Inspired Portrait Photography

Ends Tomorrow: Call Today!

For the LOVE of photography Sale

Starting today Feb. 14th, 2009 through March 1st, 2009 I am offering a gift certificate sale….

Buy one portrait creation session (families, kids, babies, maternity)
and get one portrait creation session at 1/2 price.
*limit one purchase per family.

Call 507.381.8007 to place your order, or email me with your request.

Keep them both or share them with someone else. Do you know someone who has never or rarely had a professional portrait taken? Treat them this month a “just because” gift.

Gift certificates purchased with this sale do not expire.

Happy Day!

Wedding Day Photography

Looking ahead at my summer, I am thrilled for the amount of Brides and Grooms I am going to be working with. This past week my inbox has been full of 2010 brides asking about weekends available next year for their weddings….and it has inspired me to write this blog.

It was December of 2003, a frigid, frigid day in Fulda Minnesota, when I stepped in front of my first bride and groom. It was a typically first wedding for a photographer, I wasn’t getting paid (because it was good practice), no one arrived early, my palms were sweating, one of my main pieces of equipment wasn’t working(I had a trusty backup to rely on) and at that time I had no tricks to make people smile, I’m suprised I got to wedding #2.

Fast forward to the summer of 2007, when Danie and I traveled up to St. Cloud to a full days work. There I experienced the most beautiful church, all available light everywhere(leaving any pro speechless) perfectly decorated reception, and a grand party on the golf course. I remember this wedding most because of my effort to get the perfect shot. I posed the bridal party on a bridge stretching over a marshy area on the golf course. To get the best angle I had to literally hop my way into the marshy middle under the bridge. The swampiness didn’t bother me at all(although at anytime I could have dropped the camera into it), it was the tall “wood tick filled” grass I have to maneuver through first, ewe. The perfect shot is always worth it!

Fun facts about my days as a wedding photographer
*I have photographed 4 weddings on my birthday weekend
*I have photographed one bride & groom twice, one ceremony before Iraq and one following
*My cousins, sisters, sister-in-laws are not allowed to hire me, I have a no family policy
*Over half of the bridal parties I’ve met were dressed in green or purple
*My favorite church was St. Peter’s Catholic church, great light!
*The happiest couple was….jk way to hard to pick!
*I’ve only left one thing behind at a wedding(that I know of), a battery charger
*I listen to Christian rock to get my mind ready for the big day
*I’ve worked with three different assistants
*I never job shadowed any other wedding photographers
*I love to work with the kids in the bridal party
* I never stop researching the perfect wedding image, I have an idea book I bring with to every wedding
* I could recite all the brides and grooms I’ve ever worked with by name and in order of wedding day, they are that important to me!

Something for everyone, everyone for something:

This has always been one of my favorite things to read, and so true I wanted to share it with you. Life is simple, life should be simple, such as all the things you learned early on.

All the things I needed to know about life, I learned in Kindergarten

These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don’t hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
• Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.

I still remember Mrs. Stenzel my Kindergarten teacher, she was amazing and impactful, and true. Do you remember your kindergarten teacher?

Two of a kind

This past week I photographed Paige and her sweet daughter Ava. We sang songs, ate cheerios(multigrain ones are the best I hear) talked about our favorite places to shop for groceries, danced, and played hide-and-go-seek. These are just a few of things we like to do during a photo session. It was difficult for me to pick just a few images to post so I also included the slideshow of the session, it’s great to see every image we create.

Two of a Kind Show

If there is a special someone in your life (child, spouse, bff) then a relationship session like this one may be perfect for you. We documented Ava turning two, as well as created those real moments mom wants to remember best!

Artist’s Choice:

I’ve been thinking of this image for quite sometime, and Paige was a great sport to let me create it with her and Ava. I also used a new painterly look to finish the monochrome image.

happy saturday everyone

a SNAPSHOT into the past

I often forget just how many photos I take in a year. Today I spent a little time digging through my own personal images. Of all the images, this one made me smile the biggest. Just three girls being silly with the digital camera. It was our last day of working together, at our previous job, and we had taken many crazy random photos. This image (I counted) took us 7 tries to get. It wasn’t easy holding this huge studio camera above our heads, and clicking the photo. We kept giggling, and shaking the camera, and when we weren’t laughing we were blinking.

So here a snapshot into my past (and present) L to R Kandi, Kendall and Sherry

Here is a few other crazy’s from the day

love you guys!

Take some time today and look through your old photo albums, keep those memories alive.

Blessings-sherry