Amy Wenzel Photography

4th Grade

I hadn't seen her in probably 9 years when she waltzed into my studio.  We met in 4th grade and became fast friends.   I have so many memories and pictures of this girl in my  high school scrap books!   Seeing her again made me realize how little we all really change.  We just  grow up a litlte bit on the inside.   Photography is always connecting me with old friends-  I can't think of a single way that photography has not enriched my life and made me better.  I thank God for it!

She still has the same vivacious smile that makes her eyes turn into little sunshine shapes just as I remembered.  I love it!

A LOVELY GET-AWAY

I just returned from the most relaxing vacation.  It was everything I hoped and dreamed it would be.  We decided to go camping for our anniversary this year and explore West Michiga's beautiful coastline along Lake Michigan.  We drove North and visited Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Leelanau (my favorite), Old Mission Penninsula, Traverse City, Leeland among other places.  Everything about it was so peaceful...the campfires at night. The smell of the woods mixed with the lake.  The aqua blue waters stretching as far as the eye can see.  The rustic deserted beaches.  The tall grassy dunes.  The sea gulls calling and skimming the water. The furry little chipmunks getting into our trash.  I just loved every minute of it.  I manged to keep my camera away from my face and just relax- although we did get a few pictures just for memory's sake.  It's been quite the shocker going back to work today after that wonderful 4 day hiatus.  I called david at work and said I was having trouble working because I had "vacation brain." 

But nonetheless I've been able to get a lot of catching up accomplished today.  I finished editing this session from before our trip- two little kids who I have photographed before and then their 2 older cousins from down south who were visiting them. They were the cutest bunch!  Despite almost getting rained on in the field it all went pretty smoothly.

And then a cute shot of their Grandma and Grandpa who also joined us for the shoot.

Two years and counting...

Today is our 2 year wedding anniversary!  I feel excited and happy...I can't wait to give David his gift.  I think he'll be surprised. I Know he's not reading this right now because he's probably already left work and coming home to get ready to go out.  But lets just say its the nicest gift I've ever purchased for him.

David and I lived 4 hours apart when we met.  I always believed that when I met the right person I would just know without being able to explain why.  I had dated a lot of different types of guys and no 0ne ever fit me just right.  Even when they seemed to fit "by the book" I just knew deep in my heart there was something more I was looking for. 

The first time I saw David he was still in college and was up on the stage hosting a talent show "David Letterman" style.  I was sitting in the front row.  I just remember taking note of how charming and charistmatic and FUNNY  he was.  What would I have done if someone had come up and whispered in my ear, "You are going to be married to that guy some day!"   We were never introduced that night although we both noticed each other across the room after the show.  It was later that my little brother set us up on a blind date when I was back down in Ohio visiting their college.  It was all down hill from there.  Head over heels in love. can't eat can't sleep can't breathe i'm going to die without you why do you live so dang far away??????!!!!!!!   We drove the 4 hours to see each other when we could.  Spent hours on the phone. Wrote letters.  Lots of letters.  I still have them all in saved away in a box.  This photo is from the 2nd weekend he ever came up to visit me.  We were taking one last walk before he had to go get in his car and drive back. We went in the field behind my house. And when he kissed me he held up the polaroid camera.  Its always been one of our favorites. 

Our love story continued on for 3 and a half years before the stars finally aligned and allowed for us to get married. We both cried like babies through the whole ceremony.  I just remember being so thankful that we were finally going to be together forever without living in different states and talking on the phone and desperately trying to hang on to each other through all the distance and obstacles life threw at us. 

Happy Anniversay, babe!!!  I love you so much.  There is no one who could ever fit me better.  You are everything I was looking for and you continue to be an amazing husband and best friend.

As promised...

