Mj photo-blog

Hello GORGEOUS!!!!

2011-10-18T13:17:00.002+02:00

I had the pleasure of shooting these two beauties on Sunday.... Oh how wonderful to be young and in love!!!! Brooke, you're gorgeous, honey!!! I wish you two a lifetime of love, passion and understanding!

-Michelle

Baby lips.... baby toes....

2011-05-22T04:52:00.003+02:00

Wow, what a sweet baby boy I met today.... here's a peek!

-Michelle

(click to enlarge)

Remember when.......

2011-05-14T17:22:00.004+02:00

Remember this little guy??? Here he is with his sweet baby sister, who happens to share my birthday! :) Enjoy!

-Michelle

Wow! Has it REALLY been that long???

2011-04-15T02:02:00.002+02:00

July 30, 2009???? Oh my gracious have things changed around here, or WHAT? Here's the gist of it....... actually I'll spare you all. :)

Anyhow, things are back on track and I'm shooting again!! Wooo Hoooo! I'm so excited to get my groove back, I'm offering free photo sessions for a few weeks or perhaps a month. If you're interested in some fun, fresh, relaxed portraits, email me and we'll work out a good day and time. I'll only take about 5 sessions.... so hurry up!

*Free photo session is for one person & you will get a disc of your session to print as you wish!**

yay!

-Michelle

Recent Wedding...

2009-07-30T19:06:00.006+02:00

Here are a few from Saturday's wedding at the Walden Country Club. Fun, gorgeous wedding!

-Michelle

HEY LADIES........

2009-07-25T19:04:00.003+02:00

(click to enlarge)

Summer 2009...

2009-06-22T22:53:00.002+02:00

Little man J...

2009-01-30T20:23:00.002+01:00

What can I say... he's adorable! I had so much fun with you guys. Enjoy your preview!

-Michelle

Baby brother...

2009-01-30T15:09:00.003+01:00

Here's a peek at baby Macie's little bro, Hunter.

-Michelle

too sweet....

2008-12-15T20:37:00.001+01:00

Mr. J.... you're too sweet and sooooo busy! Thanks for the workout! ;-)

-Michelle

Another new favorite....

2008-12-06T17:28:00.003+01:00

Oh yeah.... he's absolutely ADORABLE!!!!

Little Mr. B...

2008-12-06T02:31:00.005+01:00

Awwww, what a precious face! Thanks Jessa for a fun session. Enjoy!

-Michelle

FYI...

2008-11-04T11:46:00.003+01:00

Hello everyone!!! I'm sorry if you've tried and failed to contact me lately. My email address has changed and I've lost all client info. Please email me and I'll save everything to my new account... chelleraejohnson@gmail.com

So sorry!!!

-Michelle

fun family...

2008-10-30T13:56:00.003+01:00

Sorry about the delay in posting you guys!! I had a lot of fun with you all... hope you enjoy your preview.

-Michelle

(hmm, I tried making the images larger... not sure what happened.)

I can't help myself...

2008-10-08T11:51:00.004+02:00

I always do this... post a blog, edit more, fall in love with another image and post another blog from the same session. I get so excited about what I think are my favorite images and I can't wait to share. Maybe I should edit everything first, then post..... NAAAAAAH. This is fun. :) ha.

-Michelle

(how sweet is this face?!?!)

Another cutie...

2008-10-07T09:30:00.005+02:00

How lucky am I??? Is he the cutest little baby you've ever seen or what? What a cute, fun, happy, little family you guys are! Enjoy your preview. :)

-Michelle

Smith girls...

2008-10-03T22:01:00.002+02:00

Here's a little peek from a fun session with these two beauties. Enjoy!

-Michelle

Baby's bits...

2008-09-30T11:37:00.004+02:00

Sue and family,

Here are your precious little Lavendar's tiny bits. Hope you love it!

-Michelle

Oh my GOSH.....

2008-09-26T10:09:00.005+02:00

Every now and then an image strikes me right in the heart like a knife. I believe this is my favorite portrait ever...... yes, EVER!!! Believe me, this daddy loves his little baby as much as or more than this image shows. It's so beautiful!!!

-Michelle

sweet, sweet baby...

2008-09-25T12:56:00.004+02:00

Take a look at this precious little baby girl... Isn't she gorgeous?!?!! Thank you Sue, for letting me do this for you and your family. You guys are so so nice!!! Enjoy!

