Truck Ride

A few weeks ago when I was at a family session they had this idea to pile all of the little grandkids into the back of the uncle's truck. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with this image because the truck was parked on the side of the road, and there was a lot of clutter in the background like telephone wires and cars, etc.
This isn't the final version, I'm still looking for the right scenery, but this is a play I came up with today that I thought looked fun, the only problem is that we don't have mountains here in Minnesota. I'll post the final version when it's done.



P.S. If you take six kids on a road trip, better to use car seats ;)

Senior Sneak Peek!

I was really excited when "B" called me for her senior session. I've know her and her awesome family for about four or five years. I can't believe she's a senior already!
We met at a local school that had a great walking path and nature all around. "B" plays the most beautiful blue guitar I've ever seen. She's developed that talent very well! And it doesn't hurt that her guitar matches her pretty blue eyes.







Every once in a while I like to play around with colorizing, textures and brushes. I thought this was a good image to play around with a texture called "Cracks" by Johnny Magnoski. It's of a cement walkway, but I erased out the cracks in it and added some love letter brushes, which are the words you see in the background. I also added yellow toning to give a sunshine effect. I think I like how it turned out.



I also loved the fields we used, the colors of the grasses and wild flowers.


These are just a few images I played with while uploading her session to my computer. I hope you enjoyed your sneak peek "B" and can't wait to show you the rest of your gallery!

Family

Who ever said, "The love of a family is life's greatest blessing", surely said it right.
This is Ann and D.L. and their ever growing beautiful family out on the beach rocks outside of the home they more recently have built.



and a couple of cute little shots I got that evening of one of their grandsons.

Don't box me in!

Put me in a little box and see what I will do! These are some of my images from a job I had today taking images of the inside of several elevator cabs, that a company makes, for their new website. The lady making the website for them has agreed to barter with me for my images, and design me a smashing new website for my wedding line.
We had so much fun doing this, the biggest kicker was when people would go to get on the elevator, to watch their reactions. I found it super amusing when people would try to ignore us, as if they see a photo studio set up in the elevator every day.
Thanks for the fun job Tina!

Josh and Paige

Today I was delighted to join Josh and Paige on their wedding day at the Saint Paul LDS Temple. The day was overcast, but that didn't put a damper on the bright colors of the day!
Congratulations on your wedding and I wish you many years of happiness! I hope you enjoy your sneak peek!

Good News!

Rachel, I got a cute one and I didn't even have to clone around any heads! :)

Sometimes I like to play with images and try new things out on them, new looks, new texture, etc. Today I wanted to do something special with this image, but everything I tried didn't look right. Then I decided to try the Midnight Sepia action I have and there it was, what I was looking for.
I am actually excited about how it turned out.
It kind of reminds me of a mix of Greg Olson and Liz Lemmon Swindle look, only in a photograph instead.

Hill Family Reunion

Last weekend I spent some time at the Hill Family Reunion held in New Brighton Minnesota and what fun it was to meet the extended family of one of my favorite families. Thank you Erin and Matt for having me out to photograph your family!

Matt organized Erin's family to spell Hill on their back lawn, which incidentally was a hill as well!
I had to somewhat manipulate this image to fit for a 10x20 storyboard frame, and I think it kind of looks funny how the porportions ended up, but it's grown on me.



Some of Erin's neices and nephew.





Beautiful Erin and her dad... I LOVE this picture.

60 Years

Not many people get to watch their parents celebrate a
60th wedding anniversary, but these lucky people did!
A dinner was held in their honor at the Pool and Yacht Club in Lilydale, Minnesota.

Awwwww... still in love. <3

Two of their beautiful great-grandchildren.

Congratulations on your anniversary and on your beautiful family.
I had to add this one last image, I just ADORE it!

A twist on an old favorite

I, personally, love the hands holding baby's head shots. Usually I do this shot with mom's hands, but during this session dad was really wanting to have some shots with his son, and was willing to do whatever.
I love this shot. A strong daddy's hands holding his tiny newborn's head tenderly in his palms.



I love the look of black and white with the black backdrop that was used in this session, but mom and dad will get the option of color as well.