Well, my class re-union was a blast.  It was so awesome to see my old friends again.  We only had 25 kids in our graduating class and most of us had been in every single class together every single day since kindergarten.  I didn't realize how close I actually was to them until I saw alot of them again for the first time after 10 years.  It was like I'd never been gone.  Completely normal.  It really made me wish I could go back to High School for  a day where we all acted ridiculous and laughed our butts off all day long.  The re-union was over far too fast.

Here is a slideshow of the lovely senior from last week.  The camera loved her!  I think she could totally be a model.  And the best part is how nice and down to earth she is.  I'm sick of trying to narrow down which pics to share on the blog- so I thought maybe I could start incorporating slideshows from favorite sessions.  Turn on your speakers and click here to view the slideshow!

Holy Moly

Here's a sneak peek at a senior girl session I'm working on.  All I can say about her is "holy moly."  She really blew me away with her beauty, inner confidence and sweet personality.  I'll share more from her session when its finished.

Right now I have to hop in the shower and get ready to go to my 10 year High School re-union.  I can't wait to go!  It's going to be so fun. 

I damage things (but not on purpose!)

This afternoon I had a beach shoot out in Holland at a family's home on Lake Michigan.  The property was gorgeous!  Their family has 6 kids so it was quite a busy session.  It was really cloudy today so I wore jeans thinking it would be cooler.  Well, first of all it wasn't cooler, I was roasting. And secondly, knowing myself it probably wasn't the best outfit selection.  A swimsuit would have been better!   Two of the boys ended up going out in the water and started doing the CUTEST thing ever and I was dying to get the shot, but my lens wasn't long enough and so I just started running out into the water all the way up to my waste with my jeans on.  I was drenched.  It wasn't until later that I realized my 4 GB memory card was in my back pocket. oops.  Oh well, I've submerged them before and they've survived.  I'll just let it dry out and see if it still works.

Here are a few pictures from a session last week....

Everyone in this family has blue eyes

They have a new baby!  Her name is Maggie but they call her Magpie for short. Thats about the cutest thing I've ever heard.

Oh, the hours I spent with you dear Mario...

I lost a good portion of my life in the 80's to this song.  Those of you who can relate will probably be as amused by this video as I was.

This baby is stylin'

A little cutie at the studio...she was so sweet. And it was great that she wasn't old enough to crawl away. She just had to sit there and let me have my way. =)

I hate alarm clocks

If there is one thing I detest, its an alarm clock. The obnoxious, heinous beeping that wakes you from peaceful slumber and jolts you into a state of  "please make it stop."  I want to get one of those alarms that wakes you with the sounds of nature, like waterfalls and birds chirping...however I'm afraid that it wouldn't really do the trick of waking me up. For a while I was waking up to the classical music station, but then I would just drift off back to sleep listening to the music and start incorporating the sound of it into my dreams.  Me and alarm clocks, we just don't get along.  So I had to get up at 5am to do this session because I was driving to their cottage on Big Star Lake which is about 90 minutes away. I really wanted to start around 7:30 before the sun was high in the sky so I wouldn't have the nasty glare on the water. Suprisingly, although it was initially mild torture getting up that early, it turned out to be a really spiritual experience driving further and further out into nature while the sun was rising.  There were deer eating by the side of the road and the air was so fragrant it smelled like someone was burning two thousand pine scented candles mixed with fresh flowers. I just had to drive with the windows just to take in the intoxicating smell of it.  I ended up getting there closer to 8am, but we had an overcast day which helped with the lighting situation.  I am just so darn proud of myself for getting up that early I need to toot my own horn a little bit. I'm such a night owl.  I chose a few pics to share out of the gajillion proofs...I'm just drawn to these ones for some reason.

This is totally off the subject, but my kitten (now more like a cat) has started doing this weird thing.  He loves to lick water off of the faucet, the shower curtain, the toilet, anywhere he can get it. So now he runs laps in the shower whenever anyone takes a shower until he is sopping wet.  Then he goes and lays down and licks all the water off his fur.  It's seriously bizarre.   I'm glad he's kind of crazy though or he wouldn't "fit in"  to our family at all.