Baumann Family: West Michigan Family and Children’s Portrait Photographer

The Baumann family are such a beautiful and fun family. I first met Brad when Tony and I were looking for our first place to live as a newly married couple. Brad showed us one of his apartments and while he was so encouraging in wanting us to be able to rent it, he had to give another interested person the first dibs in renting it – which they did. Fast forward a few weeks and I am sitting on the plane preparing to leave for Zambia for 16 days and Brad calls letting me know the other duplex apartment unexpectedly opened up. Renting from Brad and his family was a huge blessing over the first year of our marriage. Every interaction we had with them was full of kindness and left us with a deep appreciation for having such amazing landlords!

After being married for a year, Tony and I packed up the U-Haul and moved across the country to Los Angeles where we lived for three years. Upon moving back to Michigan, we realized that Brad and his family now went to our home church! It has been fun getting to know them in a different setting. In fact, you may recognize their son Levi from this commercial shoot.

Needless to say, I was ecstatic when Wendy asked me to capture their beautiful family of six!! We had a ton of fun with this session. The kids were AMAZINGLY patient and hilarious as we set up a few different shots. We laughed A LOT. Their youngest Kaitlyn would start jumping up and down when I would try to get the kids to laugh. You know parents are doing an amazing job when their kids genuinely love one another and are excited to help in any way they can.

A couple months ago, Brad and Wendy went on a trip to Guatemala which you can read about here. I am excited to see how their heart for Guatemala continues to lead their family. As I was preparing to leave at the end of our session, Wendy started getting teary-eyed when she talked about how much these photographs meant to her – and it was yet one more reminder why I love to do what I do. You can’t go back in time and capture more photos… and it seems that it is only through photographs that you can really freeze time when the kids are hugging one another, climbing and exploring new territory, and genuinely enjoying being nowhere else on a Friday night but with one another. Brad and Wendy are celebrating 13 years of marriage this summer — and they have much to celebrate.

Brad and Wendy, thank you for trusting me to photograph this beautiful season in your marriage and family life.

Aaron, Abbie, Levi, and Kaitlyn - It’s a squirrel! No, a monkey! Oh no… a rhinoceros!! Look… the Squirrel is DANCING!!!

Enjoy your preview… there are many more waiting for you!