Monthly Archives: March 2008

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Kelly + Ben – Engaged!

March 30, 2008 – 3:15 am

Kelly and Ben are sooooo cute together. Check out their engagement slideshow here! Can you find Flat Stanley in the slideshow? Kelly just loves to hug Ben and call him ‘Gwizzly Bear’, which made us all laugh hysterically!

Ben has got this Clint Eastwood stare going on- am I right?

Ben proposed to Kelly in the Art Museum, so we started there for the session. I think we made it about 90 seconds before we got kicked out?

It was all we needed though!

The rest of the arty pictures were at this amazing boutique by Washington University called House of Tyler.Our jaws dropped walking by with all the swanky couches they had, and Tyler was awesome enough to let us shoot in there. I was so nervous- just an end table in there cost 2K! It was so worth it to be able to shoot there. Thanks to Leigh for tagging along and rocking the video light!

Wash U’s Commons:

By Michelle Ross | Under Grace Photo | Posted in Wedding | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (5)

OSP Indianapolis Conference

March 28, 2008 – 8:47 pm

This past week has flown by! I had the honor of going to a conference held by the Open Source Photo forum. I’ve been a member for three or four years and have made some great friends who happen to be amazing photographers! The speakers were the Nudds,  Brandi Brown, Kevin Swan, and Jennifer Driscoll.  Thanks everyone for a wonderful time and for all the information!

Garret taught us to think inside the box.

Anne Ruthmann described location lighting scenarios.

Brandy and Sticky were kind enough to freeze their butts off for our learning benefit.

We had a ‘Creative Experiment’ where we had to shoot a folding chair in different and creative ways:

Thanks for the blast everyone! See you next year!

By Michelle Ross | Under Grace Photo | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (2)

St. Albans – Private Tasting at The Gardens at Malmaison

March 21, 2008 – 7:11 pm

Jennifer Petrowski was wonderful enough to welcome me to a private, invitation-only afternoon tasting for upcoming Brides at The Gardens at Malmaison in St. Albans. This is pretty much the Holy Grail of wedding venues. Gorgeous, gorgeous scenery and architecture.  I welcomed the chance to visit St. Albans for myself just so I could experience it. The tasting was yummy, and everyone I met, brides and vendor alike, was super sweet.

The Studio Inn at St. Albans:

The view from inside:

Some yummy cakes from Sarah’s Bakery!

The interior lodge at Malmaison has a (stuffed) bear on the second floor- run for your life, brides!

Delectable Hors d’oeuvres served by the Gardens at Malmaison!

Flowers by Glenda the Gardner from Hillerman Florist!

By Michelle Ross | Under Grace Photo | Posted in Wedding | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (2)

Introducing Shiloh!

March 19, 2008 – 7:37 pm

Shiloh came to my from KT Clark, who is busy having her own baby any day! She is a welcome third addition to the family, coming after Wyatt and Samuel (who lives in Heaven). Wyatt had a very busy day, with a big Easter Egg hunt in the morning, playing all day, and then a photo session in the afternoon! Here he is:

He loves being a big brother!

Here he is in his own little world. I love the smile on his face!

Here is Shiloh getting a kiss from Mommy!

By Michelle Ross | Under Grace Photo | Posted in Families | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Whitney

March 18, 2008 – 4:24 pm

Whitney’s mom and I are friends, and we headed out this Saturday for her senior shoot at Tower Grove Park. I hereby christen Whitney the queen of the “Smouldering Look”, as seen here:

and here:

My camera actually caught fire after that picture was taken. Luckily I bring a backup!

I tried a lot of new things for this session- off camera softbox on location, cross-processing in Lightroom, texture overlays, etc. Thanks Whit for being my guinea pig! Here she is with her BF Doug:

By Michelle Ross | Under Grace Photo | Posted in Seniors | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

Doug, the Ambercrombie&Fitch model

March 17, 2008 – 7:57 pm

Doug had his senior session taken Saturday at Tower Grove Park. I had my fingers nice and warm from my hand-knitted custom fingerless gloves from Megan Thiele (thank you Megan!) Halfway through the shoot, his girlfriend Whitney mentioned that he had modeled for Ambercrombie&Fitch last year. No pressure! I did pull out of my bag of tricks the old “smell a fart” prompt so Doug could have some posing inspiration, as immortalized by Joey from Friends:

(watching Joey’s soap opera)

RACHEL: Did I miss it? Did I miss it?

