Appreciation is such a great feeling, and it is in the air!!

We love what we do and have fun every day...for others to appreciate our work and much as we appreciate them for allowing us to create it is simply amazing to us!!

We often thank our family, friends, clients and higher power for everything we are able to do and for the creativity and artistic views we get to express! But sometimes we don't thank you all enough, so we would like to extend a huge appreciation back to you for all of the support!!

We are so honored to have been awarded "Business of the Year" by the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce, and given a special tribute from the State of Michigan and our State Senator, Roger Kahn! We look forward to many more great years!!

(Pic of the team with Senator Roger Kahn at the awards banquet)

2010 Bunny Portraits

We are so excited that Bunny Portraits went so well!! The kids were great and the bunnies only got lifted by their ears a couple of times! =) The bunnies are back in thier Alpha Psi Hillier Classic Pink Bunny Caddy on I-75 headed to the West Coast where they'll spend Easter at a spa getting paraffin ear treatments and eating tofu! Thanks to everyone for celebrating the season with all of us!

Bunny portraits

LOOK OUT!! The bunnies are on their way...they're rolling in their '57 Alpha Psi Hillier Classic Pink Bunny Caddy and they'll be here soon!! They still have a few sessions open tomorrow, so book now! (Disclaimer:The bunnies may look slightly different after their makeovers this afternoon!...oh yeah and this photo is compliments of Google Images) http://hillierstudio.bookmonline.com/schedules/Easter2010

Here comes Stefanie Cottontail

Hoppin' down Hillier Studio's Sidewalk,
Hippity hoppity, she is on her waaaaay (to work)

Bringin' her big ol camera bag
with a smile upon her face
She can't wait to get to work

She works with the coolest person

That person's name is Christina (her fans call her Chris)

and Stefanie is lucky to get to work with her....

Written by Chris

To the tune of Peter Cottontail with some slight aversions.

New Sisters!

We are so excited to have some new sisters in Alpha Psi Hillier!! Our Rush Parties were awesome! We got to meet some new faces, and see some old friends. There were pink cupcakes, pink cookies, different pink cookies, pink lemonade, and chips (not pink). We have expanded our family by 7 sisters, and we are so excited to start this year's festivities!! Our new sisters are: Allie, Ashley, Ashley (that's not a typo...there are 2 Ahleys), Chelsea, Kelsey, Jazmine and Stephanie. If you want to join, we are accepting open applications until March 31st...email to get the scoop!! =)

Alpha Psi Hillier and Operation Smile

Yay!! Another step in the process of Alpha Psi Hillier has been completed! We finished decorating the front room in the Bridgeport Studio (which is the official sorority house)!! It looks great!! I bet you want pictures.....well....this time we're gonna make you stop by and see it!! =) We want to see you, so it's our way of subtle bribery. =)

Speaking of more steps in the sorority process being complete....here's one we're VERY proud of: We have chosen a charity to benefit from sorority support and we have officially partnered with Operation Smile!! For every new sorority member, we will donate $25 to Operation Smile! Besides raising funds for the charity, another of our goals is to spread awareness of this GREAT organization....check it out! http://www.operationsmile.org/about_us/who-we-are/index.html

XOXO, Crystal

What a fun session today!! Crystal rocked some super fun, super girlie, super cute outfits!! We were inspired by her (and by some recent sale table finds) to try some new ideas for her portraits! She brought the sequins and the mic stand... and we pulled out the gems, pearls, and funky chairs! We moved the production into the dressing room where she brought even more inspiration with her lipstick...she left an impression on us and a diva stamp on the mirror!! Thanks Crystal!

Alpha Psi Hillier

Many of you have inquired (or have been silently inquisitive) about Alpha Psi Hillier....

For those of you who read our blog, you are privy to the "inside scoop"...here it is:

WHAT: Alpha Psi Hillier is a local sorority that we have founded this year and will be officially active beginning February 1st!!

