Holiday Traditions

The Rinehart family has been coming to my studio for the past 7 years to create their thematic Christmas card.

It has been a blast working with them as they dress up to act out their parts for the card. This is last year's card. I can not post this year's card until after they have sent out their 2008 cards.

In this scene--"It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas", we have tangled up Christmas lights, burnt cookies, kid's fighting, and long lists being made for Santa.

They are a fun family. I will post more of their cards later.

Easy and Happy Children

These two started coming to my studio years ago when I was using film. They have always been very easy to photograph. They sit down at the set and smile without any coaxing. They have beautiful smiles. I like their smiles, but this time I wanted to also see some giggles. I asked Jolene to do whatever she does to make the kids giggle at home. So Jolene stood behind me and acted silly and her two children giggled away. I wish I had recorded their giggles and chortles on a sound track because it was so fun to hear and watch them.

Thanks, Jolene and John, for raising such wonderful children and allowing me to do your Christmas photo year after year.

Scholastica and Justin

Yes, to all the photographers out there, I am using an on camera flash at this point in the ceremony. I am waiting in the back of church for the minister to introduce Justin and Scholastica as husband and wife. In the meantime, the Color Gaurds have lined up in front of me waiting for the command to march forward where they would establish an arch of swords for the couple to walk under. I saw this line up and snapped away because I wanted this image.
I loved the white and black skin tones in the foreground against the white and black skin tones in the background. Love is color blind!! That is good.

I received a very happy and excited phone call from a bride this morning after my husband delivered her Wedding Album to her. She was thrilled and happy to get it before she leaves for a short tour of duty in Iraq. During this visit, she is hoping and praying to get a chance to see her husband, Justin, who is already over there serving our country. They have been apart for at least 6 months

and my prayer is that they can get some fun couple time together.

May God Bless Both of You.

The Mississippi River at Night

Minneapolis is a beautiful city. I took this photo with the Mississippi River in the foreground to capture some reflections from our wonderful city.

Senior Rob

When Rob walked in with his bow and arrow as one of his props, I knew I wanted to use the lines of the bow for something dramatic.

I took the original photo as a sihouette against my white background. In photoshop I inverted the image and solarized it for the fun of it.

After taking a variety of images inside, we went out walking in the woods together. What a blast.
And to think that this is my 'job"!

Rob and I had a gorgeous October 30th day to run around the woods. Since we had done the yearbook photo session early in September, this was going to be our fun session with props and outdoor images. I was thrilled to be spending the time outside on a beautiful fall day.

The natural lighting on this oak tree caught my eye as we walked the trails. I asked Rob to go stand by the tree so I could work with this light on him. This is my favorite one of him standing by the oak tree looking strong and steadfast--capturing some of his personal attributes. He is a very nice young man.

Dolezal Cousins

Last spring, some of the Dolezal cousins came over to create images for a "Cousin's Calendar". What year they end up publishing it, I will keep you posted.

I had a great time photographing the cousins as they worked on different themes for the different months. This is one image that I created from the cousin's session. This earned me a second place ribbon. John coined the title--ARM ageddon. Later I will post the original and the different variations that I have created.

We were trying to create a family tree as I took this silhouette shot.

Loon Rise

At the Twin Cities Professional Photographers of America Photo Competition, I earned a merit and a first place ribbon on this image. Thank God!!

I captured this image last summer while on vacation with the Dolezal clan at Hoot Owl Resort in northern Minnesota. I convinced my husband to get up at the crack of dawn and we went out and spent over an hour paddling around the lake chasing the loons. He was in this red canoe and I was following in a Kayak. The mist on the lake was so cool that we both enjoyed our early morning excursion watching the mist and fog lift from the lake as the sun rose and we chased the loons.

The morning before I had gotten up alone and paddled around the lake in the mist following the loons. While paddling around the lake in the mist I thought about how sweet it would be to have the red canoe out there for some color and interest. The next morning, John provided the company, the color and the interest. What a guy!