Kristina Lynn Photography & Design Blog » Twin Cities Photographer

Twin Cities Senior Portrait Photography | Shelby’s session in downtown Stillwater

Kristina Lynn — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:03:44 +0000

I LOVE senior season! It’s one of my favorite times of the year because the seniors start coming in and I get to do all kinds of creative stuff. I get to tap into my inner fashion side, try out new lighting, new backgrounds and new poses. A couple weeks before her senior session, Shelby emailed me a couple inspiration images of what she wanted to try. I love it when people do this because then I know I’m creating images that are unique to them and that they will love. So early last Saturday morning, Shelby, Jody of Makeup Savvy and I met at the studio, hashed out a plan and started to play (with seniors I always have so much fun so I hardly can consider it work!). Jody had even brought some of her fantastic jewelry that she is now selling (check it out at Maison Galleria in downtown Stillwater or contact Jody directly) to help accent Shelby’s wardrobe. If anyone who knows me and has done a session with me before, you know that when I get an awesome shot I get all excited and start to jump all over (yeah a little weird I know..I just LOVE my job!). So needless to say, I was jumping around quite a bit during Shelby’s session Here are JUST A FEW of the killer shots I captured of Shelby last Saturday but if you want to see more check out my Seniors – Class of 2011 gallery on my Facebook page.

OH and I forgot to mention that Shelby is one of my fantastic senior models from Stillwater Area High School. If you go to school at Stillwater or see Shelby around, ask her about a special deal she can get you on senior portraits. 40% off all senior session fees this month too…just in case you were wondering on what other deals we’ve got going on

Iowa Children’s Portrait Photography | Aleigha’s newborn session

Kristina Lynn — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:02:30 +0000

So as a part of my plan to expand my studio into Iowa, I have partnered with Dr. Gabrielson’s women’s health clinic and will be displaying some of my artwork in his Webster City office. So I have been getting the chance to meet some of his amazing patients and photographing their new little family additions Aleigha got to be my very first model! She is such a sweetie and has gorgeous eyes (I LOVE baby eyes!). She started off the session wide awake but by the end, we got the room warmed up and she feel fast asleep for some very cute naked, sleeping baby photos.

Iowa Children’s Portrait Photography | Lorelei’s three month session

Kristina Lynn — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:51:54 +0000

It’s funny how you never know where life will take you and who you will meet up with again down the road. For example, a couple months ago after posting some of my first images of my niece Quincy, I got a message on Facebook from a couple people I went to college with. Suzie, Adam and I had all been RA’s at Morningside College and had a chance to get to know each other fairly well. But as it usually goes, after graduation we lost touch. When Suzie saw my photos of Quincy on Facebook, she knew she wanted me to be Lorelei’s personal photographer but wasn’t sure that since I’m mainly located up here in Stillwater while they’re in southeast Iowa, if we could work it out. It was perfect timing! I was looking to expand the business down into Iowa more so it was the perfect opportunity. We decided to meet up in Des Moines (kind of half way for both of us) to capture some images of little three month old Lorelei. It was a great session! She’s such a doll and this is such a cute family! Can’t wait for the 8 month session!

Twin Cities Family Portrait Photography | The Thompson Family

Kristina Lynn — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 03:29:23 +0000

One thing I think all business should do is be able to share with the community and every once in awhile donate to local causes. Last year I did just that by donating a gift certificate to The Partnership Plan’s annual Jeans & Jewels Gala, which leads me to this session with the Thompson family. They were lucky enough to win my certificate and just book and fantastic family photo shoot at their home in Stillwater. When I talked to Heidi and she told me they lived in a great older house, I knew we’d have some fun places to photograph the entire family. Their front porch was great. I loved shooting from all the different angles and doing the different family groupings, but I’d have to say my favorite spot is the front steps with the house in the background. The lighting was amazing there plus we got to do some fun shots with the family dog A big thanks to the Jeans & Jewels fundraiser that brought me and the Thompsons together! And if you’re a business looking to donate to a local cause I highly recommend donating to Jeans & Jewels!

Iowa Wedding Photography | Amanda & Josh’s Wedding

Kristina Lynn — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 01:42:46 +0000

Well I decide it’s high time I updated my blog since I haven’t been all that on top of it the last month. So why not kick things off with some images from a wonderful wedding I photographed back home in Clarion, Iowa.

Now there are three kinds of brides: super high maintenance and have a photo list a mile long, middle of the road who have an idea of images they want, and the laid back bride that is there to just enjoy her day and let’s the photographer do whatever she wants. Amanda is the third type of bride, SUPER laid back. Ever since day one of working with her she was like “do whatever you want.” When we designed her invitations she gave me some direction and let me go to town to create something fantastic for them. When we did the engagement session, she let me chose which outfits and which locations to photograph at. And the wedding day was no different. She gave me four family groups we had to get then let me do my thing the rest of the day. I kept asking her “are you SURE there’s no certain shots you want?” and her reply always was always “whatever you want to do.” It’s kind of nice every once in awhile to have a wedding that is super laid back.

