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.

Long day today and an early shoot tomorrow so I haven’t had much time to process photos lately but Ben says I have to post more so this one’s for him.

Yesterday, I photographed a wedding in Eagan with Christina of Teichrow Photography. We were lucky, the weather was great - relatively warm compared to what we’ve been having in Minnesota and nice and sunny. We got a chance before the wedding to head outside and take some photos.

(He went to Jared.)

Then back inside where there was some really cool art on the walls - and photo props in the groom’s pocket!

I actually haven’t even downloaded the other card of photos from the wedding yet. I’m off to do that now!

For the past few months, I’ve been getting together with a group of other photographers to work on studio lighting. The group is a local offshoot of the increasingly popular Strobist website which is all about inexpensive, portable, do-it-yourself lighting. It’s been fun to get together, have a chance to work with models and see what sort of ideas other photographers have. This past weekend, we met in a warehouse which definitely gave us a chance to do some unique setups.

Doing studio work has been a nice way to pass the crazy cold months we’ve been having!

My friend Jeannette and I had a busy day yesterday and I got to meet some great families! We started off the team with the gorgeous L Family of three.

They had an amazing house, full of great color and design. Check out Bree’s bedroom (J and I both agreed that we wanted to move in there now and would have died to have a bedroom like that when we were Bree’s age!)

After we finished taking some shots inside, the Ls bundled up and we headed outside for some fun in the snow! It looked gray and dreary outside but I think those falling flakes turned out pretty cool.

Thanks for an awesome morning, guys!

I haven’t shot anything new in about two weeks because I’ve been working through a backlog of editing, doing a few freelance projects and a bit of other fun stuff like painting the room that will be my office (no more working on the couch all the time!). So here are a few bits and pieces from various shoots that have been straggling along…

A few more cuties from my time in Florida…

Josie Myers, a local model…

Got a few shoots coming up this weekend that I’m excited for! Until then…

I shot Josh and Kelly’s wedding last fall at St. Anthony Main. November weddings can be risky in Minnesota but, although windy, the weather was quite nice and St. Anthony Main is a beautiful area. Josh and Kelly were super laid back, as was their wedding, and fun to work with.

I recently put together a book for them from MyPublisher and it arrived on Saturday. Overall, I’m pleased with the work they did for the price. The pages are decent weight, the color looks good and they have quick turnaround. With so few pages though, the book doesn’t really feel all that substantial and I probably won’t order dust jackets in the future as they smudge and dent quite easily. Overall, the books seem to be good consumer books but I will likely go with KISS for future wedding books. I’ve got a smaller softcover book coming from MyPublisher as well so I’ll be interested to see how that turns out.

Tracy is the first male model I’ve shot. Luckily he has lots of experience and was great to work with.

There was a really cool old elevator in the building we were shooting with but unfortunately, it was closed. And since we could see the two little clamps that were holding it up, we didn’t chance it. But we did open the doors and sneak a few pics in front of it.

Joanna is just getting back into modeling and was really fun to photograph. We didn’t spend a lot of time shooting but will hopefully be getting together again sometime soon!