Picnic Portraits

Here's a casual way of taking family portraits that gets the whole crew involved, happily. Have a Picnic Portrait party. That's what Jan J did for her family. These days with many families having members living in various parts of the world, we need to make the most of the time spent together. To help, combine the family portrait with the family picnic. The Picnic Portrait. In this case we took the large group photo then sub-families and singles, kids, dogs (Jackson) and whatever you feel like doing, it's open. Eat and smile at the same time....what a deal. Books are a great way to present these photos so everyone has a copy of the entire session.

Open House Invitations

I have a variety of open house (or other occasion) cards available. Here is one of the senior open house cards I used for Jake. This is a two sided card, other options are folded four sided cards and three panel cards. Jake's entire senior session was held at the Maplewood fire department since that's what his profession will be.

Pre-Wedding shoot

Pre or Post-Wedding shoots are a great way to express yourself and your creativity. Pick any location, anywhere, let your imagination roll, some place exotic or down the street. Take some of the pressure off the actual wedding day so you can enjoy the guests. The following photos were taken in San Diego where Briana and Andy live, but the wedding is in Saint Paul later this summer. What a great way to combine both environments in the wedding book. "Thank you so much for coming to San Diego to take photos of us for the wedding! We had a wonderful time and can't wait to see the pictures. We are really looking forward to working with you for the actual wedding". Briana

Axel

Axel, an old family name for the new addition to your family. Take care. Little Axel is about 2 months old here and growing fast.

Jacob @ 6 days

Congratulations to Shannon and family. Here is Jacob at 6 days of age. You sure have a vibrant house now.

Paczki

Mary Pat had her cousins over for a Paczki (it's Polish and kind of sounds like poonchkey) session. Paczki are sweet dough filled with poppy seed and they are awesome. The ladies had a great time and the results tasted fantastic.

WPPA

Just spent five days at the WPPA (Wisconsin Professional Photographers Association) WPPA-online, convention in Madison. This is one of the best state conventions in the country. There was a great line up of speakers from all over the states. I entered 3 images and all 3 were accepted to hang at the print competition. I would have entered 4, the max, but our Epson quite working and I couldn't get the final print finished. I get asked if I used Pshop to get the blue sky in the top photo....and the answer is no it was all done in camera. The photo was taken during the beautiful afterglow in June.

Plan B

This is how it goes sometimes......In preparing for Shannon and her two daughters, I prepared three areas for the shoot in the studio, using the beautiful north light. All I needed was the cooperation of the 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 year old to pull it off. They were a bit energetic for the quiet images I planned.....so enter plan B. We had a great time....I think they liked the open space......and we captured some wonderful moments.

Life Style Portraiture

Why not have part of your senior session doing something you enjoy, like fishing, or playing with your pet. For Brenna's session we started at the studio with her buddy Charity, then went outside around the studio, then on to Lake Bennet for her fishing photos. Even though it was misting outside, late in the fall, we still picked up a stringer full of winners.

Kenzie

During the senior session with McKenzie, she related a video to me which they had seen in school, and which is posted on You Tube. It's called Shift Happens, an interesting global view. McKenzie's photo session took place at her home and at the Lake Harriet Rose Garden.