And so, without further ado…here are some of my favorite images from Amanda & Josh’s wedding. OH and if you were a guest, the full set of images from the wedding day are now online for you to view! Just click here and refer to the cards that were handed out at the wedding with the access code printed on them, or drop me an email and I can send the code to you as well.

Twin Cities and Iowa Portrait Photography | Follow me on Twitter!

Kristina Lynn — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 06:34:08 +0000

Well I finally did it…I got with the program and joined Twitter! I was dragging my feet because like I NEED one more social media place to have to update everyday, but then realized all the potential it could have. So help prove my old thinking wrong and show me how GREAT Twitter can be by following me. And to make it an even sweater deal for you, I’ll be doing special Twitter Only specials in the near future so click the link below, start following, and get in on the fantastic deals I have in store

Twin Cities and Iowa Senior Portrait Photography | Summer’s Here! Time to book your session!

Kristina Lynn — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:28:00 +0000

Well summer is here and the Class of 2011 are officially seniors! Now’s the time to start thinking about senior portraits and getting sessions booked before the summer is gone! If you’re looking for senior portraits that are unique, fashion forward, and will stand out, then I’m the photographer for you! Check out my other blog posts and the senior gallery on my website to see what I can do.

And one of the best parts about booking in July? You get 40% OFF ALL SENIOR SESSION FEES! Call (651)491-5571 to book your Senior Collection and nab one of the last prized weekend time slots available!

Know one of the Senior Models pictured above? Contact them for an additional savings off your senior session fee. You can find Ashley at Woodbury High or find Shelby and Alex at Stillwater Area High School.

Twin Cities Commercial Photography | On location with Studio Fleurette

Kristina Lynn — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 03:44:05 +0000

One of the things I love about weddings is capturing the detail shots of the flowers, especially when they are beautiful designs by people like Danielle Erickson of Studio Fleurette in Stillwater. Danielle is in the process of setting up her website for her floral design company and knows the importance of professional photography on websites. So she wanted me to come to a wedding she had done the floral designs and do some creative shots for the website. It was so much fun! It’s kind of nice not having to worry about the entire wedding day and just be able to do some fun, creative detail shots. The wedding was being held at their family farm which had some great, rustic details like a woodpile and the traditional barbed wire fence. I LOVE mixing elegant with rustic and then throwing in some vintage post processing to create some very contemporary images. Here’s just a few of my favorite, check out more on my Facebook Page Gallery.

Twin Cities Family Portrait Photography | Amy Lynn’s family session

Kristina Lynn — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:25:07 +0000

I am always amazed at the power of the internet! I mean, what a great marketing tool…you can reach people all over the world, you never know who will land on your site and fall in love with your photography. For instance, I got a call the other day from Amy Lynn, owner of Les Amis photography down in Louisiana. She is originally from the Stillwater area was planning a trip up to see her family and wanted to do a family session. She had done a search for photographers in Stillwater and found little ‘ole me Of course, being a photographer, she could do the session herself for the most part but she wanted the experience that most of us photographers don’t get…being on the other side of the camera, experience the photo session like a regular client and not having to edit the photos herself. She fell in love with my work and luckily I had some openings for the weekend her and her son would be home. I felt so honored that another photographer wanted to use me as their family photographer!!! (I’m STILL pumped about it if you couldn’t tell )

We had a very small window of opportunity to do the session and the weather started to worry us. Luckily the skies were just overcast and the rain held out long enough for us to do our session. Amy Lynn knew she wanted some fairly more traditional family photos with her parents and then some that were more photojournalistic with her and her son. Oh I had so much fun! What a great family and her son is SO adorable!!! I absolutely love all the images from this session Here are just a few, with more on my Facebook page and soon to be on my website!

Twin Cities Portrait Photography | Kendra & Jake’s Engagement Session in downtown Minneapolis

Kristina Lynn — Mon, 31 May 2010 03:35:33 +0000

Kendra, one of my fantastic cousins, and her fiance, Jake, drove up from Iowa on Sunday to do engagement photos. They could have done it down in Iowa during one of my many trips back home this summer but they wanted to do something completely different – so of course I suggested they come up and do the session here in the Twin Cities. We had a blast! First we started out at St. Anthony Main, wandered some of the paths by the river and got some great “nature” type shots. I must say that Kendra is a trooper because the paths we were on pretty rough and uneven…not really conducive to walking with heals on but she didn’t care at all. After changing into their second outfit (which I LOVED because the colors were so fantastic!) we had the opportunity to go on one of the rooftops and get some photos with the skyline in the background. Pretty sure these are my FAVORITE photos because the combination of location and clothing was amazing!!! Not to mention how many people from Iowa can say they’ve been on top of a building in downtown Minneapolis during their photo session! We finished up the session at The Guthrie. I just love how natural these guys are in front of the camera and how crazy Jake can be. When we first started out the session he said he had left his smile back home in Waverly so there would be no smiling photos (joking of course!) and then throughout the session he would make crazy faces or do something hilarious knowing darn well that I couldn’t possibly get my camera ready in time to grab the photo. I can tell their wedding this October is going to be a blast! Thanks guys for coming up to the Cities for your session! I had a blast! If you’d like to see more images from Kendra & Jake’s engagement session, check out my engagement/wedding gallery on my facebook page.