Archive for September, 2009

Earlier this week I put some of the images from Chelsea’s senior session on my Facebook page, now time for the blog entry. Can’t believe it’s almost been two weeks since Chelsea came in for her session (where is the time going?!) My favorite thing about the session, other than Chelsea’s great personality, was the outfits she brought. Talk about your bright, fun colors! I think my favorite was the teal dress that really popped off the rusty fence we used for a background. I also adore the images of her in the prairie field – perfect candidates for the vintage color treatment! Thanks for coming in Chelsea! Can’t wait to show you the rest of the images.

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A couple days ago I was going through my blog to see what I had, and had not, blogged about and was surprised that I had ZERO wedding stuff on this new one. SO I decided today that it was time I took a break from editing and updated my website and blog. It was a whirlwind of a summer, shooting weddings all over the metro area and even a couple out of state – some for my own studio and some partnered up with other studios in the Cities. So without further ado – here are just a few of my favorite shots from this wedding season. Want to see more? Check out the wedding image album on my Facebook page and my website for lots more images :-)

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Jason, a junior in high school, decided this year instead of playing football he wanted to take a different route – possibly join the world of modeling! A very exciting change! So in order to get his foot in the door, he wanted some professional photographs taken that he could submit to various agencies around the Twin Cities. That’s where I come in :-) So last week, he made the journey from the southern suburbs of the Cities up here to my studio in Stillwater for his modeling session. Knowing that most agencies want to see pretty basic shots with plain backgrounds, we did the majority of the session in the studio. But he had also brought a great outfit that would look killer outside so we ventured out in the hot afternoon sun to grab a couple shots. Here are a few of my favs from the session and make sure to check out the Facebook page for some more!

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Awhile back, when I was doing the Facebook photo party promo with Karma Clothing Co., I met Keith. He came in to be a model for our promo pieces. He had so much fun he had to come back for his senior session – and I’m so GLAD he did! For his session we headed to downtown St. Paul to capture some unique photos – hitting up a variety of places – alley ways, parking lots and even a park. Keith is very much into fashionable clothes so he brought a bunch of different outfits to play around with. He also wanted to personalize his session even further by including his mom and boyfriend in the session. Thanks Keith for coming to me for your senior photos. I can’t WAIT to show you the rest – they are AMAZING! (If I do say so myself)  :-)

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Last week I got the chance to photograph royalty! Danielle just recently took the title of Miss Woodbury Princess at the 2009 Woodbury Days. Luckily we were able to get her senior portraits taken before her schedule gets super busy with school and all her royalty duties. We started the session indoors while we let the sun get a little lower in the sky for better lighting. The first outfit was this amazing print dress that was so fun and colorful. The print was pretty bold so we did it on the gray paper background to really make the colors pop and gave it a nice clean feel overall. Then I had JUST gotten this new amazing background that we HAD to play with so luckily the second outfit was a solid colored neutral shirt and jeans. It worked out great! Since Danielle wanted mostly outdoor urban-esque images we didn’t waste any more time in the studio and headed out to downtown Stillwater. We wandered all over from down to the river to the alley ways around the studio, finding new fun places to shoot. I think one of my favorite spots was the red wall that had just enough ivy on it to give it a nice pop of contrasting color. LOVE IT! Thanks Danielle for coming in for your senior session! Can’t wait to show you the rest of them!

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I love being a photographer because each day comes with a new, exciting session. No two days are EVER the same! Take, for example, this session I had with Sweets by Natalie Kay, a home-based fondant cake decorator company located in Maple Grove. I went to high school with Natalie and when I relocated to the Twin Cities a little over a year and a half ago, we reconnected. An editor by day and cake decorator by night, Natalie recently decided to start up her own company as another creative outlet. And knowing the importance of great photography, she contacted me to capture some images of her cakes as well as a headshot for her blog/website. I am just amazed at the time and talent that goes into cake decorating. The three cakes she brought to the studio not only looked amazing but tasted great also! If you are looking for a cake for a birthday, shower or even a wedding, I highly recommend Sweets by Natalie Kay. Check out these images from the session, then jet over to her website to check out more of her fabulous creations.

