Category Archives: Photos

Photo of the Beach Wedding Now: 7-9 October 2011

(Before I start this post, let me reiterate something: I DO NOT PHOTOGRAPH WEDDINGS. This was a very special exception for two very good friends. If you ask me to photograph your wedding, I will say no. Save yourself the crushing disappointment by finding another photographer.)

Remember those engagement photos featuring Mike, Bethany, and Mike’s beard? Well, as often happens at the end of an engagement, Mike and Bethany got married. To celebrate the occasion, I showed up with my camera to get a few photos.

They got married on the beach at Somerset Beach Campground, where Bethany had been working for several years and where they’d met. What do beaches have? Beaches have sand.

Before the guests started arriving, we took a couple minutes to get a few photos.

You may have noticed that Mike has abundant hair on his face, while Bethany has abundant hair on her head. If that’s not the sign of a perfect match, I don’t know what is.

The following photo may be my favorite of the bunch.

Before long, the ceremony started. Mike was waiting off to the side with an outstandingly beardy set of groomsmen. (This was one of the many benefits of having a motorcycle club involved in the ceremony.)

What was he waiting for? He was waiting for this:

Mike was glad to be done with all that waiting.

With an outdoor wedding there’s always a risk that it’ll be cold or rainy or tornadoey or Floridaey or something, but Mike and Bethany managed to pick one of the most perfect days of the entire month.

Seriously: not only was it not overcast or rainy, but it wasn’t even cold. In fact, it was just warm enough to be t-shirt weather. (This may have been why I was wearing a t-shirt.)

Bethany’s flower girl was her niece. Though the wedding was reasonably short, her niece decided it was long enough that she needed to find some entertainment. Fortunately, the sand provided plenty of entertainment — and a good photo opportunity:

One of the more inexplicable wedding traditions is the unity candle. I guess it’s appealing if you’re a big fan of fire or if the room is cold or something — though in both cases it should be a unity bonfire — but like most wedding customs, it’s not really a good use of everybody’s time. Seriously, people: it takes ten seconds to light a candle. Pairing a ten-second ceremony with a three-minute song is monumentally inefficient and serves only to make everybody uncomfortable as you whisper sweet nothings to each other for two minutes and fifty seconds.

Anyway: when planning their wedding day, Mike and Bethany did many, many things right. One such thing was to dump the unity candle in favor of a sand ceremony. They had small containers of two colors of sand…

…and in a sequence that lasted much longer than ten seconds, they filled one larger container with layers of the sand:

This ceremony provided them with something that looks nice enough to display. What does a unity candle provide you with? A partially-burned candle. I mean, seriously…do people ever really think about wedding traditions? Is a ceremony that partially destroys an object preferable to one that creates an attractive decoration? Enough with the candles. If you’re going to have a wedding, try to be more like Mike and Bethany.

The wedding ended successfully: Mike and Bethany ended up married. And there was much congratulating.

When the congratulating was done, Mike and Bethany signed the government’s version of the unity candle sand.

This marked the first time Bethany had officially signed her new name.

Yes, she spelled it right, wise guy.

One of the other things Mike and Bethany did right was to separate the wedding and reception: they had a small wedding on Friday, and they had a larger reception on Sunday. I didn’t have my camera out during the reception, but I had it ready when they were leaving.

Because they were leaving on a motorcycle, it was neither practical nor wise for Bethany to wear her wedding dress for their exit. She had another outfit for that occasion.

She was happy to be married.

Before they roared off into the…uh, afternoon sun, they paused for a few more photos.

Yes, that’s my shadow in the bottom left. That’s how you know I was there. Well, that and all these photos.

Ah, but wait: it wasn’t just Mike and Bethany roaring off into the afternoon sun! They were accompanied by a dozen or so members of the motorcycle club.

This was by far the best wedding reception exit I’d ever seen (and heard). A limo? Eh. A classic car? Okay. A tractor? Not bad. A horse and buggy? Also not bad. But a bunch of motorcycles? OH YEAH.

And that, as they say, is that. Hearty congratulations to Mike and Bethany.

Photo of the Veterans Day Now: 11 November 2011

Chelsea held a Veterans Day ceremony at the city’s veterans memorial. The event attracted a great crowd of veterans.

See those veterans kneeling in the front row? Those are the World War II veterans.

A group of students from South School — South Meadows Elementary for you newcomers who don’t know any better — walked down to the park to sing a couple songs for the crowd.

Chelsea mayor Jason Lindauer introduced the speaker.

The speaker was Col. James Coolican.

Coolican served 28 years in the U.S. Marine Corps; his assignments included: Brigade Chief of Staff Advisor to the South Vietnamese Army; Company Commander, Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C.; U.S. Naval Academy Faculty; Chief of Staff, Plans and Operations Division-NATO HQ, Italy; Director Marine Corps Doctrine Center; and Chief of Staff, Marine Corps Forces, Europe.

His personal awards include the Navy Cross; Legion of Merit; Navy-Marine Corps Medal; Bronze Star with Combat Distinguishing Device; Purple Heart; Defense Meritorious Service Medal; Combat Action Ribbon; Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry; and Vietnamese Honor Medal.

Col. Coolican started out by talking to the kids.