WHO: There will be 2 chapters of the sorority. The Senior Chapter is for high school juniors who are preparing for senior portraits. The Women's Chapter will be for women 18 and older.

WHY: There were many factors that played into the decision to form a sorority..all equally important. In random order, here are some of the 'whys':

- To step our senior portrait modeling program up a level in order to provide our seniors with more of an 'experience'.

- To provide a program that boosts self-esteem in girls, teens and women of all ages through portrait modeling, sisterly bonds and community and charitable events.

- To open the opportunity for all high school girls to have amazing senior portraits by a professional studio. Senior portraits have evolved and thus the investment has as well. This program provides ways for seniors to earn significant discounts on their portraits.

- To enhance cross-community sisterly and mentor bonds between girls, teens and women.

- To support a charity that reaches people on a broad spectrum...from local international. We have chosen "Operation Smile" as our charity and will donate $25 per new member to the organization, which provides funds for surgeries to children with clef pallet, clef lip and other facial deformities.

- To provide a means for high school juniors/seniors, collage-bound students, and active community members to participate in community service. We will hold several events that will raise awareness and support for Operation Smile and other community and charitable foundations.

WHEN: Once the sorority becomes officailly active on Febraury 1st we will start a Class of 2011 Rush (or recruitment period) that will go through February 28th. Rush will be closed after that for high school seniors until the following year for the class of 2012. Rush for 'big sisters' and women over 18 for the Women's Chapter of the sorority will begin in March.

HOW: If you are interested in being a part of either chapter, please fill out the following form: http://hillierstudio.com/alphapsiform.html

Va Va Valentease

It's hard to believe that Valentine's Day is almost here! WOW!

To most people, Valentine's Day is an annual challenge of what to get your significant other. To all of YOU it can be an opportunity to remind your Valentine why they are so lucky to have you.....here's how AND why:

(Info below compliments of Dr. Shristina)

LADIES: As a woman, you have the ability to make your man do things like hold your pink purse while you rummage through sale racks at your favorite clothing store...as he misses the first half of the big game. (It is amazing we have that ability isn't it!?!) One...you need to remind him how much you appreciate that! Two...He does that because he is so gaga over you, he will do almost anything...so you need to occasionally remind him how HOT you still are! For those 2 reasons alone you should definitely consider stepping up the bar and booking your appointment for this promotion: http://www.hillierstudio.com/valentease.html

GUYS: Your woman does a lot for you! There is never a moment that she is not multi-tasking and putting her needs and wants aside for YOU!! She deserves to be pampered, and she deserves to know how much she is appreciated AND how much she still 'gets to you'...A gift certificate for this promotion will definitely tell her how much you appreciate the things she does and remind her how STEAMY you think she is!! Check it out: http://www.hillierstudio.com/valentease.html

We are baaaaaaaaaack!! Well we never actually went anywhere lol, but we have been neglecting to keep you all posted on our blog. But we are not going to let that happen again!!

Where do we begin?! Oh my!!

We have sooo many exciting things in the works!

One of the most exciting things in the que is Alpha Psi Hillier...you guessed it...it's a sorority! Why? How? For who? Oh those questions will soon be answered...soon but not today!!

Something else that is almost finalized are our children's events! We have a few new ones this year that are going to be "limited Edition" that are not going to be on the schedule, so you will have to watch the blog closely for when and what those will be!!

We currently have some fun things going on for Valentine's Day...check the website for specials (ladies - there is one especially for you). We will blog a little bit more about that in the next couple days, but if you have questions you know you can always ask!!

Outside of promotions and specials we are working diligently on redecorating our Bridgeport Studio's lobby in preparation for 2011 Seniors, and looking for new props and backgrounds (that's a never ending always fun task!)