JOEY: No, I’m on right after this guy shoots himself.

CHANDLER: Whoa, she’s pretty.

JOEY: Yeah, and she’s really nice too. She taught me all about how to work the cameras, and smell-the-fart acting.

RACHEL: I’m sorry, what?

MONICA: What?

JOEY: It’s like, you got so many lines to learn so fast, that sometimes you need a minute to remember your next one. So while you’re thinkin’ of it, you take this big pause where you look all intense, you know, like this.

CHANDLER: Oh, ok.

JOEY: There’s my scene, there’s my scene. “Mrs. Wallace, I’m Dr. Drake Ramoray, your sister’s neurosurgeon.

MRS. WALLACE: Is she gonna be all right?

JOEY: I’m afraid the situation is much worse than we expected. Your sister is suffering from a..subcranial hematoma. Perhaps we can discuss this over coffee. *looks like he is smelling a fart*

CHANDLER: Nice!

RACHEL: That’s great!

ROSS: Excellent!

CHANDLER: For a minute there I thought you were actually tryin’ to smell something.

I think he looks like Ewan McGregor here-

A little off camera lighting!

By Michelle Ross | Under Grace Photo | Posted in Seniors | Tagged , , , | Comments (4)

TP’ing the House

March 14, 2008 – 10:33 pm

Sydney REALLY likes toilet paper. She will run into the bathroom, pushing open the door (even if it is occupied). She grabs the end of the toilet paper so she can have a white streamer while she runs across the living room.

I’m so proud of her. I think she looks pretty proud of herself, too.

By Michelle Ross | Under Grace Photo | Posted in personal | Tagged , | Comments (2)

Kristin- Press Photos

March 13, 2008 – 4:19 am

Kristin and I rediscovered each other almost a decade after high school. We were both in the same ballet school and pom squad. How awesome that I got to photograph her wedding (slideshow here)!

She writes for Alive magazine and needed some photos to go alongside her short bio when she contributes an article, and I was happy to oblige. We shot in the Foundry in St. Charles, a beautiful, light-filled space and one of my favorite reception spots (not to mention being five minutes from my house!)

Behind the building is some great ironwork- I’ll be returning to that spot often this coming season!

By Michelle Ross | Under Grace Photo | Posted in portrait | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Nika- a gal’s best friend!

March 5, 2008 – 7:51 pm

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am an animal lover. When I got the call to do a session with fourteen year old Nika, a beautiful snow-white husky, I was thrilled! It was a surprise from Micah to his fiancee (Nika’s owner)- what a sweet gesture! The way to a man’s heart might be food, but the way to a woman’s heart is via her pets. Micah is one smart man.

It was this past weekend during the mutant 72 degree weather- forty eight hours before ten inches of snow dropped on us!

Nika brought a bunch of her pint-size friends to play too- some furry and some not-so-furry. I made sure the non-furry friends each got a business card for when they needed a wedding photographer. Nika IS in there- you can see her nose!

Watch out Tarzan!

By Michelle Ross | Under Grace Photo | Posted in Families, Kids | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Everlie and Benny

March 3, 2008 – 5:26 am

Coming all the way from Korea, Everlie had a grand welcoming into her new family. Here is the slideshow of the session.

Everlie is a wee one, just like my Sydney! She was a preemie and had a lot of people praying for her when she was born. She is just as cute as a button!

Her little hands were so cute! She had a little gold bracelet that she loved to play with. What baby doesn’t like shiny things?

She even had a big brother Benny waiting for her. There he is!

Here is Benny showing me his musical skills:

And here is Benny tolerating being dressed up:

Here is Benny giving the traditional older sibling hug! Big brothers only give big kisses!

By Michelle Ross | Under Grace Photo | Posted in Families, Kids | Tagged , | Comments (2)