He then spoke to the crowd as a whole. His speech wasn’t short, but it was worth every second.

When the ceremony was finished, the students thanked the veterans for their service.

Afterwards, the veterans headed to the conference center at the Comfort Inn to watch the Chelsea library’s documentary detailing the experiences of local World War II veterans.

Before the documentary, Jeremy Ziegler gave the Toast for the Fallen.

Veterans Day 2011

Today, the city of Chelsea held a Veterans Day ceremony at the local veterans memorial. The memorial was dedicated two and a half years ago, but — as I’m embarrassed to admit — up until a few weeks ago I didn’t realize it existed. On a clear day last week I visited the memorial to get a few photos.

(I’ll post photos of the ceremony on another day.)

Photo of the First Birthday Party Now: 24 September 2011

On a gorgeous September afternoon, I had the privilege of photographing a birthday party. Whose birthday party, you might be asking, and how old was the celebrant? Here’s your answer:

Yes indeed: Sophia Charlotte was turning ONE!. (It’s like one, but better.)

Partygoers could decorate cookies. Since the party was at an apple orchard, the cookies were apple-themed.

The birthday girl’s chair was helpfully labeled.

Sophia’s parents enjoyed the party, too.

What’s an important fixture of a first birthday party? The cake!

Sophia was impressed.

She was happy, too.

In fact, Sophia was happy enough to share with her grandfather.

After cake, Sophia wanted to get some exercise.

You may have noticed she had the good sense to carry a football. This shouldn’t be a surprise: her dad is a football coach.

(Yes, I know she’s not covering the points. Hey, it takes time.)

Though she showed a particular fondness for the football, she didn’t mind the soccer ball.

Partygoers also got to enjoy a wagon ride through the orchard.

Sophia was pleased about the whole party.

At the end of the party, there was enough time left for a family photo.

Photo of the Engaging Engagement Now: 18 September 2011

Mike and Bethany, two of my very good friends, got engaged back in July. In September — three weeks before the wedding! — we had a fun engagement photo session.

As is generally the case with engaged couples, they may have been somewhat fond of each other.


Mike has a beard that makes many men envious. Are you envious? Yes you are. Don’t lie.

At one point, gravity got a little confused…

…but eventually it got back to normal.

No, really. It got back to normal. That’s a reflection. It’s supposed to be upside down.

See? Gravity was as happy as Mike and Bethany.

After a while, they grew weary of the photo session…

…which was fine because I’d filled up several cards and was getting worn out, too. We ended the session and went to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

Since you might be wondering: I’m happy to report that they did get married three weeks later, and I did manage to get a few photos of that happy event as well. The wedding photos will show up here eventually.

Photo of the Not Just Pretty Good Lakes Now: 17 September 2011

The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum came to the Chelsea library to teach local kids about the Great Lakes. Specifically, they gave the kids a hands-on illustration of how water flows through the Great Lakes to the ocean.


Hey, look! Up in the corner! It’s Canada! Good thing there’s a Great Lake or two in the way.

The lakes were represented by aluminum pans of varying sizes, and they were resting on foam blocks of varying sizes to provide the varying elevations of the lakes. (Varying varying varying varying. Varying varying? Varying!)

Once the lakes were arranged at the proper elevations and locations, they punched holes in the sides of the pans and used straws to connect the lakes. (They used modeling clay to seal the holes.)

When the lakes were connected, the water joined the party.

The model worked very well.

The above photo shows Lakes Superior (top straw) and Michigan (left straw) draining into Lake Huron, while the below photo shows Lake Huron draining into Lake Erie.

If you’re wondering where the next straw is…well, there isn’t one. Why? Because Lake Erie drains into Lake Ontario by way of Niagara Falls! You can’t see it in this photo because Lake Erie isn’t yet full, but the water drained over the top right corner of the pan into Lake Ontario.

Here’s a look at the entire model:

The whole model was a simple but remarkably effective way to help kids — and adults, too! — get a good understanding of how the Great Lakes work. Even better, it’s something you can very easily do at home with your kids. Just get a few aluminum pans, straws, and modeling clay and you’re good to go.

Photo of the JV Football Now: 15 September 2011

The Chelsea JV football team faced the Ypsilanti Braves (because I know a number of YHS grads who will enjoy that reference). It was a close game, but it finished well for Chelsea.

One Ypsi extra point attempt was extra something, but it wasn’t extra pointy. The ball ended up about 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage, where Chelsea recovered it.

In high school football a failed extra point can’t be returned by the defense, so shortly after the Bulldogs picked up the ball, the whistle sounded. But before the whistle sounded, the Ypsi player tried to make a nonstandard tackle.

For the kids out there: that’s not proper tackling form. Try to avoid that unless your preferred style of tackling is not tackling.

The Chelsea defense spent some quality time with defensive coordinator Corey Knight.

Meanwhile, head coach Chris Orlandi had his eyes on the field.

It’s no surprise he was watching the field. Fascinating things were happening on the field!

At one point, Coach Orlandi wanted to turn right, but he used the wrong arm to signal, so…would that make it a left turn signal? Of course, he wasn’t on a bike or in a car, so it’s not really important that he used the wrong arm.