On my last day in Michigan, we all met in Detroit for an urban session with one of Kevin's recent brides, Jessica. The first couple of days, we had been working with models. Models can make a photographers job easier because they have their own ideas for poses and know how to move gracefully, but you definitely don't have to be a model to have gorgeous photos. Jessica did a great job in front of the camera (or 18 cameras in this case).

The location was honestly pretty scary. Many brides want really pretty, natural backdrops for their bridals, and this was about as far away from that as you can get. We had to leave someone on guard because there were a couple of guys casing our vehicles before we were even around the block. The first alley that we went into had dead sheep piled up and smelled really bad. Later, we made our way into a partially demolished building. It had some cool possibilities, but there is no way I would have ever gone into it without a large group. The interior rooms were huge (the actual floor separating upstairs/downstairs had been removed in some areas) and pitch black.





The following photo shows the same "window" as the photos above. In those, Jessica was in a dark room with only a video light for illumination. In the photo below, we had switched places with her so that I was in the dark room. Again, the video light was used for a spotlight effect.

I met Alison at the doctor's office when she was pregnant, and I told her to email me when the baby came. She did, and today (actually yesterday but I haven't gone to bed yet) I went to her house to photograph six-week-old Hunter. He didn't really appreciate being moved around so much, but he did a great job. I just couldn't resist sharing so I stayed up late to post a few photos.

On our second day, we started out on an old ship. This was probably my least favorite location of the trip. As you can imagine, sitting on a big piece of metal on a summer afternoon can get pretty hot. Once again, the models were amazing professionals and gave us some great poses even with the bright sun being reflected in their eyes.









Later that day, we met up at the Gross Pointe War Memorial, a beautiful mansion on Lake St Claire.

I was pretty annoyed with myself when I went off on the first day of the workshop and left my favorite lens back in the hotel. I ended up not having anything longer than 55mm which forced me to shoot a bit differently than I usually do with portraits. It's especially difficult to shoot wide when there are a dozen other photographers around with long lenses as you always have someone else in your shot. I did end up including more scenery than I usually do, but I don't think that's a bad thing when you have such beautiful locations.

Here are a few more photos from our first day shooting. It's pretty wild to go to Michigan and find beautiful sand dunes, but you can! These dunes are in west Michigan next to Silver Lake village. It's not easy to trek across sand dunes, but it was worth the trouble as this turned out to be my favorite location.

I had a busy but wonderful time in Michigan and can't wait to share some of the images! First I need to give a shout out to Danielle, a friendly 11-year-old that I met traveling by herself on the plane from Charlotte to Detroit. I also want to thank Sandra Reed who was kind enough to share a ride with me in Michigan and Dustin Francis who gave me a ride back to the airport. They're both really great people so anyone planning a wedding in Ohio or Michigan should look them up.

Now for some photos! Of course I shot a LOT of images and choosing favorites is very, very difficult. I plan to edit a few from each location as I have time so check back for more posts later. These first shots were from an afternoon shoot on Lake Michigan. That day, we worked with a couple of amazingly talented models who mastered the art of looking sexy and beautiful even with full sun in their eyes. Caroline even climbed up to the top of the Little Sable Point Lighthouse and stood right by the railing in strong winds. I am SO glad it was her and not me up there.

Judging from my favorites, can you tell that I LOVE veils? This was actually a large piece of fabric, but it looked amazing against the blue sky.










The following photos were taken at a second beach location (Golden Township Park) and include both Caroline and Tiffany.