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I had a fun opportunity to try something new this week. I received a last minute offer of a photo pass to First Avenue to photograph the They Might Be Giants concert. I don’t have much interest in concert photography and very little experience (well, none would probably be more accurate, with the exception of various outdoor, afternoon concerts) but I’m a (admittedly rather lax) TMBG fan so I thought it might be fun to give it a try.

Let me tell you…concert photography? It’s hard. It was hot and crowded and very dark and the stage lighting was constantly changing and as the opening band played its fifth and sixth songs that sounded exactly like 1-4 and the girl next to me continued to dig her elbow into my side, I wondered what on earth I’d been thinking when I’d decided to go. But when TMBG finally got on stage, I was so glad I’d gone.

When I say I’m something of a lax fan, I mean it’s been quite awhile since I’ve listened to or followed the band. Their album Flood was actually the first cd I ever bought, back when I received a discman for Christmas (woowoo!) and my uncle took me to a used cd store on the Ohio State campus and I got to pick out something to listen to in said fancy new contraption. And I loved that album but that’s about the last time I listened to them so I only knew about five of the songs. Thankfully, it didn’t really matter. They had a great and energetic stage presence, the crowd was completely into it and their stuff was good and funny and entertaining. My photo pass allowed me to spend the first three songs right up at the stage and the remainder sitting in the stairwell which was blissfully free of other people. I left the show somewhat deafened and a bit tired but definitely glad I went.

(Incidentally, TMBG has several children’s cds out now as well - they played a few songs from them which were equally entertaining to the adults - so if you’re looking for new music for the kiddos and you’re over Raffi, you might check them out.)

I’m editing like crazy today, finishing up a few sessions. I’m mostly caught up on emails and phone calls and at the end of today, I’m closing up shop for the holiday weekend.

Don’t worry. I’ll be back at it Tuesday morning and will follow up with any questions, inquiries, etc., that you have then! Have a fantastic weekend.

A sneak peek for Miss A’s mom who is waiting patiently!

Miss A turned one a week ago Sunday and I was lucky enough to attend her birthday bash. It was the perfect day for a pool party, very warm and sunny, and the party was packed with people of all ages. After swimming, there was food from the grill, cake, presents to open and a trip to the Stillwater Marina to check out the boat. I suspect Miss A slept well that night.

Hey, check this out - it’s not even 9pm yet and I’ve already had a dinner not consisting of Culver’s and mini-donuts and I’ve washed at least the first layer of grime from my rather dirty and fair-weary body. Ah yes, Woodbury Days is now over, my little booth is packed up and I am back at home. Luckily, today was just as good as yesterday. The weather was equally gorgeous, there was a rather entertaining parade that traveled right down the street in front of my booth and there were more fun people to meet. Five month old babies definitely won the prize for most frequent visitors at the booth.

I’m so excited to come home to emails from folks who are already interested in booking a session!

Just a bit of an info recap for new visitors to the site:

• Regular session info, rates and other details are available on my main site.
• Information about holiday mini-sessions and fall schedule.
• Feel free to contact me using the form on the main site or the form linked in the righthand column over there. I’d be happy to discuss over the phone as well but if you’d shoot me an email and a number, I can get back to you and have the information you need ready. (I have a little bit of a phone backlog thanks to several days away and this will help me manage it quickly!)

And a few answers to the questions I was most frequently asked over the weekend in case you didn’t get a chance to speak with me…

Q: Where are you located?

A:I work primarily on-location in the Twin Cities area. That means I will come to your home if you’d like (and it has sufficient natural light) or meet you in a local park or other favorite location. I can also travel outside of the Twin Cities area for additional travel fees. I do have a studio in St. Paul but use that only for maternity, newborn and headshot sessions. Trust me, it’s more fun this way.

Q: Are you independently owned?

A: As independently as it gets, baby. Glimpses of Soul Photography is just me - the photographer, editor, bookkeeper, secretary, etc., etc.! I’m lucky to have a volunteering family to help me when I decide to do crazy things like spend 24 hours at the fair but I don’t currently work with associate shooters or outsource any of the work.