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Wedding cake by Sweets by Natalie Kay

Multi layered wedding cake by Sweets by Natalie Kay

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A cake with buttercream frosting and fondant flower decorations

A cake with buttercream frosting and fondant flower decorations

Double layer cake with fondant frosting and details

Double layer cake with fondant frosting and details

Despite all the increase in workload, I LOVE senior season! I love meeting the teens, learning all about them, and finding new, fun and exciting places to photograph them. Places that really capture who they are. When I met with Amanda to discuss what she was looking for in her senior photos, she said she didn’t really want to do the urban scene but did want photos outdoors. Since a couple of her other friends had recently come in and wanted nature/outdoor/etc. I wanted to find something different for her. A couple months ago I had photographed a house for Cates Fine Homes here in Stillwater which was located in a newer development in Bayport. I remember there being a bike path through some tall grassy, prairie like area. I knew that would be a good location, especially at the time of day Amanda was coming in, but I also wanted to find some bright colorful flowers. Washington Park provided the perfect blend of colorful flowers that created a fabulous background. I knew while I was photographing Amanda that her images were going to turn out awesome…and I was right!!! Did I mention that I love my job?! :-)

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About a week and a half ago (my, how time is flying!), Saba came into the studio for her senior session. She knew she wanted more of the natural outdoor photos with flowers, trees and such. Luckily, just that morning I had driven past the Historic Courthouse in Stillwater and saw two lovely ladies weeding some beautiful yellow flowers. The spot turned out to be perfect…the sun was still low enough to be sort of hiding behind the courthouse providing some shade on the flowers and really made the yellow colors pop. And it also helped that Saba brought the perfect white shirt and jeans as one of her outfits. Very rarely can you go wrong with a white shirt! As I was editing her session, I found I was having a hard time narrowing down the images. Pretty sure we didn’t take one bad photo of her – so photogenic! Which also makes picking out images for the blog, Facebook and website a challenge as well – so many images…so little space! So here are just a FEW of my favorites from the session. And a HUGE thank you to Saba for being a great model and having great patience in waiting for her sneak peek…hope the images were worth the wait!

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One of the things I love about senior photography is getting to know the senior and customizing the session to what they are looking for. Not everyone fits into the “urban grunge” scheme that is very popular right now. Take Tina for instance…instead of doing the downtown alley ways of Stillwater, she opted to do more nature-esque images instead. So before her session, I went out in search of somewhere fun for us to shoot. I knew of this bridge, not far outside Stillwater’s city limits, that would work great! There were wooden fences with some flowers, tall grasses, and the bridge itself provided some nice lines for a background. And the outfits that Tina brought were just the right colors! These are just a few of the favorite images from the session….

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You can tell summer is coming to an end and fall is right around the corner. Not only is the weather changing, getting a little cooler out but also conversation topics are changing from “where are you going this summer” to “when do you start school again?” And just as shopping trips for school supplies and new clothes are scheduled, so are senior photo sessions.  In just the past week alone I’ve photographed 5 fabulous seniors – so this is just the beginning of the sneak peek posts for the week! I love senior season! :-)

So my first senior during this last whirlwind week of seniors was Nicki, the sister of one of my boyfriend’s friends. She’s a senior at Jordan High School which is located down south of the Cities. So after her sister got off work, they made the trek up here to Stillwater to do her senior session. Since the session was later in the afternoon/early evening we started the session outside so we could get some images before the sun went down. It was perfect timing – we had gorgeous light. Then after finding a few fun spots to shoot outside, we came inside to do some more of the traditional studio shots and so some with her dance paraphernalia. Nicki has been in dance since she was little so she’s got quite a collection of dance shoes! I had so much fun photographing her! Thanks Nicki for taking a little road trip up to Stillwater! :-)

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