Expecting!

Back when the weather was still pretty warm, I was asked to come out and do a 3-generation family session. The adult son and his wife had recently learned that they were expecting, and wanted to surprise his family when they shared the big news. So, we coordinated before the day of the shoot. I played dumb and did my usual thing as we hit different spots on the family property, but we were saving the big reveal for last. When we had the whole crew all grouped together for ta big family picture, I said the "secret word" and, as we cued up to say "cheese" for the last photo, they hollered out "we're pregnant!" Since we had planned ahead, I was prepared for the reactions and I just kept shooting thru the moment, capturing laughter and hugs and tears as they enjoyed the happy news! Here we are now, a few weeks before this little guy will make his arrival, and they asked me back to do a maternity session. It was crazy windy, but the temps were great, which was funny since we had talked about how nice it would be if we had a little snow for this session. But, that's ok, I'll take the sunshine, too!

Sunset on Little Prairie

I was on the way home from a recent session when I passed an old country road that I have driven on probably 1,000 times. The timing was just right, as we were smack in the middle of sunset. Since I happened to have my camera with me, I impulsively turned off the highway onto this familiar country road and started snapping before I ran out of light. Although most of what I got was pretty crappy, I was really happy with a couple of my images. That happens sometimes... a burst of 100 shots might only yield 1 or 2 that are really good. But, that's ok. I'll take 1 or 2 over NONE! I'm thinking about a big canvas of the color version of the tree shot for my living room...

It felt really good to stand on the side of that road all by myself and shoot for a few minutes. I didn't really know what I wanted to capture when I stopped, I just knew that I needed to take a moment with my camera and give it a try, even though it was quickly getting dark and I didn't have my tripod in the car. I've done so much portrait work lately, which is my favorite, that I haven't really given a thought to any nature shots in over a month. I'm glad I carved out a little time for it! Maybe I should do that more often :-)

Love + Gorgeous Weather + Fall Color = Beautiful Engagement Session!

I have had this engagement session on the calendar for several months now, and as soon as we scheduled for October, I was hoping for some beautiful fall color. The bride-to-be and I were both a little nervous about the dry weather we have been having and the speed at which the leaves were turning and falling off the trees, as well as the possibility of a thunderstorm stripping all the color before we were able to capture it, but it worked out to be a beautiful day and we had plenty of warmth from the tones in the trees. The time just flew as we were doing our session, and these two just fell into place and were totally relaxed with each other, which allowed me to capture some genuine expressions and intimate moments. I am so thrilled with the images from this session, and I can't wait to get to the rest!

We went back to the spot where he proposed!

Senior '12

It didn't take long to get warmed up, and this young man and I had a great time with photos once we got going with his session. His Mom was interested in some nontraditional sports photos, since those have already been done at school, and I am so thrilled with what we came up with! We were racing against the clock and the sunset, but it worked out just fine and he did a GREAT job! We got lots of great photos right in the family's backyard, and went to a neighboring town for some additional scenery. He's going to have a lot of images to choose from, it was totally worth getting my legs soaked on the soccer field and hiking thru highway construction!