Colin and Trisha had an absolutely stunning wedding over Labor Day weekend! Unlike the day of their engagement photos, they were blessed with the most perfect weather (though I doubt any amount of rain could have put a damper on their big day!!) 

There were so many wonderful moments and details to capture throughout the entire day, I could hardly choose which ones to include in this blog. So, I have also created a 'featured wedding' gallery under the {fine art} portion of my website to showcase some of my favorite images from their wedding. 

Light and color were such fabulous elements of this wedding! Aside from the flowers adding amazing color to the day, the sunlight shining through stained glass windows in the church made for some unbelievable shots before the wedding.  The lighting on the dance floor was great, too! The colorful lighting enhanced the fun mood of the evening and great entertainment by the band. 

It was so much fun being a part of this wedding - Congratulations, Colin and Trisha, on many many years of wedded bliss! 

Im so happy for you both!

{sj}

I was thrilled to hear from Anna when she and her friend Tricia were looking for opera head shots. There is a fine line in portraiture between 'cheesy' and 'traditional' while still allowing a spark of personality and creativeness to shine through. They weren't just looking for typical 'sit in front of a grey backdrop' grade-school-portrait-style head shots (nor do I even DO these kind of portraits), but still needed to stay within a certain style guide for what is acceptable in their profession. After discussing different options and ideas, and trying a few different backdrops, lighting styles and clothing choices, I think they ended up with exactly the happy medium we were all going for with this shoot. Who knew a a normally "boring" head shot session could be so much fun!

Here were their top picks. 

{sj}

I have to add... Go Cyclones! (Bethany and Josh are HUGE University of Iowa Hawkeye fans and the state of Iowa's "game of the year" is tomorrow... the Hawkeyes versus the Iowa State Cyclones (my alma mater!) 

Mike's photo shoot was at St Anthony Main east of Downtown Minneapolis. It was a windy day, but we found some great spots with wonderful light! Doesn't he have such a great smile!?

Jared and his mom came all the way from Carlisle, Iowa for his photo shoot! They met me at St Anthony Main for his photos and we had the most beautiful, glorious light and weather! He was up for an urban "grungy" looking background - I was thrilled! These buildings have so much character...I just love the look! 

I went to Waconia for Katie's senior photo shoot. Her mom had a great location picked out at a coworker's acreage a few miles away. It was FABULOUS -- a photographer's dream! Flowers, ponds, willow trees, bridges... awesome. Katie was so wonderful to work with...I had a hard time picking out just a few my favorites to include in this blog!! 

A few days later I went to Lyle's farm in Young America, MN. Ive never traveled this far west of the Cities in Minnesota before... but come to find out, there are some GREAT spots for photos out there! We went just down the road to a park, then to Lyle's backyard for a few photos with his dogs and horses.

They have such an amazing landscape view, i couldn't resist this photo of the horses and looming storm clouds (that luckily held off rain until after we were done with the shoot!)

{s.j}