FOUNDER, PRESIDENT, & LEAD PHOTOGRAPHER

Dotti picked up a camera for the first time in 2010, and fifteen years later, she still has that particular mix of nerves and joy that never really goes away, no matter how many "I dos" she's stood behind a lens for since.

From 2012 to 2018, Dotti and her husband Jeremy built Departing Line Studios together: she as Studio Manager and lead photographer, and he making sure everything else ran exactly as it needed to. It's where she really learned this craft: wedding after wedding, season after season, year after year.

In 2019, the family packed up and moved to Tennessee. Three years there taught Dotti a lot about photography, people, and how much the word "home" actually carries. By the end of 2021, she knew exactly where that was, and the family moved back to Michigan for good.

Today, Dotti photographs weddings, seniors, and families, every chapter, not just one. She brings a real, hands-on background in digital marketing, across photo, video, social, and content strategy. It's why Hazel Eyes & Co. has never just been about what happens behind the camera. It's the whole story, told well, from the very first message to the final gallery in your hands.

"Michigan is home," Dotti says. "This is what I do, and I'm so glad you're here."

DIRECTOR, MARKETING & CREATIVE

Jeremy filmed his first wedding in 2003 at Walt Disney World, which was the beginning of a career in video that would eventually take him well beyond it. In 2012, he founded Departing Line Studios, and two years later, he and his wife Dotti built it into a true partnership: Jeremy running operations, Dotti leading as Studio Manager and lead photographer, side by side until 2018.

From there, Jeremy's path widened. Over more than 15 years, his work has crossed business ownership, creative direction, operations, and marketing leadership for brands far beyond weddings, experience that grew into Departing Line, the brand and marketing consultancy he owns and leads today. He holds certifications in digital marketing, analytics, and brand strategy from Google, Hootsuite, the University of London, and Vanderbilt, a Bachelor of Science in Leadership from Northwood University, and is currently completing his MBA there as well.

At Hazel Eyes & Co., Jeremy serves as a Director overseeing Creative and Marketing aspects, with a particular focus on leading the video side of the business, the same craft that started it all back in 2003, now brought full circle.

"It started with a camera at a wedding," Jeremy says. "Everything since has just been learning how to tell the story better."

PHOTOGRAPHER

Emily O'Boyle's history with Hazel Eyes & Co. began long before the name did. She worked alongside Dotti and Jeremy at Departing Line Studios, where the three of them discovered a kind of creative shorthand that either exists between people or doesn't, the sort that rarely fades, even when paths eventually diverge.

And diverge they did. Emily built her own career further west, working today in web strategy, but still as a photographer and videographer based in the Denver, Colorado area. This craft lets her move as fluidly through a single still frame as she does through a story unfolding in motion.

Now, that path has curved back. Emily has reunited with Dotti and Jeremy at Hazel Eyes & Co., bringing the same instinct for image and story that made their earlier work together feel effortless, sharpened now by a career built somewhere entirely new.

"Some collaborations don't really end," Emily says. "Ours was just on pause. I'm glad to be picking it back up."