Joe & Kellie // Engaged

Meet Joe and Kellie...and Zoey. From when we first met them at our meeting months ago, we knew right away they would be a great fit for the kind of work we do. So I've been really excited about doing their engagement photos for a while. It's not only super fun to do portraits with Ryan again, but these two were just so easy to shoot because they are happy together.  It's really that simple. Happy people just photograph wonderfully and it has nothing to do with outward appearance. Thats typically just a bonus.

I also realized on this shoot how much I love photographing movement. I think if your not winded by the end of the session, I haven't done my job good enough, haha! There was a lot of skipping, running and spinning happening and it was great. I think it gets a good energy going and creates a fun atmosphere which calms nerves and creates more genuine happiness.

I'm beyond excited for their wedding but for now, enjoy all the laughter and happiness from these two :)

Brody // Fuller Family Newborn

I love when past wedding clients have babies. It's and incredible thing to be a part of 2 really important events in their life. What's even more interesting is to see how they have changed and settled into married life together. Because of a new baby, there is still a sense of newness but it's great to see their family grow from just the two of them to three.

You might remember Kelli and Jeremy's wedding from a couple years ago. If not, you can check out those images here >> Kelli & Jeremy's South Haven Wedding

Little Brody is so tiny and laid back. He was surprisingly awake for most of the session which is uncommon but we welcomed open eyes wondering what all these crazy new blobs were. There's a lot going on so I guess he just didn't want to miss out on anything! He was 3 weeks EARLY so maybe that has something to do with it. The fact that he could have still been in the womb for 3 more weeks blows my mind.

Jeremy built this bench that is in Brody's room and I love that we were able to get such great shots on it. It overlooks the lake that they live on and it's the most peaceful spot. This is why I really love shooting inside people's homes. This stuff is personal to them and and it's things he will grow up with. I know for me, that has more value than locations or backgrounds and props that just look good and don't really mean anything to me.

Oh my

Oh my stars...he looks so tiny here! I love doing crib shots because they grow so quickly and it's a great way for parents to reference back to when they were this little.

Let's talk about the reality of the first week of having a newborn. Everyone is tired...all the time. Everyone was really on board when I brought up this idea and I'm almost certain they all actually fell asleep while I was shooting these photos.

His nursery is huge so it doubles as a guest bedroom and I bet you'd never guess that these guys love the water :)

After we were done, they put him back in his happy place. I can't blame him, these little seats look so comfy, I wish  had one in my size. This was probably the most exhausting day of his life since the effort he put in to be born so he deserves a nice long nap. Actually, everyone deserved a nap :) I hope you all love the photos!

Oh, and I thought I would include this because it's funny. Ryan will probably sigh at me when he sees it hahaha but SOMEONE has to show examples of poses and Ryan just does such a great job. :)

The GAUPERS are Back!

It is our 6 year wedding anniversary this weekend and it felt like the right time to start fresh on this new blog. Our very first post on our original blog was the story of our engagement so this felt right.

Let’s have some story time to catch you up.

So why a new blog? First, the domain for our original blog wasn’t meant to be our professional blog. Our original intention for it was for our photography work traveling but then things just unraveled differently. 

Second, Our work has grown a lot over the past 6 years and we’ve been through a lot so a fresh start feels right. Our work is much more consistent now and since we are essentially starting over, why not clean the slate?

Ryan and I started this business in 2008 when we got married and we started it out of a mutual love for each other, photography, people and creating things. Over the years, we have hit some rough patches. I got quite sick, Ryan struggled with how to deal with his ADD and side effects from medication, we moved way too many times and have just been searching for the right path to take in life.

Along the way, we took other jobs, almost lost each other and learned a lot about how we didn’t want to live our lives. That journey gave us exactly what we needed in deciding on a path. It’s funny how you sometimes have to know what you don’t want to do in order to figure out what you do want to do.

We simply want to go back to doing something that we love, in a way that we love and the rest will sort itself out. When it becomes more about business and money and less about heart and photography it’s no longer enjoyable and the work loses it’s spark. There is a way to balance it all and it starts by following my gut and doing what feels right.

Simply put, if our goal is to create authentic, beautiful photos then we believe very strongly that we need to live an authentic, beautiful life because our life feeds into our work. There is a great amount of trust between client and photographer necessary to create beautiful work and by being relentlessly authentic, it creates space to be comfortable. Ryan and I have always been the type of people that move through the world differently and by committing to making that work for us is the new path we will be taking.

For those of you wondering where we live now since we’ve moved 9 times in 6 years...we live in Muskegon Michigan. We are currently looking for a house to buy around here and will be settling down and hopefully having some baby Gauper’s in the next few years. Ryan’s figured out how to naturally deal with his ADD, I’ve figured out all the foods that make me sick and crazy and we are excited about moving forward in a new, much more simple life together. All we really need is each other, a house and many, many cats. Sometimes simple really is the best way.

So I hope you enjoy taking this new, brighter journey with us.

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NOTE: if your looking for any work we have done from 2008-2013, our original blog is still up and will remain live. It is at www.mudeyes.com I will be posting some of my very favorite past work on this blog along the way as well.

Also, I realize how pathetic it is to have a photo of us on here that is taken with our iphone haha! We just were not able to have our photos taken last year because of a bajillion dollars of dental work that came out of nowhere. So an iphone photo is better than nothing...but we will be having professional photos taken this year for sure. :)