Once upon a time, there lived a ruggedly handsome Ukrainian boy named Vitaliy. At the very pubescent age of 17 years, he said goodbye to mommy and daddy and hopped on the next flight to the Land of the Free. While attending school and correcting his thick Eastern European accent, he spent the majority of his time studying American culture. His first roommate was a Southern boy from Alabama who didn’t exactly help him with perfecting his pronunciation skills. He then was immersed deeper into the culture by partaking in large amounts of Kimchi with the local Korean residents. If you were to quiz him on any history of Rock N’ Roll, you would leave convinced the boy grew up in America. He had thick side burns, a coarse unibrow, and a laugh that was uniquely his own. Just when he thought that he had conquered the typical life of an American, he crossed paths with a high-spirited blondy from the Mid-West.
She blew into his path the way a tornado rips across the plains of Kansas. He hadn’t expected it for a moment. She had on sweatpants, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, a slight hint of makeup on her face, and of all things, she had braces. The girl had braces in college. But there was a spark. Her passion for life ignited an area of Vitaliy’s heart that had been put on a shelf and was likely collecting dust at this point. He was a senior, disappointed with life, and ready to move on without a clue where that meant. And along came the fan that would ignite his flame.
The two quickly fell in love and soon enough became husband and wife. They quickly found that their passions for photography and people were the perfect combination to embark on the journey of building their very own photography business. However, they soon realized that they wanted their business to be about something much more than just pretty pictures. They wanted to tell stories, real people’s stories. You see, the little love story I shared above is only a glimpse into the real story of Vitaliy and the Mid-West Blondy, whose name is Candace. Their story runs much deeper then unibrows and braces or the clash of cultures. Their story is filled with tragedy, pain, redemption and joy. They have a dream today. They have a dream to not only share their own stories through words and pictures, but they want to share your story through words and pictures. They have a firm belief that each one of us has a story worth telling. A story that will not only change your life by sharing it, but it will change the life of others by hearing it.
If you have a passion for photography, for people, for storytelling, for life, then come join us in our journey. We can’t take this journey without you. A story is only a story if there is someone out their to hear it. Be the fan that keeps our flame going and burning brighter and brighter as the years go on.
Click here to join the journey!
Baby Portrait: Charlotte Is One!
Megan and Brad just happened to stumble into our lives a little over a year ago when Megan was still carrying Charlotte in her beautiful round belly. Thankfully, I don’t believe in “just happened” because I believe there is a divine purpose for all things and this family has been a delight to our lives. They have become not only great friends, but they’ve given us the freedom to truly grow in our craft. We have been documenting the first year of Charlotte’s life. We photographed her at 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and now 12 months. And it was while brainstorming with Megan that I realized, I don’t just want our photography business to be about pretty pictures. Don’t get me wrong, we want our pictures to be gorgeous and be displayed as art in our client’s homes, but what we are really in the business of is story telling. Vitaliy’s passion and strengths are telling stories through pictures and my passion and strengths are telling stories through words. I’ve thought about it before, but it was while talking things over with Megan for this shoot that it came to fruition for me. This is what Prokopets Studio is all about.
We could have just done a typical session for Charlotte’s 12 month portraits, but we wanted something more. That’s what story telling is all about! Adding props to your pictures is the easiest way to better tell your story. Megan wanted a more vintage feel for this session. If you knew my love for all things old, you would easily have known how thrilled I was to hear this. I knew from my own nieces’ and nephew’s birthdays that it’s a big tradition on the 1st birthday to put a small cake in front of the baby and let them go at it. We decided to go with that idea in order to accentuate the fact that she was turning 1 year old. However, Megan topped it all with the most adorable cupcake that went perfect with the surroundings. We had to have a spot for her to eat and that’s when we came up with the idea for the antique high chair. We did some asking around and Megan was offered the high chair of a friend which has been in the family since their 82 year old grandpa was a baby. Amazing!
There is more to the story, but you’ll have to check back tomorrow. For now, please just enjoy.
I’ve gotta send a shout out to John Meyer for sending us the details for this great location. Thanks John!
The light and the location were just spectacular! We could have shot here all day.
I’m pretty sure that Charlotte has mommy’s big smile. You can’t look at her smile and not smile yourself.
She has so many more teeth at 12 months than at 9 months. And she loves showing them off.
Megan and Brad, we just love you too. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to take a peek into your life with our camera.
I totally get you, Charlotte. I know these are the same facial expressions I have when Vitaliy puts a cupcake in front of my face.
I’m just so in love with this image. There’s just something so sweet and innocent about it.
The joy of parenthood.