Always Photographic » events

i’m an artist!

admin — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 15:51:34 +0000

just wanted to share a quick post to let everyone know that my work is still being featured at the Ellair & Studio gallery downtown charlevoix through this thursday! more items will be added to the collection today, and just to let you know how pretty they are, here’s a few praises i received from the canvas printing company this morning!

Hi Kimberly,

Just a quick note to let you know photographers like you make our job here at Simply Canvas very exciting. I wanted to take time to say “WOW!” The image of the pier is such a beautiful image. The leading lines into the ocean has such a calming effect and I love the golden hues to this image. You really caught the magical hour not only on this one, but on the whole order. The sunsets you photographed are so breathtaking!

We truly appreciate your business, and I look forward to seeing many more beautiful images from Always Photographic! Keep up the outstanding work!

Best,

Adam Fried CEO
adam@simplycanvas.com
Simply Canvas, Inc.

so exciting! THANK YOU! and another special thank you to everyone who came out to support me at the grand opening on friday evening – it really meant a lot to me to see how many people will come out in the rainy weather to view my pieces! here are a few images from the opening :)

a few images on “display” in my apartment when they first arrived – had a hard time letting them go! ha

at the grand opening

and a few photos from the photo booth i set up! thanks everyone for participating! :)

with my new puppy, Demo! he’s a great dane, only 9 weeks old :)

2010 miss charlevoix venetian queen coronation

admin — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:33:53 +0000

last week was the 80th annual venetian festival in charlevoix! friday night held the miss charlevoix venetian queen coronation where the 2009 queen, celina wanek, passed her crown on to one beautiful, talented and well-deserving candidate! view photos of celina’s coronation by clicking here.

lindsy laway won the high scholastic achievement scholarship – $500

ericka smith was voted miss congeniality!

congrats, brooke nemchak! first runner-up to the venetian queen!

and the 2010 miss charlevoix venetian queen is emily mielke! her reaction was priceless!

register for the 2010 dry harbour marine rendezvous!

admin — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:01:52 +0000

click here to register online! view pictures from the 2009 formula rendezvous hosted by dry harbour marine – click here for images from friday – click here for images from saturday!

colorado challenge

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:42:37 +0000

a couple weeks ago i had the privilege of going to colorado for a week as a counselor with the charlevoix area colorado challenge group! there were 32 students and 9 staff that caravanned to woodland park, co in three 15-passenger vans, one of which that was pulling a trailer with all of our cargo. while the camp is considered a challenge, i’d say getting there was at least half of it!

traffic in the chicago area was crazy! not only were we in standstill for an hour or so, but our air conditioning stopped working! did i mention it was approximately 90 degrees out that day???

so the girls in our van made a few signs to entertain themselves and other people on the road while we navigated our way through the traffic.

these are a couple of my attempts of catching lightning while we were driving through a heat storm in nebraska.

welcome to colorful colorado! a few of the guys with leader tom schultz at the state welcome center.

the girls trying to get cleaned up after a long night of traveling…

i spy mountains – almost there!

we stopped in manitou springs on the way up to camp there were natural spring water fountains all around…

so a few of the students gave it a try … i wouldn’t recommend it! stuff was nasty!

welcome to quaker ridge camp and conference center, our home for the week!

soldiers mountain, where three crosses mark the summit!

going over the important stuff

lawrence bergmann – our fearless leader!

the view of pike’s peak from the main cabin at camp

playing ice breaker games after dinner on the first night (sunday)

the first full day (monday) was spent in camp where we did lots of activities! paintball was the first…

next was the high ropes course

then we went horseback riding!

colorado challenge 2010 – camp picture!

climbing pike’s peak

our group :)

a marmot, up close and personal

there was a hoe down at camp that evening – so much fun!

we went repelling and rock climbing on wednesday…

2010 miss charlevoix venetian queen court

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:17:02 +0000

saturday afternoon i had the privilege of photographing this year’s miss charlevoix venetian queen court at michigan beach in charlevoix. what a great group of girls! i’m very excited to work with this girls throughout the summer, and can’t wait to find out which one will become miss charlevoix!

emily, erika, karinne, nikki, lindsy, and brooke

good luck, ladies!! :)

jenny’s prom

admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 01:40:43 +0000

Northview’s prom was on Friday evening, and Kelsey’s sister Jenny went with her boyfriend Alex. Kelsey and I headed downtown to see them all dressed up and take a few pictures. You all looked beautiful! :)

lady rayders

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:44:07 +0000

also photographed in early january, the photos below are of the jv and varsity girls’ basketball teams. my baby sister kelsey and cousin anna played on jv that evening, and cousins jenna and madison played varsity. both teams were victorious during these games, but their season came to an unfortunate end after losing on monday night. you had a great season girls! two more years to go, kelsey and jenna!

way girls on the jv team – kelsey on the left and anna on the right

the varsity (below)

more family! cousins jenna (on the left) and madison (on the right)

rayder basketball

admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:44:45 +0000

as the high school basketball seasons begin the most competitive part of their season and draw to a close, i thought it’d be about time i posted pictures from games photographed at the beginning of january! yes, they’re a bit late, but better than never! from the games i watched, the girls’ and boys’ teams had a great season with many trails and triumphs. to view and order more photographs, please click here.

