The Stan Family

What a gorgeous family. What a gorgeous fall day, and want gorgeous foliage in the trees. I have decided that fall is most definately my favorite season because the sun hits at just the perfect angle with this beautiful golden glow. Although, I did not need much help with the Stan family. My wee subjects acted like kids exploring a new place, and to be honest, I kind of like that. Because when you look at photographs you can tell a real smile, a genuine open mouth, teeth showing smile. But you have to be quick, because the wee ones are always on the prowl and they do not give those smiles away for free, you have to work for them. Lets go on a smile hunt, shall we.

Oh wait, is that? Could it be? A real live wee one smile?

You betcha!

Do I see a hint of a smile?

Oh my goodness, I think I spotted another wee one smile! This one was accompanied with leaves flying, that counts at a bonus.

And of course, let us not forget Mom & Dad, the instigators of many wee one smiles. Thank you for letting me spend some time with your absolutely photogenic family. Double thank you as you endured my rendition of the "Bird Song" with your son :-)

The Hertz Family

Before I really get into the midst of these fantastic family photographs, I just wanted to give a little bit of my story as this is the first post featuring a family from Operation Love. When I was a wee little lass my family always talked about my Grandpa. As the youngest cousin on both sides of my family by about eight years, I was the only cousin who had never really met him, he passed away shortly after I was born. But every weekend we would get together with my cousins, aunts, and uncles, they would always have stories to tell about him. I would just sit wide-eyed with my ears glued on every word. They would talk about what an amazing craftsman he was in construction and how he had a run-in with some of the famous gangsters who would come up from Chicago to vacation in Door County.

The story that always got to me though, and although Grandpa apparently never really talked about his time as a solder to anyone, I could repeat the tag line I heard every single time it was brought up; Grandpa fought in the Korean War and was a POW for a year and five days. I do not want to evoke any specifics that I am aware of because I do get misty eyed, but I know his sacrifice. He had defended this country with great honor and was awarded the Purple Heart for his actions in the Korean War, my Grandpa is an American Hero.

But he is not alone in the status of American Hero. When I meet folks like the Hertz Family, I know it is only right to truly thank them for their sacrifice to our country and celebrate their life as it deserves. Because they have a story too, and I was privileged that I was able to capture even just a moment of it. Their family is about as genuinely kind as you will find, and it is absolutely apparent that they enjoy every moment that they have together. Thank you for letting me see a piece of your story.

I will officially declare that fall is most definately the perfect time of year for photography. The sun is in the perfect position, the color in the trees is just perfect, the air is crisp, and not too humid. Not to mention we can throw some leaves around.

The photo above and photo below are probably two of my personal favorites from the session. There is always a special bond with a Father and his Daughter -- and I was kind of sneaky getting this shot, so they probably did not even know it was taken...well of course until now ;-) And below you have just about the perfect family portrait, seriously, you can tell they are just a fantastic family just by looking at them together.

Sempre fi! Sorry, I always wanted a reason to say that. Thank you again for letting me capture this day for your family. It was truly a blessing and a pleasure to photograph your family. The only difficult thing about the whole experience was editing down the photographs, each of you is amazingly photogenic and really making that part of my job extremely tough. That is truly the best problem to have though.

Hertz Family (Sneak Peak)

I adore family sessions, and this one is definitely going to rank near the top. Beautiful fall day, lovely family, and gorgeous light; the only problem I am having right now is narrowing down my favorites because there are simply too many.

Do you hear those hammers and saws going...

There is a wee bit of construction dust piling up at Amy Clark Photo Blog. As my regular Blog Readers (B.R.) may notice, the design has been changed up a bit. A graphic artist at heart, I really did not feel the old atmosphere in here really reflected my chic and trendy persona. Alright, stop laughing so loudly. I can be chic and trendy if I want too. Lets compromise, how about fresh, whimsical, and unique? Yes, that sounds about right. The part that makes me the happiest is that I coded and designed it on my own, after all, who needs a cookie cutter blog template ;-) The part that makes me not quite as happy is how long it takes to tweak the template, especially when I have some photo editing to do.

So please excuse the mess as I adjust the blog a little bit. Regular scheduled blog posts will resume this weekend after a wedding and a couple of portrait sessions. But while you wait, sit back and explore a little bit. And eat some Halloween candy, it will be good for you.

And because a blog post without a photograph is like a fish without fins, here is a snapshot of my kitty, lets hear an "awww" from all of my B.R.'s out there. Awww....

Laura + Paul {Engagement}

Blog Readers, meet Gertrude. Gertrude, meet Blog Readers. This stylin' beauty of a car belongs to Paul and his lovely fiancée, Laura. It only seemed right to make sure Gertrude had a prominent place in this post because it is not very often that I am able to have something this lovely join in with my fantastic couples.

Paul and Laura are two fantastic individuals, and while their wedding will be next summer, we wanted to take advantage of the fantastic fall foliage for their engagement shoot. Not only were the leaves just gorgeous, the temperature was spot on, and the later afternoon sunlight was scrumptious. The perfect makings of some lovely portraits.

This sunlight was absolutely divine. This one is definately a favorite of mine.

Yes, you guys do look amazing together. I could not pick a favorite, slightly serious, or with a hint of a smile. In both you definately look like rock stars :-)








To Paul and Laura: I hope you enjoyed our time in the park and my zany humor. I could not have asked for a more perfect afternoon to take these and truly enjoyed putting these together for you and cannot wait for your wedding next summer. ~Amy

Fabulous Fridays with Super Amy

For your weekend entertainment and viewing pleasure click here to see SUPER AMY in action!

Melissa + Jeremy {Engagement}

Ahhh, hello gorgeous fall morning light, how are you doing? Nothing is better then having the most perfect drops of sunlight to illuminate a photography. Wait--I take that back. Having an amazing couple who has an engagement shoot in the morning with whose perfect drops of sunlight is the best thing in life. Jeremy and Melissa are too cool cats, and I am just floored with excitement to be shooting their wedding this February. I love it when I say, "Hey, I think if you climb that big ol' playground equipment like you were a little kid would make a fantastic picture," and they are totally willing to get a little dirty for an amazing shot.

Thank you so much Jeremy and Melissa for letting me lead you around this past weekend for some awesome photos, here are a few of my favorites--and I had to edit these down because there are way too many "out of this world" photos to pick from. You may notice I departed from my traditional balance of tons of black & white, but the light was seriously too spectacular to do anything but oodles of color.

These two are seriously after my own heart. I love how they unanimously decided without hesitation who should be the astronaut and who should be the alien.

See what I mean about all of this gorgeous light?

You two are both amazingly rockin' individuals. I am delighted to be a part of your wedding day and cannot wait to see what you have planned.

Paul + Laura {Sneak Peak}

Beautiful sunset, beautiful weather, and a beautiful couple. What more could a photographer ask for? My only problem right now is only picking one favorite as I start editing them. Many more to come!

Melissa + Jeremy {Sneak Peak}

What can I say, these two are simply amazing. They put up with my quirky humor, and they are rewarded with this out of the world image. Lots more to edit, but this one jumped out at me right away so I had to put some Amy love on it right away. More to come...