About Kara
Hey there! I'm Kara. I want to welcome you to my little corner of the internet. You might be here because you're looking for a photographer, or maybe you just like pretty things. Either way I'm glad you showed up. Most days you can find me at home snuggled in thousands of blankets binge watching the latest Netflix series. If not there, I'm most likely snuggling my dog, playing games with my family or finding any opportunity to get out my camera.
My philosophy is simple. I capture images to freeze moments in time. Moments where I can get to know you and your story.
Kara was so great to work with. You never know what to expect with a newborn photo shoot, but Kara kept it low-pressure, went with baby's flow, made us feel comfortable, and was able to get some incredible photos we will treasure. She was even able to get our shy toddler to warm up & smile for the camera. We highly recommend Kara and will absolutely use her again!
-Lauren Hawthorne
Senior session
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
We love and appreciate the time Kara took getting to know us. She is very genuine and it is an important piece that is translated in her work. We are also drawn to the way she uses light from the time of day you are scheduled to where you are posed - she is meticulously talented in making the best shot.
-Donna Dobias
Senior session
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
Working with Kara is the BEST! you might go in nervous or uncomfortable but when you get going its such a great time - She makes you feel so comfortable and at ease to make those happy memories pop out of her pictures. She picks the best locations for the thought you have in mind. For our mini session it was the beautiful glass house - for when we did a Golden Girl photo shoot with my mom she knew the best location at the beach. I will always be contacting her for any photo needs.
-Holly Pendergast
FALL 2021 MINI SESSION
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
Kara is absolutely amazing! I would highly recommend her to anyone! She was so fun to work with. Kara is absolutely amazing and so talented! She did our engagement and wedding photos and had them back to us the following week. Her style is amazing and her photos are flawless! She’s worth every penny I HIGHLY recommend Kara for any of your photography needs.
-Jared and Allison Helder
Allegan Wedding
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
Kara made what can often feel stressful for moms, feel fun. She engaged the kids and made us feel at ease. Also, she worked her magic and somehow got all four kids looking and smiling at a camera! My gallery was easy to download, easy to save favorites, easy to share with others too. We booked our session so fast we didn't get a lot of time to review the style guide, however I can say her helping me style my family via Facetime was very helpful!
-Katie Brewer
Grand Rapids Family Session
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
Kara was such a joy to work with! Communicative, hilarious, thorough, all of it! She had a plethora of resources available to us that were so helpful. She made sure we had a reasonable timeline and a list of all the pics we wanted for our wedding. I was blown away by her turnaround time, it was so quick and the images turned out absolutely gorgeous! She especially made sure we got the signature shot I dreamed of. I would recommend Kara any day of the week!
- George and Jordan Dobias
Hudsonville Wedding
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
Although we had to reschedule once due to weather the photos turned out beautifully. The whole process went smoothly. I let Kara know what date I would like to do and where, she suggested a private location which was really nice that we didn't have to navigate around people. A couple days prior to the date I sent my colors being worn and day of we meet at the beach, took the photos in about 1 hour. As a professional she put us in flattering poses that captured our family. Kara made us feel comfortable by making jokes and complimenting us the entire shoot.
-Aprille Marsh
HOLLAND Family Session
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
I love the final product from our family shoot! Kara was awesome! She was so easy to work with and vibes well with our family! She was very open and personable. She had such an awesome bubbly personality and she’s easy to warm up to and be comfortable with. I love how our gallery had her favorites in a folder along with all of our other photos. It was easy to navigate through and she answered all questions before I could ask. I cannot wait for our next shoot!!
-TeArra Craft
Grand Rapids Family Session
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
We loved working with Kara! Such a professional and she captured such joyous moments of our kids! Highly recommend!
-Kaila DiNallo
Market Studio Mini Sessions
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
Family pictures can be stressful. Especially with kids. The older ones can be grumpy. The little ones, uncooperative. I was very excited about getting these done & had high hopes. But the baby wouldn’t smile. I was feeling a little disappointed but Kara was so fun & relaxed and seemed completely fine with it. I love how she could see the little details and knew what to do to make our pictures perfect. “Put your hand in your pocket” “Bend this knee” “Look that way” “Close your eyes” I love every single one of our pictures and wouldn’t change a single thing. They turned out perfect. And we had fun together as a family taking them. She even got the baby to smile
-Shannon B.