-Michelle

fun with Joel...

2008-09-23T08:28:00.004+02:00

So here are more vacation snapshots... this time with Kira and Joel. I realize these snaps are meaningful only to me and my family, but I had to post them anyway. :) I love you and miss you little brother.

-Michelle

dancing... he's so sweet!

...and crazy!

and more sweet...

a lot more crazy...

and a lot of fun!!!!

Love you so much Joel... please come visit us soon!!!!

Vacation blog #2

2008-09-19T10:51:00.003+02:00

So I'm blogging way out of order, but y'all don't know that, so whatever! :) I promise my girls wore real clothes once or twice while we were in America. I honestly think they spent about 90% of our vacation in their bathing suits though. They loved it!! Here are some pics of the kiddos having a blast. (miss you Ry and Quinn!!!)

-Michelle

Crazy cousins, Riley, Maci and Kira... notice Maci's 'make over'! HA!!

We're a very 'peaceful' family. :) You'll see, it's kind of a theme in the following pics.

Mr. Quinn... probably the CUTEST little boy in America! He's extra peaceful! Too cute!

vacation blog #1

2008-09-17T10:35:00.010+02:00

Ok, so after a long blog hiatus, I'm finally blogging again. Kira, Maci and I were lucky enough to go back to America this summer for four, fun filled, fantastic weeks. Looking at these pics of Kira reminds me of myself as a little girl. I remember walking back to my dad's shop to see what he was working on... playing in the dirt, hacksawing rocks with my brother Chris and just enjoying life out in the country. I miss being a little girl. Anyhow, here she is having a blast with Chris. It's indescribable how this makes me feel... there is nothing better than seeing your children having so much fun with family. I MISS FAMILY! :(

enjoy...

Michelle

Chris' race car, which he painted himself.... SWEET huh?! (click pics to enlarge)

I love this pic of my brother. :)

oh man... momma is nervous right about now!

...there they go! YIKES!!

...check out that toothless smile!

Poser! ;-)

Mr. Joshi...

2008-07-18T15:54:00.002+02:00

How adorable is this little neighbor of mine????

Trust me... you'd fall in love with him.... if you haven't already. :)

-Michelle

recent favorites...

2008-07-16T15:34:00.002+02:00

From a fun session with my neighbor. Isn't she gorgeous?!!

-Michelle

how cool is this??????

2008-07-14T15:54:00.004+02:00

Saturday night we had our 2nd annual 'Tierstein fest'. It's a super fun get-together with all of our neighbors. (Tierstein is the name of our street) We had a LONG, fun night full of German bier, home made plum schnapps, champagne, tons of food, badminton, and a lot of bad German from me and Nate. :) We try! We spent most of the night talking to a couple that live at the end of our block. He lived in America for a short time (long, long ago) and had really great things to say about us Americans. He and his wife are so nice and sweet... today I looked out my window and this is what I saw...

Very cool, huh!!!

-Michelle

Maci Rae... rocking out!

2008-07-01T11:54:00.004+02:00

Is there anything cuter than this??? I'm thinking, NO! :)))

my favorites from a very special wedding...

2008-06-27T21:30:00.007+02:00

'you say it's your birthday??'

2008-06-16T18:15:00.004+02:00

... It's my birthday too, yeah!!!

Yep, that's right. The big double 3 is finally here & I can't believe it. Nate took the day off and did EVERYTHING I normally do. (driving kids to and from school, arranging playdates, he baked a mighty fine cake, etc...) He was exhausted by early afternoon... I had to laugh.

-Michelle

RE-POST.....

2008-06-10T10:09:00.000+02:00

Hi all! Just a short note to say I'm going to be on vacation from July 23- August 25!!!! WOO HOO!!!! Super-busy portrait season is just around the corner, so don't wait too long to book your session!

-Michelle

I think she finally gets it?!?!?!

2008-06-05T11:29:00.008+02:00

Oh gosh I can't believe I'm actually writing about this. My feelings are all over the place, but I'm happy that this time it might actually work. (my fingers are permanently crossed!)

