Blog - Page 22 of 24 - Rachel Kaye Photography

how i give back

BSBC copy Recently I became apart of an amazing group of wedding vendors called Black Sheep Bride. This list of vendors across the USA all are required to give back a certain portion of their yearly income to non-profits. The whole idea is something I immediately fell in love with. Before going full-time photographer I worked for a non-profit and always have been volunteering since I can remember. Giving back is not only awesome for your community but also makes you feel really great too. It is no secret weddings are expensive. So the idea to spend some of that money on items/companies that give back can really do a lot of good. DO IT. If you are a socially conscious couple check out this site for those vendors you should fall for. While they are listed ‘by state {and according to insider info this will change!! i will share more again about this}’ many of them are online and do business all over the country! So don’t sell yourself short by only clicking on a few in your state (to my Mitten peeps you will notice it is just me and a few other awesome GR photographers so OTHER vendors GET ON THAT!!! ..and to my Chicago peeps yah I am not listed under Illinois but I promise I give back there too).

You can check out my vendor profile to see some of the ways I give back. I also apparently FORGOT to add in a huge part of the way I give back. Which is through doing Senior Pet Portraits for free in the areas I work in. My pets are like my children and they live such short lives its so important to me to document your special bond as a memory you will always have to cherish. This is probably my FAVORITE way to give back and something I am super passionate about.

Stay tuned tomorrow for my latest (albeit this past summer…) senior pet photo-shoot and a little bit more about how those go and how to book yours!

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Abbey + Neil {Grand Haven Fall Engagement Photographer}

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I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am to start going back in time and sharing some images on the blog. I am starting things off right with one of my favorite engagement sessions of this past fall (and man lemme tell you there were A LOT so get excited). Abbey and Neil are amazing. I sat on the bus with Abbey from day ONE (we live on the same street) and she has always just been this amazing inspiring person. Neil and her decided they wanted to come out to my family farm for their engagement session and then finish it off by going to the place where Neil proposed (Rosy Mound Natural Area on the beaches of Grand Haven). Not only was their love infectious but they are hilarious and seriously so well dressed. I mean look. You couldn’t have picked better outfits for locations. So styling. I am so pumped for their wedding next year up at Traverse and the reception next fall in GH.

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My neighbors are also extremely nice and let me use their blueberry patches for shoots. Um yes pleasseeee.

I just love how Neil runs out of the frame for this GIF and then throws the hay in his own face for the next one 😛

We also have a bus on the family farm. Pretty perfect because Neil is a teacher and Abbey and I met on the school bus. AWWWW.

Again. So pumped for all the weddings next year and this one in Traverse while it will be super small is bound to be epic and beautiful. I mean just look at these two! I really cannot wait and am so pumped that they chose me to capture all this amazing-ness.

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rkp visits the bay area

I am bumming around the bay area for quite the extended vacation etc. So holler at me if your from here and want to meet up. Any advice on cool things I have to do or see also is welcome. I am a gamer geek and seriously geeking out over all the tech things around here already (like helloooo walking by Pixar studios was amazing…seriously? that is like right by where I am staying right now). I have my last wedding of 2014 when I get back and then its time for some serious re-branding, blog posting (seriously so many weddings to blog) and winter sessions! I will be doing a special on winter sessions for the week of Dec 15th so look out for that announcement. I just really want to play in the snow! Even better discount if you have a dog or still have your epic beard left from mo-vember. HAHA.

oh and even though I have my fancy camera I have just been sharing photos via instagram (from my iphone) more than anything. you can follow along by searching the hashtag #rkphitscali or follow me @slowyourstyle

Tags: bay area, san francisco, travel

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Alisa + Jason {Grand Haven Proposal + Engagement Photography}

CONGRATS ALISA AND JASON!!!!

Epic Proposals win again!!! Jason contacted me at the beginning of October wanting to propose to his girlfriend Alisa on my family farm! I was beyond excited! We sent numerous emails back and forth discussing details and plans and came up with the idea together of carving ‘will you marry me’ in pumpkins! I carved all the pumpkins and set up the little display above (its dark so you can see the lights!) and then just waited excitedly in the woods for them to come. I also had set up my tripod to take video in order to capture the moment! My dad was even in on the proposal and told them to go a certain way to be sure it was a surprise. I don’t think Alisa believed it for a long time! She thought Jason was playing a prank on her and it was adorable.

