And now, the moment we've all been waiting for...

We're so incredibly proud to announce that as of today, Mindy is now a full time part of BRAUNphotography!!! Today is our 5th wedding anniversary, and we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate! This is a HUGE goal that we've been working toward for a few years now, and we couldn't be more thrilled. God has blessed us with some of the best clients in the world, and with so many friends and family that support us and believe in what we're doing. Thank you.

We can't wait to see what 2012 will bring! Holden gets to have his mommy home, Cameron gets to have his honey home, and with our powers combined, we think we're can create something truly special, both for our family and for wedding photography in the midwest.

The Clarks // Dayton Family Photography

These guys are some of our favorite friends that we never see. It's a shame that we don't get the chance to hang out more often, but we were thrilled when Ryan asked us to do their family pictures for Asher's first birthday. He's the second cutest little boy in the world (after Holden of course, IMO), and you can tell that Ryan + Sarah just love him to pieces. It was awesome to be able to shoot these exactly one year after he was born! And for those of you who don't know, Ryan is possibly the best designer in Ohio. We went to college together, and I've had a huge amount of respect for him as a person and as a professional for years now. You can check out his work on his website, Ryan vs. Clark.

WELCOME Holden James Braun

We’re proud to announce that BRAUNphotography finally has a third member! Everyone, please welcome our brand new baby boy, Holden James Braun. He was born on the morning of Wednesday, January 26. Mindy and I have been looking forward to this moment for so long, and now that he’s here we honestly couldn’t be happier…

We had been planning on doing a natural birth, with no drugs or pain medication. Well, Holden had some plans of his own. Mindy’s water broke on Monday evening, and by Tuesday afternoon no contractions had started, so the doctors informed us that to maintain everyone’s safety we needed to work a little harder to get him out. That meant Petocin, a drug used to stimulate contractions.

Now, here’s the crazy part. Petocin stimulates the contractions to start (or get stronger depending on the case), but it also increases the pain severity of each contraction. That’s why normally Petocin is followed up with an epidural. The pain of childbirth, only worse. But Mindy isn’t normal. We both wanted to avoid as many artificial stimulants, so Mindy decided to continue with the natural water birth.

I am so incredibly proud of her strength and determination. Not only did she birth a baby with no pain meds, but she was on a drug that made it hurt worse, and Holden came out at 10 pounds 1 ounce! He was huge! She’s seriously a super-human, and I love her for it. I just can’t say enough about how pleasant she was all pregnancy and how much I appreciate her and her drive during labor. Please, next time you see her, tell her she’s amazing. Because she is.

These black & white shots are from inside the delivery room just minutes after he was born.

And of course, as soon as we got home we got to work. Holden is four day old in these next photos. We stuck in him one of our baskets, and covered him in one of the craziest looking blankets we’ve ever seen. I think it’s perfect.

I hope it’s okay with you guys, you’re going to be seeing a lot more of this little guy around here. The most important thing in our lives was changed in an instant, and we can’t even express how much we love him already.

Thanks to everyone who’s visited, brought food, and congratulated us so far!