Studio Three family session
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
“Kara is very good with kids and very efficient! Setting up a session was quick, we highly recommend!”
-Allison J.
Impromptu Portraits with our neighbors and dear friends the Jasperse as they welcomed their new baby Quinn.
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
"Loved all of the newborn pictures Kara took!! She did an amazing job and I was very impressed with how fast she got the proofs edited and back to me!"
-Kerry K.
Newborn session of jack only a few days old
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
"Kara did an amazing job with our wedding photos. We would definitely recommend her to friends and family!"
-Chris and Jamie S.
Outdoor Traverse City, MIchigan wedding with portraits at the commons
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
Kara is so great to work with! She is professional, efficient and fun. We were in and out in 20 minutes which fits great into our crazy schedule! She is focused on small details asking us to “smooth your hair” or “straighten out your shirt” and knew exactly how to position us. Somehow she captured smiles and laughs from my two teenage boys! She listening to what we needed and we received our photos in record time. I’d recommend her to anyone who needs family pictures, we love our pictures and so does everyone else!
-Becca Lehman
Holiday Card Session 2020
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
"Kara kept things light and fun and did a wonderful job capturing my daughter’s personality and beauty in her senior pictures."
- April M.
KAELA MARTZ SENIOR SESSION IN HOLLAND MI AT VAN RAALTE FARM AND DOWNTOWN HOLLAND
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
"Kara takes pride in what she does, asks you ahead of time what you are wanting to accomplish and makes it happen!"
- Tracy P.
DOWNTOWN GRAND RAPIDS SESSION WITH THE PIERCE FAMILY
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
"Kara does an amazing job and is so personable! We have two very different senior high school daughters and she did an exquisite job of capturing both of their individuality and different personalities perfectly. We cannot recommend her enough and will be using her for all of our moments in the future requiring photography!"
- Beth M.
Grand Valley Of allendale and the grand ravines dual senior session with sisters Elyzabeth and Sydney
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
"We all love Emma's photos and feel so blessed that you returned to picture taking at just the time you did!! You are so talented and we have so many to choose from!! The time and detail and FUN that you interject into your sessions is so appreciated!!"
-Katie Z.
downtown holland senior session with Emma. We ended the evening at holland state park with the most beautiful sunset.
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
"Kara is amazing at what she does with her clients. She makes each person feel comfortable. She captures everyone's personalities perfectly. Her pictures tell a story!! I'm so thankful for all the years she has captured our family's moments. We highly recommend her to all our friends and family."
-Julie A
Dear friends of ours Jason, Julie, Hunter and Madison at spring grove park in jamestown
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
"When we found out we were expecting, we knew we wanted to do announcement photos with Kara. She was great to work with and quick to select location options for us to choose from. Our photos turned out better than we could imagine and something we know we'll cherish forever. "
-Erin & Skyler N.
Pregnancy announcement in downtown Grand Rapids, MIchigan
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
Kara was professional and took wonderful pictures of our family. She worked very hard to make the process as easy as possible. Next time I have pictures I will have Kara do them.
-Becca Huss
With 80% rain expected we made a last minute change to use the GR Loft studio space with the extended Evenson Family.
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
"Kara was amazing to work with. She has an amazing talent! She is such a fun person too. We had a lot of fun during the twins senior photo shoot. I couldn't have asked for a better experience."
-Julie W.
Twins Emma and Jack's senior session in downtown Grand Rapids, MI
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
“We loved having Kara
capture all the little moments of our wedding day! She made us feel so comfortable and she was great at directing the
bridal party and family
members while helping us have fun. It was a little rainy during some of the time we took pictures, and she was able to turn that around and used it to take some of my
favorite photos of the day! We still look back at
pictures and love the way she captured the day!”
-Drew & Kaylynn W.
Rainy day wedding in downtown
rockford, michigan
Kind Words From Lovely Folks
GET CONSISTENT
GET STARTED WITH MY FREE RESOURCES
FREE MOBILE PRESETS
How To Get BEAUTIFUL CONSISTENT IMAGES FROM YOUR MOBILE DEVICE
GET ORGANIZED
FREE WEDDING BUDGET WORKSHEETS
7 PLANNING WORKSHEETS
GET SECRETS
FREE LOCATION GUIDE
FIND OUT MY 3 SECRETS
wedding and portrait photography
ALLENDALE MICHIGAN