kalamazoo photographer | valerie ott photography

custom portrait photography in west michigan

This model’s eyes …

Friday, May 17, 2013 Posted in modeling

Wowzers. I had such a fun time working this upcoming model, Kristina. Check out her before and after:

I feel like over the last several years I have developed my own style of photography. Most of my clients hire me for my style. They like the look that I create in my pictures. I can recreate a look over and over and that is why I feel confidant with my craft. But if I am perfect, then I have no room to grow. So this year my growth is focusing in light. I have spent the last 5 months studying light. Now it’s time to practice what I have learned. Kristina was up for allowing me to practice, so I played and played and played. Thank you, Kristina for being so patient with me while I moved the light over and over again to get the best look. Let me back track. I didn’t move the light. I had a new friend, acquired from my lighting study, who helped me with the session to play with light. Thank you John for helping me!

I am so excited about the images that we got from this session. This has to be one of my favorites. The light is probably my favorite set up. It’s amazing what I felt when I saw it happen, when I saw it in the back of my camera, and then when I opened it up on my computer. I feel like this fits right into my style and this will become one of my new looks.

I loved photographing Kristina because she was a natural in front of the camera. I loved processing her photos because she has a freckle on her right eye. I love it!

After we tried the new light, I just HAD to return to my natural style. I love this look just as much as the new stuff. This is my signature:

I have had this white background for over a year and I think I’ve only used it once or twice. Why is that? Because Kristina looked great on it!

Here’s another favorite. This make it into my favorites of 2013 list. Thanks for being so beautiful Kristina!

Hair and Make up by Sarah Boucher.

Lighting assistance by John Crouch.

Call for your session today: 269-352-3810

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In love …. with sports

Monday, May 6, 2013 Posted in weddings

I was a little skeptical of sports themed engagement session. It could look corny. It could look tacky. It could look cheesy. But once this darling couple showed me what they had in mind, all of that doubt quickly disappeared. Not only was this adorable, but it was absolutely fun.

Example of the fun, blowing bubbles. This was like a serious competition. The gum had to be chewed just right. The bubbles couldn’t be too small. It was for real!

I love those the football portion turned out. As a person that knows nothing about sports, I felt like they leagues above me. They knew what they were doing out on that field.

Good game. Good game. Good game.

I think she’s teasing him here!

But he got back at her with a tackle!

The story of her ring is pretty cool. The diamond in the center is her’s. The diamond on the right was her mom’s. The diamonds on the left were her grandmother’s and great grandmother’s. I hope she is so proud to carry that much tradition with her every where she does. That’s a long line of women who can support her, just by looking at her finger. So sweet and special.

Cracker Jacks!

Take me out to the ball game!

I wish I were this cool.

I had oodles and oodles of fun with you. Thanks for all the help with the forks, wink, wink.

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Pat sametz - Very original photos! You captured their personality perfectly.

Happy Anniversary

Sunday, May 5, 2013 Posted in weddings

Happy anniversary Kiersten and Adam! kalamazoo-wedding-photographer-henderson-castle

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Lovely Baby

Tuesday, April 30, 2013 Posted in itty bitty babies

I have had lots and lots of newborn sessions, but this was different. I am not sure how it happened, but I couldn’t stop photographing her. Her poor mom probably thought “Alright lady, I want to go home!” But I couldn’t help myself because she was SO GOOD for me. She never woke up, which allowed me to work and work. I think every single image I captured was perfect. She was the perfect baby!

Her song is by Marc Cohn:

Don’t know much about you
Don’t know who you are
We’ve been doing fine without you
But, we could only go so far
Don’t know why you chose us
Were you watching from above
Is there someone there that knows us
Said we’d give you all our love

Will you laugh just like your mother
Will you sigh like your old man
Will some things skip a generation
Like I’ve heard they often can
Are you a poet or a dancer
A devil or a clown
Or a strange new combination of
The things we’ve handed down

I wonder who you’ll look like
Will your hair fall down and curl
Will you be a mama’s boy
Or daddy’s little girl
Will you be a sad reminder
Of what’s been lost along the way
Maybe you can help me find her
In the things you do and say

And these things that we have given you
They are not so easily found
But you can thank us later
For the things we’ve handed down

You may not always be so grateful
For the way that you were made
Some feature of your father’s
That you’d gladly sell or trade
And one day you may look at us
And say that you were cursed
But over time that line has been
Extremely well rehearsed
By our fathers, and their fathers
In some old and distant town
From places no one here remembers
Come the things we’ve handed down

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Lighting: A study

Monday, April 29, 2013 Posted in boutique

Over the last couple of months, I have been attending a course at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. My course focuses on lighting. In college, I took plenty of photography classes, but I can not recall studying off camera lights. So this course is teaching me all the fundamentals of off camera lighting. I absolutely love it and it is pushing me outside my comfort zone. I feel very comfortable with ambient (available) light. That is what most of my photos in my portfolio show. So this class is opening up a new world to me.

I have a lot of people email me and ask if I could teach them, or where they can find information about photography. I always answer the by saying it’s important to know the fundamental and technical parts of photography. Once you know those, and throughly know the rules, it’s time to break them to create your own style. Once you can recreate a lighting scenario over and over again then you have achieved success. My goal this year is to achieve an off camera lighting scenario over and over again.

Here are some examples of what we have been working on in my lighting class:

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