This simply was a friendship shoot.  Kaitlyn had the idea to go out intentionally with our fancy pants cameras and take pictures of us together.  I rarely get pictures with friends anymore, ever since I got into photography as a profession, so I was excited to not only have some pictures with her, but good ones.  I’ve known Kaitlyn for about four years and we have done a lot of life together so it certainly was time to get a picture together!

Kaitlyn took some food photography so perhaps there will be more on that later!

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Cup O’ Joy, Green Bay, WI

Citizen Way held their second CD release party at Cup O’ Joy in Green Bay, Wisconsin last week.  Their first one was held at Judson University the day of the release and their third one, for the Chicagoland area, will be held tomorrow at Harvest Bible Chapel in Naperville.  If you don’t have the album yet you need to buy it (CLICK HERE if you’re on the hunt).

It’s been a whirlwind of a year for these guys as they rose in popularity insanely fast.  They just got of a national tour with Big Daddy Weave, Chris August, and MIKESCHAIR.  For the summer they get to spend a little more time at home with “one offs” beckoning them out for a show here and a festival there.

Anyway, back to last week, Citizen Way piled in their new van and made out for Green Bay.  The venue piled over with people!  This is was the first show they performed their whole album and boy did they knock it out of the park!  Such a cool venue with such sweet and loving people.

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TO SEIZE THIS DEAL all you have to do is book your 2013 senior session (the session does not actually have to occur in May or June).

The post Senior Portrait Promo 2013 appeared first on a Sunshine Moment.

MONDAY  evening light

TUESDAY  *Black Bean Soup and **Cornbread Muffins for dinner with our new roomies, SUPER delicious!

WEDNESDAY  Rolling Green Country Club member’s portraits (full blog post coming soon… for more Citizen Way CLICK HERE)

THURSDAY  flowering trees smell wonderful

FRIDAY  Citizen Way at Cup O’ Joy in Green Bay, WI (full blog post coming soon)

SATURDAY  dramatic wedding weather

SUNDAY  spring flowers

To see other “a Photo a Day” blog posts CLICK HERE.

* There wasn’t nearly enough flavor for me so I doubled the Cumin, Chile Powder (though I only used one kind), and Cilantro and added some sea salt and fresh black pepper.

** I made them as muffins and didn’t toast them.  Bake time was 20 minutes.  I used Silk Almond Milk Original Flavor instead of milk and I added some honey to the batter mix

The post a Photo a Day | May 6 – 12 appeared first on a Sunshine Moment.

I have previously posted my images from my senior show for graduation from Judson University with an art degree (CLICK HERE to see ).  This selection of images are the rest of my favorites from all of the shots I gathered over 9 months for the show but these didn’t make the final cut.

Water

It gives life, destroys, inspires, terrifies, builds up and breaks down. Only a camera can allow the still capture of moving water and keep the ephemeral presence alive past the moment’s expiration; only a camera can capture a concrete copy of water’s microstructure; and only a camera can capture the way water interacts, unnoticed, with the world around it.

Water is rarely scrutinized by the eye, let alone, a camera.  The transparent substance passes quietly by, unnoticed, reflecting the world around it.  In capturing it variables like weather, lighting or tide give a completely different set of photographs.  It is seen in a new way because the human mind cannot immobilize water long enough for us to see how it reacts to time and space.  Such detail as is present in water is evidence of the infinite detail God has put into everything.  In people, all our different capacities cannot be seen.  All of the capacities water has are visually evident, yet we rarely take the time to see it.

Available for purchase upon request.  Contact me asunshinemoment@gmail.com for pricing information or to place your order.

The post Water Landscapes PART 2 appeared first on a Sunshine Moment.

One of my most important pieces in my branding material is my welcome packet and the items I include in that.  It is important because they are all the answers to any questions my clients usually have about a session.  What should we wear?  What props should we bring?  What else do you need from us?

To my wedding clients I sent out a card with my “Style Tips” and “Photographer’s Checklist” postcards and a basic, handwritten greeting card.  To all of my portrait clients I simply email the “Style Tips” PDF to them after they complete the contract and deposit.

To design these post cards I stuck with my design model: simple, natural, and colorful.  To over complicate design makes it harder to read and messy.  I decided I would stick to my two regular fonts for the little variety I wanted, my logo, and my colors.  My natural component is the handwritten card and the envelope.  My card is a natural brown like my disc packaging and the envelope is a stark white to go with my website (it is also the neutral color in my chosen color palette).   And, since I have had my color palette all sorted out for several months now, choosing colors was easy.  I had six choices to work with: stark white, natural brown, yellow-orange, rust red, leafy green, and sea blue.  I always keep the yellow in the mix because that is my main color and then I chose the green because I liked the way that would pair with the yellow and I didn’t use it in my marketing materials yet.

