When we are in the States I usually schedule a time for us to have a family portrait taken at Sears, since it's so much cheaper than most of the photo studios here in Sweden. This year however, when my mom called, the price was nearly 3 times what it was the last time we were there 3 years ago (!), so mom checked around and got a recommendation for a local photographer from her massage therapist and booked a time with her for the first week we were home.

Katie and her husband run their photography business out of their garage which has been converted into a giant 1-room photography studio, filled to bursting with props, perches and backdrops. It looked like a giant attic full of interesting stuff to rummage through, arranged around a large open space where the backdrop cloths hang from one wall and drape across the floor. Katie is a small vibrant woman with a dynamite smile and an engaging personality, who put us at ease immediately and listened carefully to what we wanted (no props, family group, the 2 kids together) and set us up quickly and professionally. My mom stood beside her and made faces to get the kids to smile and laugh naturally while Katie snapped away.

We all wore blue (more or less) since we didn't have anything else that was coordinated, and at the end Katie changed the kids into plain white tshirts and took a series of photos of the 2 of them against a white background. It was quick and painless and easy to pose for her and we were pretty pleased with the results. Unfortunately, the photos took longer to return than we had time in Michigan, so mom has to mail them after they arrive, but we bought a CD of all the photos in lo-res.

At some point while we were away, one of my posts broke my journal layout, and though I've isolated which ones are doing it, I can't figure out from the code WHY, so I'm posting these photos without a cut in an attempt to shove the offenders off the front page of my journal. If it doesn't work, I'll edit this to cut them and banish the misbehavers to oblivion, much as I hate to do that, since it means losing the comments as well. Edited to add: It didn't work, so I deleted and re-did them, but something is still not quite right. ARGH. However, it's too late at night to figure it out for now...So, without further ado, may I present the:


Ek Family 2007 (all images © Self-Expressions Photography, Michigan)