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"Home Is Where The Heart Is" "Home Sweet Home" "There Is No Place Like Home" and many many more...
Recently I got to take my soon to be husband to my "Home" in the U.P. of Michigan. I had so much pride when showing him around to all my old stomping grounds. Everywhere from the house I grew up in to the place you could find me when I would try and run away.

 Our wall of generations- The frames were all made by my very talented Grandpa. Finally in August I will get to change my frame from my senior picture to a picture of my family with Chase and Parqer!

Tulips will always mean the world to me...

  I always have and always will call this "my church". I may not have visited very often but I know he knows I believe

"The Bridge" I hear people say what bridge? and my response is always THE BRIDGE.. no not the mackinaw...

Uphill 41! A very stabile spot in my younger years. A place to dance and have fun without having a care in the world.

You never know where your path will lead... luckily I have this little place of heaven to come home to if my path takes a wrong turn

There truly is no place like home :)

The Quincy Mine- A staple in everything Copper Country

Once you see a Lake Superior sunset, you will never see things the same.. It is so beautiful you can't help but be happy

Soon to be the place I say "I Do" and start the rest of my life with the man I love. Of course we decided to get married on the McLains side so the houghton side is in the background of all our pictures :)

Brockit Workship 050413

Well this is my first attempt at "blogging". I've never been the best writer so bare with me. 

Early May I traveled all the way back to the U.P. to do a workshop with my photography mentor, Adam Johnson of Brockit Photography. I was in the UP for a total of 16 hours! I learned so much and am so thankful for the opportunity to learn from him. I worked with Adam for about a year two years ago. I learned a lot in that year and he has continued to help me along the way. 

Other then Adam, I am a self taught photographer and graphic designer. I am ALWAYS looking for constructive criticism and have trained myself well to not get offended. 

So here is goes....

Heaven.. not just a beautiful "place" but also a beautiful woman! I've worked with Heaven quite of few times with Brockit. She has such a great sense in front of the camera (she doesn't freak out and get scared as I would).  Heaven was also a great teacher on posing. She knows what ways her body looks good and which ways it doesn't. If I would have changed anything about the workshop it would have been to have a model with no experience there as well so Heaven could help teach us a little more on posing.

Bryana Riutta of Riutta Images riuttaimages.com was helping assist the workshop. I have known Bryana for years since she is my little sisters best friend. Such an amazing woman and photographer! 

During one of our exercises we got to set up our own shot. I chose to do a "getting ready" shot because I love to photograph weddings and morning shots always impress and shock my clients.

I'm not a huge fan of the placement of the branches behind Heaven. Kind of makes them look like they are growing from her body. Tangent lines are another thing photographers need to remember to watch out for. 

We practiced all different types of lighting..

I FINALLY LEARNED HOW TO DO SILHOUETTES!

 When working at the Brockit Studio you just can't do a session without the amazing green couch!

Showing how placements of different objects can either ruin a photo or make a photo.

Our awesome leader Adam showing a "client" how the pictures are turning out, this gives the client a chance to know if he or she should move in different ways, smile different or anything else that would make them enjoy their pictures more. 

Our faithful assistant, Bryana stepping in to help show different lighting techniques.

Thank you for reading my FIRST blog post! It has been fun. Stay tuned as there will be many more to come!

Please post comments with any criticism, no matter how "Harsh" it may seem. I promise I can take it :)

Thanks All!

BettyJean

A HUGE thank you to Adam Johnson, Meghan McKilligan-Fiala, Heaven Lee Hawkins, Bryana Riutta, Rob Hill, 5th and Elm and Studio Pizza for making it a fantastic day!