Holly Henderson Photography

I didn’t expect to spend my mother’s day in the hospital grieving with a family, perfect strangers, at the loss of their child.  I photographed them holding their baby for the first time, their two year old daughter kiss her brother’s lips, and I could feel it when he took his last breath.  It’s such a sacred space, and I feel overwhelmingly blessed to be there.  holding their hands and whispering my prayers to this angel.

I know this is part of God’s plan for me.  He puts me in the most heart wrenching circumstances to shine his light and create beauty.  This could be the highest calling for artist.  I know it’s true for me

I’m honored to serve families in southwest Michigan through the organization Now I lay Me Down To Sleep.  Bronson Hospital is the baby hospital for the region, so subsequently we have a high number of high risk pregnancies and infant mortality right here in Kalamazoo.  I urge all local photographers who are compassionate about creating positive loving memories for families to consider  joining  us.  I am going to host an informal training session at my studio Tuesday, May 19th at 6pm.  Please feel free to email me with questions and let me know if you can attend.

 With Gratitude

If you follow mw on Facebook, you already know that I’m an American Idol freak and fan of Matt Giraud. It’s the first season I’ve ever watched it, and my thumbs are callused from texting “VOTE” for Matt every Tuesday night.  

I become easily obsessed

So awesome to be able to photograph Matt at his homecoming last night in Kalamazoo.  Shout out to K-zoo!  Thousands of people packed Arcadia Park to show their love.  With all the negative media lately, it was just so refreshing to celebrate. 

Here’s the slideshow and a few fun shots:

www.hollyshotmywedding.com/americanidol

Matt Giraud American Idol Homecoming

Matt Giraud American Idol Homecoming Kalamazoo, MI

Matt Giraud American Idol Homecoming Kalamazoo, MI

Matt Giraud American Idol Homecoming Kalamazoo, MI

Matt Giraud American Idol Homecoming Kalamazoo, MI

Matt Giraud American Idol Homecoming Kalamazoo, MI

Matt Giraud and Bobby Hopewell American Idol Homecoming Kalamazoo, MI

Matt Giraud American Idol Homecoming Kalamazoo, MI

Monaco Bay American Idol Homecoming Kalamazoo, MI

Matt Giraud American Idol Homecoming Kalamazoo, MI

Get ready for the tour and I’m sure he will cut a record.  rock on peeps

I’m just finishing up last minute planning for our workshop this weekend in GR. It’s gonna rock people. We have photographers coming from across the country and some of the most beautiful locations, dresses and models for the shoots.
So honored to teach along side my wonderful friends Jen and John. I think the 3 of us have the coolest studios in the area, so it’s great for the students to hear about how we run things. What we all have in common is passion for our businesses, the love we have for our clients, and for all photographers that share this enthusiasm. We are all ready to raise the bar for our industry while challenging and supporting eachother
Can’t wait to meet all of you in the morning
If you haven’t seen the awesome pro video John made, check it out:
www.j-jstudios.com
Thanks to Cindy for the rockstar photo above - HA. Can’t wait to spend the weekend with you again.

Thought I would see how many time zones I could wack myself out with this week. I just checked into my 3rd hotel this week. Whew. I was in Las Vegas all week at WPPI learning and sharing with amazing photographers in my industry. Once I year I get to geek out with 12,000 other photographers, and this year was among one of the best.
I flew home on the dreaded red eye on Wed, slept Thurs and then left early this morning for Anne and Jake’s wedding in Milwaukee. At least I get to spend the weekend with Corey and I’m all pumped up and inspired to shoot tomorrow.
Promise to post highlights from Vegas and the wedding asap. I need to hustle over to the church for rehearsal. Thanks to everyone for keepin up on Facebook. How fun is that.

Make sure you tell someone - everyone how much you love em today. Not only am in love with my Corey but I’m also crazy in love with our sweet boys. Even though I may not show it at every moment, but I truly feel so blessed to have an incredible family. These boys are my world.
This morning they surprised me with Annie Leibovitz’s new book: A Photographer’s Life. I’ve been stalking it at Barnes and Noble for a while, and now I have it in my ginormous collection of photography books. Corey took me to an exhibition of Annie Leibovitz’s photographs in Chicago for one of our first dates in 1995. Oh, the memories…. Thanks boys, I love it.
I’m flying to Las Vegas in a couple of hours for WPPI, but I will try to keep up with everyone’s emails in the evening. You can always catch me on my cell or you and buzz Goldie at the studio.
Who’s getting engaged tonight!

Have you ever noticed that when one of your girlfriends gets pregnant they all do. It just goes in waves… no worries though, I’m not catchin that one again.
I was looking forward to photographing John and Stephanie’s birth for 9 months. Then I got a call from John early in the morning saying that they were going to the hospital. (I’m really sharp in the morning) because I said WHY? Of course, so I jump out of bed, dump Davis to school, and race over to the hospital with my gear.
Then I waited, and waited…just to find out that she was going to have an emergency c-section. bummer, but the best news is that he is healthy and super cute. I was only able to sneak into the recovery room for 5 minutes for some quick snapshots.
Welcome to the world lil Trevor Alan Pinkster. Love you already

I also stopped in to see my girlfriend (and former bride) Brooke. You may recognize her from one of my print ads, print samples at Memories Bridal, or maybe the ginormous prints in my studio windows I love her to pieces and it was awesome to be able to capture the next chapter
Hot preggers mama modeled at our Get Inspired Workshop

And here is Bosley….

My new fancy pants custom blog should go live next week! So stay tuned for tons of new (daily) posts. whoo hoo!
I’m leaving for Las Vegas tomorrow for WPPI tomorrow. Give me a shout out on Facebook if you are going to be there. Love to connect with y’all
Also, tomorrow is of course Valentine’s day, so if you know someone who gets engaged give me a holla…!

Hey everyone… thanks for your warm wishes, and patience while I went on vacation with my family last week. We really needed that time together.
I posted though out the trip to my Facebook. It helped the grandma’s get the latest on our adventure. If you have a FB page, let’s be buds I post multiple times throughout the day and it’s always a pretty quick way to find me.
It’s my first day back in the studio, and I’m trying my best to get through about a mountain emails and voice mail. Little overwhelming, but I’m trying my best to respond to everyone personally by the end of the day - but remember my day might end at 2am
Yesterday was my husband Corey’s birthday AND my mom’s birthday. So it was a super bowl birthday bash. Tons of food and the kids rocked out on a microphone with the Boss at the halftime show.
There are still a few seats open on our February Get Inspired Workshops series. If you are a photographer looking to jump start your business definitely watch the tailer to check it out. The networking with all the photographers is priceless.
More on the workshop and latest weddings soon. I’ve got to cruise through your emails!

You have to click this link to see Dallas on his first roller coaster today. Before you tell me I’m a super mean mom for finding humor in this….just know that Dallas loved it and wanted to ride again and again and again. He’s definitely the brave one, and he thinks this video is hilarious.
http://gallery.me.com/coreyandholly#100024
Loved Magic Kingdom today. great memories