Someone has been neglecting the blog a bit! It’s not entirely because I’m spending all my time with my beautiful new iPhone but I can’t say that I’m not already loving it. Okay, I’ve actually been really busy taking photos, preparing print orders and working on a few fun, upcoming projects.

Last weekend, Julie came over to my home studio so we could do some maternity photos. She arrived with a bagful of wonderful wardrobe and accessory options so we did a little bit of inside and a little bit of out.

Her husband came with her and we grabbed a few photos of him too before he did some serious studies on the comfort factor of my new hammock.

I know the sex and name of the baby-to-be but I’m not sure if the J family is sharing that publicly yet so I’ll just say that it’s a super cute name. Thanks for coming over guys and congrats on your new addition!

I met up with the Z Family early yesterday morning at Lion’s Coon Creek Park in Coon Rapids. I do a lot of shoots with just one child so a family of six, with three of them beingfive years and younger, was pretty exciting! Lot of sibling love in this family…they were very cute!

This last shot is my favorite of the session…Mom’s idea!

A quick peek from a maternity session I did last weekend. Linda came over with her cute family so we could do some photos.

I think this one is my favorite.

Then we went out into the backyard to get down to business. Bubbles, flower picking, caterpillars and RUNNING!

I’m so glad to finally be able to share these! It’s been a few weeks since they were taken and there were so many that I wanted to work on that I just haven’t had time to finish them all until now. But get ready for an image-intensive post.

These images are from a bridal/fashion shoot that we did at The Guthrie and Mill City Museum in Minneapolis. Both of them are amazing locations but the Guthrie especially is full of color and incredible architecture and all kinds of fun areas.

The next three images were taken in a room that’s called the Amber Box. You can see an outside view of the room in this image from Wikipedia. The light and view and colors are all really neat and portions of the floor are see-through as well.

(changed the color on this one, obviously)

Taken outside the Guthrie.

These were taken in a sort of covered alleyway between the Guthrie and the Mill City Museum. It was so sunny that day that the sun was pouring through spaces in the ceiling and creating awesome light.

And these were taken in the stairwell at the Mill City Museum…

I think that’s it for now! I have another batch of images from the Guthrie and the Sculpture Garden that should be coming soon. Such fun locations for shoots. If you live in the Twin Cities area and want to do some bridal portraits, engagement portraits, senior photos or whatever in those areas, just let me know!

I can’t believe it’s June already! I also can’t believe we’ve gotten this far with such consistently cool weather. I’m not complaining though, I prefer cool to hot and as long as it isn’t raining all the time and we can get outside for some photos, I’m happy. And speaking of photos, my June calendar is jam packed with upcoming sessions so, with the exception of newborn sessions (done within the first two weeks of birth), mid-July is my earliest availability. Drop me a line if you’d like to set something up!

On Saturday, I shot a wedding with my friend Sarah of Sarah McGee Photography. Both the ceremony and the reception were held at the Crystal Lake Golf Club in Lakeville.

The weather report wasn’t especially favorable but the rain held off and we were able to do portraits and the ceremony outside. It was almost too sunny!

They whole wedding party was a pretty fun and goofy bunch and I have to say, the toasts were among the best I’ve heard - hilarious and touching at the same time, even for someone who had no history with the bride and groom.

That all being said, guess who my favorite two of the wedding party were?

During our week at The Homestead, we got a chance to meet Philip Myers.

He’s a professional entertainer who performed several times during our stay. He’s performed with many big names, including Elton John, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks, etc., as well as done the commercial jingles for Oreos, Nabisco, Coors Beers and others. He also does theater, playing Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar and various other roles. It’s not every day you can say you got to photograph Jesus.

He was looking for some new headshots for his website so we made plans to meet up. He was a total trooper and met us early in the morning before his flight, after performing late into the night the evening before.

We didn’t have tons of time but managed to shoot a few locations around the hotel property. He may be coming to Minnesota this summer so maybe we’ll get some more time with him. It was definitely fun, he’s really an awesome guy.