So to sum it up, over the next few days we will be knee deep in hot pink and black paint while we finalize plans for the sorority, work with a charity, structure our promotions calendar, and do what we do best...photograph!! (and what we also do best is make friends and socialize with our clients....can't wait to see you all!!)

Christmas Cheer!

We are in full Christmas spirit here at the studios!!

We have started the 12 Days of Christmas, and if you haven't been logging on daily to check out the gifts up for grabs you are missing out!!!!!! Every day is a new surprise, a new location and a new gift/gifts/prizes/giveaways! Check out www.hillierstudio.com for all the fun details!

One of our favorite things to see is cards in the mail from our clients....and the best part is they are usually cards we made!!! LOL...love it! Today, we were excited to see Tori and her sister smiling brightly on the card that ehy picked up about a week ago!! =)

We have seen so many beautiful smiling faces lately that we can't even keep up!!! We want to share them all with you, but right now it would be next to impossible (once we get everything back for Christmas we can take a little more time to blog)! So in the Christmas spirit, here are some holiday portraits of just a few of our favorite smiling faces!!

Hillier Studio's 12 Days of Christmas

It has been a couple weeks Blog World...oh my!!! The holidays have us spinning and running in circles, and very little time for blogging!! One of these days we are going to post a massive blog of pictures that we've taken over the past couple of weeks, so be prepared Blog World...be prepared!

Sooooooooo....we are about to launch an amazing promotion thanks to the genius behind DeHaven Productions...Jeff DeHaven himself! "Hillier Studio's 12 Days of Christmas" begins this Saturday and is going to be a sneaky and fun scavenger hunt style promotion!! We are very aware that the economy has changed and that this holiday season may be a bit tough.......that is why we have pulled together to help out!!! We live in an amazing community Mid-Michigan, and this promotion proves it...TWELVE area business have come together to give back to the community that stand behind them, to give away 12 DAYS OF GIFTS, PRIZES AND GOODIES!! Every day you can enter to win the GRAND PRIZE $500 PORTRAIT PACKAGE FROM HILLIER STUDIO! Be on the lookout for maps, clues and all the details you will need to participate in the fun. It all starts THIS SATURDAY at www.hillierstudio.com!! See you there!

A time to be thankful...

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, we want to take the time to reflect on all the things we are thankful for. First and foremost in all situations is our three 'f's'...our faith, our family and our friends! Without them we would not be where or who we are today! And to all of our clients...you are included in our list of friends and family!!

Our studio has recently been recognized in a couple different instances, and we are so thankful to be loved! What we are even more appreciative of is the support from each and every client - past, present and future.

With community support, we were named the 'Applaud Program' recipient for the month of November by The Bridgeport Area Chamber of Commerce. Also through support and love from our clients we were sent a really sweet letter from BHS student, Chrystal Segura-Perez on behalf of the school's DECA Club in recognition of our business during Global Entrepreneurship week.

Achieving accomplishments like these doesn't just give us a good pat on the back, it reminds us of how fortunate we are to be part of such a supportive network of amazing people!

We hope you all take time out of your busy schedules to reflect upon your blessings, as you will find the thought of thanks to bring many smiles to your face.....and you all know how much we love smiles! =)

CHRISTMAS 2009

Can't wait to start Christmas portraits this year!!! You may or may not have visited our website for a preview of our new boutique backgrounds...either way, we just love our little model and thought we'd share this fun video with you all!!!!!

Playing a little 'blog catch up'!! Here are some more fabulous faces and adorable personalities that we have been blessed to photograph recently! LOVE all the tiny faces and big smiles that have been in our studio lately...sweet, sweet kiddos...so much fun!

LOVE...

We have not forgotten about you Blog World!! We know it's been a while and we apologize for our negligence to you! It's all worth the wait though, because we have A LOT to share! Where do we EVEN begin??!??! How about with a blog full of love - engagement, marriage, and anniversaries!!!