After the epic proposal moment we ventured off for a little engagement session (can I say AGAIN how much I LOVE doing engagement sessions right after proposals? EVERYONE IS ALL SMILES :D)

I am so excited for them! Alisa is almost done with school and will be joining Jason in Nebraska!! (yay!) so it seemed right to venture into the corn field (where they did the most adorable thing ever..check out the GIF later) and do a few things around the farm to capture this amazing evening for them!

Thanks again Jason for asking me to capture this once in a life-time moment for you and Alisa! I am so excited for you both!

Tags: bethke farms, fall engagement, grand haven engagement photography, west michigan engagement photography

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Anna Class of 2015 {Chicago Senior Session}

I have known Anna since…well you know I really don’t know. Her parents are theatre friends of mine and I just like always remember her being around!!!! She has grown up to be an AMAZING young lady. So talented (yay fellow artists!) and her family is like family too me! I was so excited when they wanted me to do Anna’s photos earlier this year. We kept planning something epic and amazing but timing just wasn’t working out. Anna didn’t want the traditional ‘Grand Haven’ Senior photos (and who can blame her! beach + lighthouse so overdone) So i was even MORE excited when she wanted to come romp and play with me in CHICAGO!!! My other home! YAYYYY funny enough I had a wedding the night before in Holland so I happily made the drive and we did a SUNRISE session.

Man sunrise is perfect in the city.

No one is around. LIKE NO ONE. (in city terms this is) It made for some perfect backdrops starting out at the Art Institute and then we headed over to Wicker Park where she was staying in this fantastic hostel w/ her rad parents and sister. We even went to the farmers market and had some fun w/ plants (everyone knows I love me some plants!!!). Anna. You rock. This session. FAV ever….seriously so magical. Can we do it again!?!?!

These are just some of my FAVS if you wanna view the whole collection head on over HERE.

Tags: chicago senior photography, grand haven senior photography

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Ali + Jake + Sovaya + Little Dude {Grand Haven Maternity Photographer}

Meeting amazing people can sometimes be hard. But when you do AMAZING weddings you get the chance to meet some really amazing people. I haven’t even blogged Heather + Randy’s wedding yet (it will be happening soon! i find weddings DAUNTING to blog but now that i have BLOG STOMP dear god it will happen much sooner than i expected) it was magical. And then I was like HEY i know these people……. both Ali and Jake were in the wedding party and I kept oddly thinking I knew them (I actually learned this BEFORE the wedding day since I had the fun chance to capture Heathers bachelorette party! so no i wasn’t that awkward about it the day of… I mean maybe I was….Eh I probably was awkward about SOMETHING :))

Flash back to a few years of Pumpkin Smash at the farm (we do this every year after the farm closes….stay tuned for more on that in the future I have a feeling some epic photos will be happening this year) and I realize they have been coming to this for awhile now. Thanks to Kyle + Emma my psuedo family (not blood but who cares! grew up w/ Kyle) for being friends with these two and Heather + Randy for bringing them back into my life in even more magical ways.

So obviously when Ali is like HEY do you do maternity photos? I am like NOT YET! LETS DO IT!!!!!!! And agreed to let me work my magic on them to welcome their new little guy. This hardly touches on the images I took since many of them ARE SUPER SECRET (aka: they reveal the growing dudes name! we are keeping that a secret!) so this is all I can share (for now) CANNOT wait to meet little guy. Sadly they likely won’t be at the smash this year since Mr. Dude is due right before Halloween! SADNESS but this just means we have to hang out more mmmk?

Basically what I learned from this session are 2 things 1) i love these three (four?) even more than i thought i could 2) i love taking photos of pregnancy. Like how freaking gorgeous the whole growing a human thing is. I DIE! Love it so much!!! Couldn’t be more excited to watch this family grow!!!!