A full blog post of what the whole Wedding Welcome Packet looks like will be coming soon :)

The post Graphic Design | Welcome Packet appeared first on a Sunshine Moment.

Finally, Josh and I were making the trip to meet our first nephew.  And it was a blast on so many levels.  Because we had booked me to do pictures of him I got to spend almost a whole hour with him all to myself.  And then, after that, he snuggled with me all through dinner.  I was as happy as a small child sucking on a giant lollipop after a long trip in a candy store.  He is so cute and sweet!

What I loved about this session was the laid back nature of working with family, the cutest little bundle of baby to photograph, the window light, the stunning and perfectly smiling niece of mine, and finally getting to use my baby props (my two baskets and my white blanket).  I so missed photographing babies.  I worked for Bella Baby for about a year and after getting used to photographing babies all day, three days a week, you really start to miss it quickly.  You could say I developed my own version of baby fever, not the “I want to have one forever” type but the “I want to hold one and take pictures of one” type.

Of all the types of sessions I provide, a newborn session brings me the most simple joy of them all.  There is something so freeing about working with a little person.  Newborns are not judging me, they trust me, and I know newborn photography better than I know any kind.  Maybe because it’s the most predictable.  Babies are all different, but when it comes to photographing them they are all the same.

There’s something about working with newborns that, to photographer me, feels like Christmas morning. When I look at them I see all the innocence and simple beauty the world has to offer.  When I look at them I see someone I want to love, and snuggle, and protect.  When I look at them I see who I want to be, needing only simplicity and trusting in my Maker.

To book your newborn session email asunshinemoment@gmail.com

To see more newborn/baby photography CLICK HERE or HERE

The post Newborn | Aaron Malhotra appeared first on a Sunshine Moment.

MONDAY  rain, rain on my pavement

TUESDAY  working late and my view from my office

WEDNESDAY  new green in a landscape

THURSDAY  new buds, our old garage

FRIDAY  Hannah Gugenator sings pretty songs at Folk Night (more Folk Night images below)

SATURDAY  rain makes my garden happy

SUNDAY  spring colors

To see more “a Photo a Day” blog posts CLICK HERE

FOLK NIGHT EXTRAS!!!!

The post a Photo a Day | Apr 29 – May 5 appeared first on a Sunshine Moment.

To book your session CLICK HERE and choose the CONTACT tab or email asunshinemoment@gmail.com!  

To see more pretty babies CLICK HERE :)

Lastly, if you are a mommy interested in learning how to take great pictures of your baby as they grow up comment on this post or email asunshinemoment@gmail.com.  I am on the brink of releasing information for my first Shutterbug Mommy Workshop (learn how to pose and photograph your little one).

And, with no further adue, here’s a little peek of little Aaron!

The post Newborn Preview | Aaron Malhotra appeared first on a Sunshine Moment.

As with any wedding I do for Cornerstone Photography I am never sure what sort of relationship I am walking into.  Sometimes the couple is in their early twenties with a kid on the way, sometimes they are in their upper twenties with an established family of three kids, sometimes they wiz through the ceremony to get to the party, sometimes they don’t know how to smile for pictures, sometimes they tow me all over town on a photo spot tour, and sometimes they are an amazing Christian couple who have saved themselves for each other and who in lieu of a honeymoon booked a missions trip to Ethiopia to serve a school there.  These two were the latter and were an incredibly sweet couple.

What I loved about this wedding was the meaningful attention to detail, the time in prayer they spent with each other before the ceremony, the most incredible venue, and sumptuous vegan food options.  I loved that Coty and Chris nailed the art of creating meaningful details but not obsessing over them and so distracting from the space or from the message of love and faith that they obviously wanted to be the center of their big day.  Just before the ceremony Chris came and knocked on Coty’s door.  They held hands muttering sweet somethings to each other, without peeking, and then Chris led them in prayer.  And the venue I don’t exactly have to explain, you can certainly see for yourself!  Oh, and they had the best wedding cake and wedding coffee I’ve had to date.  Seriously, they had a sort of white frosted cinnamon apple white cake and a moist chocolate frosted chocolate cake that was somewhere in-between a brownie and your ordinary chocolate cake.  Yes, I had both.

Coty and Chris, huge congrats on your wedding and I hope your time of service together in Ethiopia grows your bond of love even more.  You two are a blessing to everyone who meets you, I am sure of it :)

I was in charge of the guys for this wedding while my partner, Laura, took care of the girls.  Laura also was in charge of the bridal party and most of the family photos while I was due at the cocktail hour to get the guests mingling and the reception decorations.  The different watermark on these images is a mark of my contracted work with Cornerstone Photography for this wedding.

To see more weddings CLICK HERE :)

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