceless and I’m so excited to be able to shoot their wedding this spring. It’s great to be part of an event that is for such nice people who are just simple, laid back, happy folks.

So about getting robbed. Well, first, a good idea is to not rob these people because Emily will take off after you and Matt will beat down bathroom doors. We were shooting in an alley in downtown Kalamazoo and had taken the coats off for some photos. I saw the row of yellow trees at the end of the alley and wanted to shoot by them since the rest of the fall colors had fallen off ALL the trees in town it seemed. We walk to the end of the alley and are taking photos for a few minutes, we were just around the corner so we couldn’t see down the alley anymore.

As we are walking back, a homeless man is walking out of the alley. By the time we  got to the coats, Emily quickly realized her phone and wallet were gone so she takes off running down the alley after this guy. You know, I don’t know that I would have done that because I’m a big wuss. So I was like…note to self, don’t steal from her. :)

I stayed close to Matt because he is a big guy and I don’t think anyone would mess with him. Since I was carrying a ton of gear on me, I certainly didn’t want to get mugged. We ended up in the library and as Emily was looking around the computers Matt decided to check the bathroom. He said he looked through the crack of the door, saw the guy counting out a bunch of cash so he kicked in the door and grabbed all the stuff from him. Then, the guy comes out and starts saying yadda yaddaing. Then the library security gets wind of it, then the cops get called. In the end, I believe she got everything back from him, he took off before the cops got there and we all went on our way.

Getting robbed is just the worst feeling. I’m so happy he got the stuff back for her as I think that would have really put a sour mood on photos. At this point, we were done with that location and had a nice drive to the second place to regroup. :) It was so cold out that day, they were both such troopers since I wouldn’t let them wear coats. :)

Half of these photos are post robbery so I think that says something about who they are. Some people would let something like that just ruin their whole day.

Matt turned around super fast and scared the daylights out of me! hahaSo we had hats, sunglasses, coats and I just to happen to always carry stick in my trunk now. As a result of all these great items, this is what happened. :) I’m not sure why, but I just really like these a lot, hahaa.

Can’t wait to see you two all dressed up fancy for your wedding! :)