Here's the story:

Maci has been a thumbsucker since..... forever! I admit, I didn't mind it at first... I assumed she'd stop on her own. After all, Kira sucked her thumb for a short time when she was a baby and she stopped on her own, so I was convinced Maci would do the same. Boy was I wrong! We've tried so many different things to try to get her to stop, but nothing has worked. Maci is now 4 and a half years old and her teeth are really suffering. So this morning I googled thumb sucking and came to this site. I didn't have to read her a thing!!! Maci took one look at the picture on the front page and she was cured!

So I feel like crap for scaring her to make her stop, although it wasn't my intention.... ok, maybe a little. I'm also sad as this means she's officially a big girl. And I feel sort of bad, but I can't stop laughing at her reaction to the picture. :)))))

Here's what she saw:

Here's the reaction:

Poor little baby..... am I a jerk?!

-Michelle

[Please forgive us, we just woke up and haven't taken care of ourselves yet!]

just a little fyi...

2008-05-21T22:45:00.003+02:00

Hi all! Just a short note to say I'm going to be on vacation from July 23- August 25!!!! WOO HOO!!!! Super-busy portrait season is just around the corner, so don't wait too long to book your session!

-Michelle

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-05-18T12:18:00.010+02:00

Our little 'Turkey' scored her first fussball (soccer) goal!!!! I was so excited, I was screaming, yelling, jumping and cheering like she just won an olympic gold medal. (Although in my eyes she truly did!) She wasn't as thrilled as I thought she would be... maybe she was shocked... heck, maybe she was embarrassed because her mom was freaking out. Who knows?! Anyhow here are some fun shots of her glorious day! :)

-Michelle

... did I mention she's the only girl on her team?!

... ok, so he brought it down... but she scored the goal! (poor little guy! but yay for Kira!!!)

... her coaches were so proud!

mom...

2008-05-11T10:43:00.006+02:00

Dear Mom,

I love you so very much. It pains me that I haven't seen you enough over the last few years. I miss you terribly and I wish I were there to spend this very special day with you. Take some time for yourself and have a very wonderful Mother's day. I love you so, so much!!!!! -Michelle

Mom,

Even though you're in Heaven, I know you're watching over me just like in these pictures.

Love Always

Nat Bat Scooba Dat;)

wow....

2008-04-26T20:01:00.005+02:00

uh yeah.... not much else to say. :)

-Michelle

weekend in Cologne...

2008-04-22T11:04:00.011+02:00

We had such an amazing time in Cologne this weekend. I didn't take as many pictures as I planned, but here are a few of the Cathedral. Maci asked Nathan, 'Is this God's castle?' Too cute!
You wouldn't believe the gorgeous light pouring in the windows... I mean, it truly takes your breath away! My photos do this place no justice. It was AMAZING!
-Michelle

perhaps I spoke too soon....

2008-04-17T11:19:00.006+02:00

Ok, this is my new favorite from this session. Check her out.... you go girl! Go on with your bad self!! :)

-Michelle

**Thanks again to 'ground*floor' for the amazing (and totally FREE) textures!!!

my favorite...

2008-04-16T09:37:00.002+02:00

I love this shot so much... it's probably my favorite of 2008 so far. :)))

-Michelle

so schön...

2008-04-15T18:29:00.007+02:00

I had so much fun with my good friend's daughter, Ann-Sophie. Isn't she gorgeous?!

-Michelle

(vielen dank, ann-so!)

the wait is finally over!!!

2008-04-15T09:45:00.003+02:00

The mail gods heard me.... finally! :))) I'm so happy to get back in the swing of things! YAY!

-Michelle

she gets it from her mama! :))

2008-04-14T16:24:00.007+02:00

Maci really surprised me with an awesome piece of work today. She sure has come a long way recently. Her kindergarten teacher told me she's speaking Deutsch full time now and is getting along better with all the kids as a result. I'm thrilled!!! I can finally walk out of kindergarten with a smile on my face and with peace in my heart. -feels great!- So here she is working hard on this magnificent work of art! enjoy!!

-Michelle

from left to right: pa-pa (i had NOTHING to do with the belly... promise!), mommy (high up, wearing a fabulous little black dress:) ), a snail, a roller coaster, jasmine (our dog), kira, grandma dee, daddy, cousin riley, maci, and nana. Too awesome!! Isn't she something?!

another fantastic johnson video....

2008-04-09T11:42:00.005+02:00

This is an every day occurrence in our house and we love it!!! Forget about watching dancing with the stars without a kira & maci dance-off..... it just won't happen! :))) enjoy!!!!

