Omg… have you ever been to Marquette??? I had not. Not until this May. Once, I had a Northern Michigan wedding on the rocky shores of Lake Huron and that was a dream… but Marquette – you guys – it blows it all away! I felt like I was in Alaska! (Or Canada). Either way, this was sparsely-populated, stunning, natural beauty at it’s finest!
Here’s the story: An incredibly talented and ambitious friend of mine, Celestina, created this event as a recharge and wellness retreat for local (Lower P) Michigan Photographers. We would be able to get away from home, relax in a cabin up North, and shoot with our intrepid and lovely models wearing both styled gowns and natural looks – just to enjoy our love of photography together! (Pinch me, I’m dreaming, right?!) Everyone chipped in about $350 and we were good to go! These models braved the freezing early summer and made it look effortless. Kid you not, in some of these images it was only 46 degrees!
I had multiple goals; first, I always aim to connect and keep strong relationships with other local photographers. We all need to have someone to look up to, someone to mentor, and about six solid “emergency” friends who would go out of their way to lend gear, or stand in if a truly debilitating condition happens without warning, or even to finish my edits and deliver to my clients if I were to suddenly die and leave you all. Seriously. I think about all this. Secondly, to relax, have fun and practice my art without conditions. And thirdly, to strengthen muscle-memory on all the new features and focus points of my NEW CAMERA!!!! That’s right! I did it… I bought a Sony a7iii! And I’m in LOVE!
Check this out… with my Canon, I would’ve had to choose to expose for the scene and lose detail on faces, or expose for the faces and lose detail in the scene. But the dynamic range and the resolution of the sony is such that the scene keeps its color AND the faces keep their detail! Check out the landscape view and the close crop of Maggie face to confirm. Wow! Eyelashes from 35 yards away! I’m officially a Sony fan-girl. Sorry Canon!
Plus it’s just absolutely fun to use! 
Sorry we froze you, Darika! (I softened the goosebumps a little bit). 
Thank you to ALL the models! They had such fun and willing hearts! Brandon is YouTube famous for his 2018 Polar Vortex “winter triathlon” video, He and Maggie are both extreme sports enthusiasts so they willingly rose to the challenge! Maggie is an artist in her own right, doing graphic design and some fun illustrations, and Darika is an up-and-coming talented model with an impressive portfolio in the works!