[A quick note first: I moved the blog to the same domain as the Glimpses of Soul Photography main site so it now resides at http://glimpsesofsoul.com/blog. The old url will still forward and the rss feed should still work. ]

Until yesterday, it had been almost two years since I’d attended a wedding as a guest and not as a photographer. Walking out of the house with just one bag, my only responsibility up until then having been to dress myself, felt pretty nice. But I have to admit, once I got there, it was pretty difficult to not be taking lots of photos and to not have the freedom to move to a better vantage point. I couldn’t capture anything of the ceremony from my seat but I did pull the camera out after they left the church (the ceremony was held at the Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel).

The two flower girls were just adorable.

But maybe not so into pictures. This little one was wandering around with a bouquet of dandelions in one fist and a handful of pinecones in the other. Walking up and down the aisle had maxed out her public performance reserves though so she didn’t want to show me her treasures.

The reception was held in the M Street Cafe in the downstairs of the Saint Paul Hotel. I hadn’t been there before but it was very nice. Sort of a 40’s feel to it with white glove service and everything.

Not wanting to be the annoying Uncle Bob figure who shows up with all his gear and gets in the way of the professionals, I only brought a 50mm lens and no flash so I was a bit limited but I still managed to grab some shots that I like. (I love this first one.)

If you’re in the Twin Cities area, I hope you’re outside enjoying the weather today! I hit the back porch for awhile to get my requisite dose of Vitamin D but sadly, the computer screen is impossible to see in the sun so I am back inside working for the afternoon

On Sunday, I photographed the March of Dimes’ March for Babies. Early weather predictions had me a bit nervous as they were calling for rain and storms on Sunday. Then it got colder and colder and snowed on Saturday. Thanks to the craziness that is living in Minnesota, the windchill was below 30 when I was getting ready Sunday morning. But thankfully there was no precipitation of any kind and even a bit of sun here and there.

The St. Paul walk was held at Phalen Park which was quite beautiful despite the colder temps. I arrived at 9 as the volunteers were setting up the registration tables and the sponsors were preparing and the mini-donut truck was smelling oh-so-delicious. (Sadly, I had not brought any cash!) The walkers started arriving around 10, kids and strollers and dogs in tow.

The purpose of the March for Babies is to raise money to fund research to help prevent premature births, birth defects and infant mortality. Many of the families there had heartwarming stories about their NICU graduates and others had heartwrenching stories of little ones that they had lost. This is the daughter of this year’s ambassador family who was born weighing little more than a pound and is now doing quite well.

And a mother who led us in the National Anthem whose daughter had a similar story.

The walk route was around Lake Phalen, 3.1 miles. Most people welcomed the opportunity to warm up. I felt slightly annoyed at the weight of my camera bag until I saw many mothers toting (lugging is probably even a fair word) toddlers in their arms around the lake.

After the walk was more mini-donuts and hot dogs and the hokey pokey and St. Paul Saints mascot Mudonna and lots of playground time. And for me, lots and lots and lots of photos to look through!

Just one photo for today. I’m trying to get caught up on some editing before I head into another weekend of sessions. I’ve got some fun ones coming up though so I’m sure I’ll be posting more soon!

I’m also have some problems with the notify list - main problem being that it’s not actually notifying. So I hope to get that straightened out shortly so that everyone can stay up to date.

Yesterday I got together with a group of other local photographers to do some more studio work. Several of them share a studio in St. Paul so they were kind enough to let a few more of us crash it. We had a few models scheduled to come but unfortunately, most of the either canceled or just didn’t show up so we had something of a paparazzi situation with lots of us shooting only a few models.

Kasidy, however, was good enough to show and modeled for us for quite awhile. We started off in the studio but then ventured out into the rest of the warehouse which was full of empty, gritty goodness.

Also, my sister was a total rockstar. She’s modeled for me a few times and even for two of my friends in the comfort of my home but this time, I dragged her out to spend the entire day posing in front of a group of guys she didn’t know. She was a super good sport, despite not having any modeling experience.

Bill, Andy, Pat, Scott, Jaime, Adam, Dave - it was nice to meet you guys! Kasidy and Sara, thanks for modeling.