-Michelle

(please excuse our dance floor... aka my office!)

whew, that feels better....

2008-04-03T12:37:00.011+02:00

Oh my gosh, I almost lost it this morning. I was seriously having photography withdrawals. I'm so sick of this cruddy weather keeping me from shooting. On top of that, I have no editing software... since I 'upgraded' to mac, I had to upgrade my photoshop too. (CS3 baby! I'm so excited!!) So after my daily blog reading, I finally said, THAT'S IT!!! I packed up my gear, threw on my hat & jacket, grabbed a cup of coffee and some crackers and took off out the door. It was FREEZING but I managed to get a few pics to add to my 'Germany through my lens' folder. FUN!! Here are a few. WHEW!!!

-Michelle

**I must say... iphoto did a pretty good job of editing them! not bad.

the winner is....

2008-04-02T10:58:00.005+02:00

Tara Tropea!!!!

I really wanted this session to go to a well deserving person... and she totally is! I'm shocked and amazed at everything she has been through. Saying things have been tough would be a huge understatement. To see her, you would never know the pain and struggle she has experienced.

A little over two years ago Tara was nearing the end of her somewhat complicated pregnancy. After determining the baby was mature enough, labor was induced. Twelve hours later, no dilation... so the decision was made to take the next step. Unfortunately Tara experienced major complications during the cesarean section which resulted in general anesthesia, blood transfusions, and sadly a hysterectomy. Meanwhile her husband nervously awaited for hours with their newborn daughter without word on Tara's status. Thankfully, Tara eventually recovered.

Two years later, Tara and husband are wanting very badly to have another child. Surrogacy would be their ideal choice, but there is very little support out here. I hope to raise awareness and bring reality to this subject. This happens more than we know and isn't spoken about enough. Please email me if you have any information for this family.

Tara, you are a wonderful woman and mother. I can't wait to have a fun photo session with you. You're so deserving of it!

-Michelle

feeling snappy...

2008-04-01T17:30:00.006+02:00

When I first became serious about photography, I completely stopped taking every day snapshots of my family. I guess I thought the image had to be perfect, or it wasn't worth taking. Boy was I wrong! Sadly I missed about a year's worth of snapshots of my girls. I regret that so much! So take as many pictures as you can... bad lighting, crazy hair, boogie nose, yucky clothes... WHO CARES!?!?! Anyhow, here are some fun (unedited) snaps of my girls... enjoy!

-Michelle

*Give me one more day to announce the contest winner. SORRY!!! :(

We're so proud!

2008-03-31T16:20:00.007+02:00

Ok, I'm a really bad video editor... but here's a cute one of our little Kira reading in German. She's pretty amazing!!!

*don't forget to enter the little contest I have going on... I'm hoping to announce a winner tomorrow.

-Michelle

randomness...

2008-03-20T09:50:00.007+01:00

Man, the weather has been so crazy around here! Snowy at night... sunny throughout the day. I'm confused!

Here are some random shots from yesterday. My little Kira is such a bookworm! The last one is just a snapshot taken from my living room. I can't believe it! Warm weather, where are you?!?!

*Sorry I didn't post more from the previous session. Hopefully I'll get back to that soon. :) Oh... thanks for the great response about the contest. I'll have a winner by April 1st! (no April foolin'!)

-Michelle

one more...

2008-03-16T11:21:00.006+01:00

sorry...

I really don't like blogging like this. Since today is family day I snuck in a little editing while my girls were busy watching Sunday morning toonies. I'll post more from this mini-session tomorrow. :)

-Michelle

only one...

2008-03-15T21:58:00.006+01:00

Wow, she's amazing! I'll be posting more soon.

-Michelle

Texture...

2008-03-14T15:19:00.003+01:00

So I've been playing around with texture for a little while and boy, it isn't as easy as it seems. I walked around my house taking snapshots of random things hoping they would give a moody, interesting feel to my portraits. I wasn't very happy with any of them. :( Coincidentally enough, I got an email from a good client/friend of mine and she hooked me up with a link to some really cool FREE textures. Thanks Jen & especially to 'ground*floor' (who happens to be an amazing artist... check him out!) for the freebies!! Anyhow, after a lot of playing around with different images, these are the only two I liked enough to share. I didn't go crazy on the second one... and probably could have added a lot more texture... but I still like it. Hope you do too. Have a good day!