Starting with the sacrament of marriage...Kristie and Denny...better known as the 'McWuerfels'! You can sometimes just tell when two people are truly in love, and these two definitely are! Their ceremony was just as wonderful as the couple themselves, and the reception was a blast! The pictures in between were a ton of fun - as you can see from Denny's ol 'TP stuck in the pants' picture, both the bride and groom have great senses of humor and are just wonderful people to be around!


We have had the pleasure of meeting another couple who is just at the preliminary stages of planning their big day! Liz and Pat are recently engaged, and will be married in July of next year! Their engagement session was awesome - can't wait for the wedding!


We were also fortunate enough to capture three great couples on the opposite end of the Wedded Bliss Spectrum...The Morgans, the Bremers, and the Scotts have all recently celebrated one of the most incredible milestones in life and love...their 50th Wedding Anniversaries! Congratulations to all of these couples, and many years of love and happiness to all!

What a Spooktacular Halloween at the studios!! We had a ton of fun taking pictures and passing out candy during the Merchants Trick or Treating on Halloween night!!! We had to get in the spirit of the holiday of course, so costumes were a must!!
(and yes our photoshop skills are much better than what is demonstrated in this picture...so no worries.) =)

Also....we have a grand prize winner of the SPOOKTACULAR GIVEAWAY!!! Congratulations to Jenny Tapia!! She has won some treats from Connie's Cakes of Midland, some goodies from Karen's Hallmark, and a $50 gift certificate to Hillier Studio! Thanks to all who participated!

We're now gearing up for Christmas...we're almost all decorated and our backgrounds are ready to go!! Book your appointment today for our new Boutique-style backgrounds in November! http://hillierstudio.bookmonline.com/schedules/NovHoliday

We found Tony! ; )

So we finally found Tony today! With many reminders & threatening phone calls (ok mabye not the threatening phone calls) Tony finally made it to his appointment, yea!!! What a fun 4 hours we had, yes that's right, 4 hours. Ok so we did more talking & eating then photographing, but we had a blast! Tony is probably the funniest high school senior we have ever met!!! So we started off photographing Tony with his car parked in some random person's front yard under one of the only trees left with pretty leaves, then we ventured off to a secret location for some totally under control (not reckless at all) burnout photos & ended our road trip on a dirt road with a cool old bridge. We are pretty sure there were trolls & stuff living under the bridge! We are pretty sure we saw one riding off into the sunset on a unicorn but we were busy trying to save Tony from being hit by his own car, which was amazingly driving itself off the cliff. Good thing Tony has a Black Belt & whipped out some ninja type skills & did some amazing flips right over that car, it was AMAZING! So amazing that we shared a pizza dinner with him to hear all about his life story & struggles & how he changes his hair with every season.... Anywho, I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventure & find the following photos to be nothing less than spectacular!!!

It's been a while since we wrote a song, and we're feeling lyrically talented right now. (Plus we have this fun pic we need to post)... so here goes:

It's late, it's late!
We haven't photographed a Nate.
We think the name Nate is great
So if that's your name call before it's too late
oh wait...
it's already late.

Which is why we're writing this song
so...sing along!!

Here we go
when we say 'hey'
you say 'ho'
hey
(um.....hello??? anyone out there?)
moving on...

Denny and Kristie's wedding was a blast
It was nice to see some faces from the past.
Hope Travis is doing well with his cast
Wow - I can really type fast. (sorta)

Thanks to Adam for helping us out
Sad we didn't get to see you guys out and about
Saw the Mobile Boogie and thought it was you
But I guess it was a different crew.

Stef's husband is asleep on the couch
she made him spit his gum outta his mouth
he was at the other wedding havin too much fun
screw this rain...where is the sun!?

I think we might have gone crazy
maybe that 's why we're amazy-n
that's right, we make up words
cause we're two cool birds.
Not cool cats...we're too cool for that.

Our blog rocks
We don't wear socks
Feet are getting cold
This song's gettin old.

PEACE!