[cru.] fall retreat

admin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:57:27 +0000

“don’t stop believin’!” blared through the speakers at bair lake bible camp at the start of every worship session on oct. 9-11 during the west michigan cru fall retreat. no, we didn’t worship to journey music, it was the theme for the weekend! pastor kevin butcher from detroit came to share the love of Christ with us friday and saturday. flag football filled our saturday afternoon, and a huge bonfire came in the evening. this weekend was so amazing and definitely one to remember :)

ladies watching the tuff-guys play football

fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of the One True God

opening our hearts to hear what pastor butcher had to share (loved it!)

art prize

admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:28:07 +0000

art prize – happening downtown grand rapids this weekend! head down to vote for your favorite artists! person with the most votes wins $120,000!!

“blue hawaii” formula rendezvous! – saturday

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:50:11 +0000

saturday morning of the rendezvous started bright and early with dockside doughnuts and coffee! we caught the 9:30am bridge opening to head up to bay harbor for breakfast, parked at the bay harbor lake marina to head up to the conference center for eggs, bacon, potatoes and more coffee.

the group headed to oyster bay after the breakfast. we rafted up and had a great time! it was certainly the party of the summer! lots of food, fun and formula bonding! special thanks to glen and gwen catt for allowing us to throw the event at their beautiful home on oyster bay!

“blue hawaii” formula rendezvous! – friday

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:51:10 +0000

august 14-15 held dry harbour marine’s second annual formula rendezvous. the theme was blue hawaii (you know, like the old elvis movie), and we dressed up to celebrate! thirty-seven boats were able to check in to the charlevoix city marina between the hours of noon and six on friday afternoon. an hors d’evours party started by the docks after check in, and music performed by horton creek played long into the night! (well, 8pm) until huge rain clouds blew in over lake michigan, darkening the evening sky before we could head out for a sunset cruise.

venetian prints

admin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:27:49 +0000

are you crazy about the venetian photos? i’m sure you’d love to have a picture of the men in pink soccer team for your refrigerator! haha :) venetian photos are available for purchase! in this gallery are photos that haven’t been published, so be sure to at least check it out! click here to enter the gallery, and insert code 81474-venetian to view and purchase the images. enjoy! :)

venetian week – saturday

admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:20:06 +0000

saturday of venetian was the most fun of them all! races, parades and lots of smiles!

waiting for the ryan shay memorial race to start. two of the runners stayed at my parents’ house for the weekend.

sean tully, the third-place winner of the men’s race, finished the mile-long course in four minutes and four seconds! sean spent the weekend at “hotel way”

frances koons took first place in the women’s race finishing in four minutes and thirty-one seconds for a $1,000 prize! congrats frances! she was also a guest at “hotel way” on friday night.

wendi and mike knoblock and their precious baby princess, alexandra

jon, my cousin, placed first in the jeff drenth memorial 10k foot race! awesome job, jon!!

brent and i wearing matching shirts! haha :)

enjoying the street parade from the same spot as the past fifteen years!

problem was, they were sitting on somebody else’s blankets assuming they belonged to our family… oopsie!

katie, my sister, and her husband paul, who is finally home from working seven long weeks on the great lakes! welcome home!

aunt stacy and uncle don on the left – jon boss on the right

congratulations girls!! i’m so proud of you! :)

alyssa, the outgoing queen, was absolutely radiant riding down main street in dad’s cutlass supreme. you were a beautiful queen and did a wonderful job! congrats!

here comes dry harbour marine‘s big truck! the boat dealerships and service centers in charlevoix brought their biggest rides out for the parade.

uncle mike’s business, pine river inc., showed their e-log house in the parade.

venetian week – friday night

admin — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:37:03 +0000

2009 miss charlevoix venetian queen coronation took place tonight at 7:30pm. eight girls waited anxiously in beautiful dresses as the winners were announced. tammy potter won miss congeniality, a $500 scholarship award given to the girl voted the most friendly. the high scholastic achievement award for the best essay was given to taylor storm, a $500 scholarship. brooke nemchak was crowned second runner-up, a $500 scholarship, and tammy potter walked away as first runner-up with a $1,250 scholarship. the hearts of six girls ran wild as they awaited the next announcement, and the 2009 miss charlevoix venetian queen is celina wanek! how exciting! as a previous two-time first runner-up in this competition, i understand the nerves and excitement during the coronation ceremony. i am so proud of every girl who ran! it’s a huge commitment, a lot of hard work, and a very prestigious scholarship competition to participate in. congrats!! :) back in may i photographed these girls at the annual operation petunia. click here to view those photos!

brent arrived for the weekend shortly after the coronation. we walked around town and enjoyed a beautiful firework display that took place over lake charlevoix. my family and a few of our friends took dry harbour marine’s formula 40 pc out on the lake to watch them. it started to rain a few minutes into the show, but they were still as beautiful as ever!

click here to view the entire photo gallery from coronation!

2008 venetian queen alyssa mccormack

alyssa with 2008 second runner-up shauna spencley, first runner-up katherine forrester and competition director dianna phillips – opening the envelope for miss congeniality!

alyssa is like a sixth daughter in my family. she’s so sweet, and we love her dearly! thank you for appreciating us in your exit speech, miss lys! xoxo

celina’s mother was so excited! it was really touching to see their overwhelming joy