-Michelle

I'm not Oprah... BUT...

2008-03-11T21:00:00.006+01:00

Have you seen that new tv show, Oprah's big give? I haven't because we're over here and AFN isn't quite up to speed with the new stuff. (tell me if I'm wrong!) I have, however, seen snippets of it on her Monday show. So it got me thinking... what can I do to 'give big'? Well I'm not Oprah and I don't have an extra 10K to give, but I can give a well deserving family a free photo session!!! Yep, that's right... 100% free photo session AND a package of prints! SO if you are, or know of a military family that deserves this 'awesomeness' send me an email with a little background information on why. I'll choose the lucky family and let you know ASAP.

-Michelle

*for my fellow military families in the Stuttgart area only :)

*doesn't have to be a family session. (can be... senior, sexy lady, newborn, kiddo, etc.)

It TOTALLY matters....

2008-03-11T12:51:00.007+01:00

Wow, you know things are slow when you're posting this kind of pic. :)) Oh well, I'm happy despite this long dry spell.

Look at my baby... aka: 20" imac!! woo hoo!!! She's a beauty isn't she??? Now if I could just figure things out, I'd be set!

-Michelle

(punny title isn't it?! hahahahahaha)

blogger help....

2008-03-01T14:06:00.002+01:00

I'm a brand new imac girl and I'm so proud to convert over to mac-land. :)) BUT ever since I've blogged with my brand-spankin'-new imac, my images are unclickable. (another crazy word, I know). Can anybody help me???? I'm sure it's an easy fix, but I can't figure it out. Thanks in advance!

-Michelle

the procrastinator strikes back...

2008-03-01T13:50:00.007+01:00

Yes, I'm talking about me. I took these two falls ago... (ew, that sounds wrong, but oh well) and I'm just now editing them. I actually forgot all about them until I saw some really cool stuff on joe photo's blog. He's brilliant and I love his before and after stuff. Hmm, I guess I can show these as a before and after too..... -great idea!- :)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

-Michelle

When there is nothing to blog about... blog about nothing!

2008-02-26T10:39:00.012+01:00

Ok, so I've been going back and forth on this for a while. I originally wanted to keep this blog professional... but this photo-drought has made me change my mind. When I say drought, I mean, DROUGHT! But that's ok. I'll just think of it as a 'skill sharpening period'.

----

I admit, I'm a blog-aholic. I have 6 (or so-HA! ok, way more but that number sounds sane.) photo-blogs that I read on a daily basis. I soooo wanted to become one of those bloggers this year. So get ready for a lot of personal stuff with a little portraiture mixed in.

----

Here's something I did yesterday for my sister's house. Gosh, she asked me to do this for her a long long time ago and I finally got around to it. :)))) --you know, because I'm so swamped and all!--

-Michelle

waiting...

2008-01-29T14:25:00.000+01:00

"...they can't take that away.
I'm not afraid to be lonely.
It's just a question of how long, how long I have to wait.
So one more last kiss like two prisoners.
One more last kiss to hold on to.
One more last kiss just to remember you...."

-I'm such a lyrics nut!-
My heart goes out to you, girlfriend! Hang in there... he'll be back before you know it! Heck, once he takes a look at your beautiful portraits, he'll want to sprout wings and fly over in a hurry!!! :)
Thanks for being so wonderful to me! I had such a blast with you!!!!
-Michelle

Lovely Anja...

2008-01-16T14:31:00.000+01:00

...wow, there really are no words to express how gorgeous she is both outside and in.
-Michelle

something new...

2008-01-14T12:25:00.000+01:00

I've lost sleep recently... I can't stop thinking about this new path my photography is about to take. I'm so excited that I'm finally courageous enough to move toward my vision and away from traditional portraiture.
There are two areas where I'd like to grow this year...
1. couples portraits: fun, sexy, romantic, portraits of you and your hubby.
2. sexy lady portraits: tasteful, sensual, romantic portraits of you for your hubby ;)
Let me capture you in a way that celebrates your love and life together. Book either one of these sessions now and I'll waive the session fee. (good until the end of February)

-Michelle

Going for it...

2008-01-12T19:07:00.000+01:00

After a good, lengthy chat with my great girlfriend, Megan, I've decided to change things up around here. I'm overwhelmed, nervous, giddy and a little scared... but I'm going for it anyway. Stay tuned for more details....
-Michelle