At 5 Days...

A couple months ago, I took maternity photos for my friend, Nealy. Loved that shoot! Her daughter was born back in January and she asked if I'd come take Callie's birth announcement photo. So, here is beautiful Callie at 5 days old. Precious.

Newest Kid on Campus

Over the weekend, I met a great family at the University of Minnesota campus for their session. Lori and Justin met at the U, so it was a great location to have their first family portrait taken! It was a beautiful morning for being February, so I was excited to get the shoot underway. But first my parking meter broke after inserting half my quarters and then I stepped in a giant puddle on my walk to the Washington Ave bridge where I would meet the family. I was worried about what else could go wrong, but nothing did! I had a blast working with Lori, Justin and Zoey and can't wait to meet up with them again in the future (I hope!).

The Secrets of a February Thaw

It was a beautiful 40 degrees today when I left work at 4:30 PM. On my drive home from work, I thought what a great day it would be to go out and do some experimenting with my camera. My goal was to use ONLY manual settings... as in ONLY use the M on my DSLR... as in I would HAVE to pick the shutter speed AND the aperture. Guess what? I did it!! I first went to a bridge as a freight train was passing underneath. I played a bit with blur. Then, I noticed this tiny stuffed animal laying on a sheet of ice in the street. I started noticing all this other garbage on the sidewalks and in the street. It was all made visible from the melting snow. So, I shifted to two goals: shoot manual and shoot garbage revealed by the February thaw. It was a fun 30 minutes, but kind of gross and disgusting too.

Oh, and the sunset was gorgeous! Especially the clouds.

I walked back to my front door after about a half hour and noticed this older couple walking along the sidewalk. It was just kind of cute to me. I had been reading online about street photography the other day and how I want to experiment with that sometime this spring too. Maybe that's why I snuck this shot of these two walkers.

Mental Health Vacation

For all of you Minnesotans reading this blog, you know it's been a COLD winter so far. Last week, I flew off to Arizona with my husband. I couldn't help but take pictures of the sky as I laid by the pool. I know it's the same sky we have up here in MN, but somehow it looked warmer down there. So, I leave you with some of my sunshine from the trip.

But then it came time for us to return to the cold, cold north. I snapped a bunch of pictures out the window of the plane (which was SO dirty... ew!) hoping to have some lasting memories of that warm sunshine.

And then we landed at MSP... brrrr.....

A Year Has Gone By...

It was just over a year ago that I purchased my Canon Rebel XTi. When it came in the mail, I remember sitting on my living room floor, looking at the box, and hearing my husband say, "Open it!! Open it!!" I finally did, but oh was I nervous. For the next couple weeks, I came up with excuses for why I wasn't using my camera, but it was really just out of fear. I didn't know how to use it, so I didn't! Eventually, I started taking random pictures. I took photos of the radiators in my apartment and I took one picture at my sister's birthday dinner. Pathetic, right?

A few months later, I had the opportunity to shadow Alison at this shoot and the rest is history. She let me snap away with her that day giving me tips along the way. She gave me compliments on my composition, which stuck with me and it gave me confidence that this was something I could do too... with practice :)

A few short months later I had a friend asking me to do family pictures. A friend asking me to do engagement pictures. Assisting Ali at my first wedding. And then came the first job that I was paid to shoot. I bought a domain for my future website. Volunteering snuck in there too. I started getting emails from friends of friends and met with people I didn't even know. But each time, people were willing to invest in what I could offer them and it was wonderful.

I have so much to learn and I don't think I'll ever stop learning. But this has been one fantastic year for me. I am capturing these moments that people treasure. That's what I want to do. I'm going to keep doing it!

A few more photos from my recent maternity shoot. I just loved the experience of this shoot! It was full of *life* and *love*.

Happy 2009! I have a lot of ideas and I can't wait to see what THIS year brings!!

Baby, It's COLD Outside!

**Picture heavy post**

My co-worker, Erin, hired me to take photos of her siblings as a surprise gift to her parents. It was COLD, but we managed and it was a lot of fun! We met at the Mall of America Nordstrom entrance and did photos in the stairwell of the parking garage. Some people who walked by said, "You are out here by choice, huh..." and couldn't believe we were out in such frigid temps (just below zero!). Anyway, I love a lot of these photos, so I had to post a bunch! Merry Christmas!

I totally messed up with this photo technically, but I sort of like how it turned out. Not sure why.

This might be my favorite shot from today. Not one single thing is in focus in this shot and it was my very last image taken today (maybe my fingers were frozen?). We had lots of people inside Nordstroms looking at us taking these shots through the skyway. It was just a fun afternoon and even though it's completely blurred out, I'm calling it my favorite. I like it.

Christmas Give-Away

Yesterday I had another great volunteer opportunity to take photos at a Christmas give-away event. My dad and his cycling buddies ("Team Roadkill" or "Roadkill Club" is what they call themselves) put out the word over the last week for people to donate new or used bikes. The club then cleaned and repaired over 100 bikes to give away to kids and adults who were in need of a gift this Christmas. On Sunday, the bikes were on display at Otten Bros. Nursery in Long Lake and the event started. Despite the bitter cold, people came out to get bikes for kids, teens, adults and even a grandma! It was really fun to be part of an event that was helping people feel special at Christmas time.

A Baby Girl Is Coming...

Today I did my very first baby bump shoot! My friend, Nealy, let me come over to her and her husband's home to get the shots done. She was such a beautiful model and was up for anything I wanted to do. This shoot was so fun and I am pleased with how the images turned out. I am really excited for Kyle and Nealy to welcome their daughter into this world... and I am especially excited because she is due on my birthday!!