Q: Do you do maternity/newborn/children/family/engagement/pet/wedding photography?

A: Yes. Contact me, we’ll talk.

Now that the weekend fun is over, I’m back to work tomorrow so if you’re waiting for email/a phone call/proofs from me, you should be getting it/them pretty soon!

If you’re going to spend 12+ hours at the fair, today was the day to do it. I was a little worried at the Woodbury Days kickoff last night when it was muggy and rainy and verrry windy (vinyl tent sides are not so sturdy) but the weather shaped up over night and today was gorgeous. Perfect day for fair-going and I love a lovely pink farmer tan to show for it.

I had an awesome time at my booth! Tons of previous clients, photographer and non-photographer friends came out to visit and it was great to get to see so many people again. I also met tons of new people - engaged people, expecting people, little ones and even littler ones, grandparents, folks whose “children” were dogs and even some folks who recognized their friends on the wall. I am so excited to do the drawing for the free session winner on Monday because there were so many cute, cute, cute kids who I’d love to photograph! Several of the other photographers with booths at the fair also stopped in and introduced themselves and it was great to get to meet them as well.

I had lots of artists help me decorate the outside of my booth.

I’ll be at Woodbury Days again tomorrow from 10-5 so if you haven’t stopped by yet, you should! I’ll be there with album samples, Christmas card samples, my bucketful of chalk…and this time some sunscreen, I think. See you then!

Things are getting pretty exciting around here. In addition to sessions and birthday parties and normal summer/work craziness, I’ve been getting ready to head to Woodbury Days! Woodbury Days is a free, three-day event with food, rides, live music, fireworks, a parade, a ton of other activities and…a booth featuring my work! Prints and materials are arriving on my doorstep almost every day now and I’ll be heading to Woodbury to set up early Friday morning. I’m getting excited and looking forward to meeting a ton of new people.

All the information and hours are available on the Woodbury Days website. I’d love it if you stopped in to say hello! Previous clients, you just might see some faces you recognize (big!) and future clients, I’ll have a little something for you, too.

A big fat sneak peak for the D Fam because I had way too much fun at their session. Ben is another photographer friend of mine (yes, about 99% of my friends are photographers, it’s kind of wacky) and I met him and his family at Richardson Nature Center in Bloomington one evening. The weather threatened storms but turned out to be quite perfect for photos and we had the area pretty much to ourselves.

(In case you are wondering, the nature center has lots of frogs but no alligators…that we could find anyway.)

I did not steal either of the kids to take home with me, although I was pretty tempted and might reconsider sometime soon. Thanks for a fun session, guys!

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to shoot a wedding at the Semple Mansion with Daniel Snow. The Mansion is a beautiful location and the wedding was beautiful as well. I wanted to share a few quick shots while I’m in between editing sessions!

Just a few quick images for tonight. I had the opportunity to shoot a wedding with Scott Bolster a few weeks ago, down in Winona. The weather threatened rain on and off on my drive down there and this is what it looked like when I arrived.

But the weather cleared up and we were able to get some great portraits.

Across the street was a great old house (tudor style I think? I don’t know my house styles very well) that was covered in ivy and had a yard full of beautiful trees so we “snuck” over there (turns out one of the groomsmen knew the people who lived there and was able to call and get permission) to do some storybook portraits.

It did start to rain shortly after that so we spent some time waiting it out under the tent but it cleared up nicely in time for Dad to walk the bride down the aisle.

I had a great time shooting with Scott (who kindly took a tentroof full of water for me) and his beautiful assistant (and wife). Unfortunately, the circumstances that brought me there weren’t so ideal. Scott was originally to be accompanied by Julie Steiskal, an accomplished local photographer and dear friend to many. Sadly, Julie lost her life several days prior when trying to pull a younger girl from the Temperance River. Just a quick Google search of her name shows the number of lives she touched in her short time and the positive ways in which she’ll be remembered.

From her website…

“we need a renaissance of wonder. we need to renew, in our hearts & in our souls, the deathless dream, the eternal poetry, the perennial sense that life is miracle & magic.”
e. merrill root

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!