I could write volumes about the highs (trips, time with family, creative pursuits...) and lows (basically any and everything having to do with our ridiculous current presidential administration) of this year, but instead I'll just leave you with these: some of my favorite images from some of my favorite shoots and adventures over the course of 2017.
Love
Julia + Nick // Minneapolis Couples' Photography
in Hired Work
Reason #496 I love what I do: sometimes you hit it off with clients so much that you come to consider them friends. Julia is one such client - an extremely inspiring boss babe who works to empower women through yoga and wellness.
You might recognize Julia from an amazing yoga shoot we did last year. This time, she took her yoga skills to the next level, showing off some amazing acro yoga poses with her boyfriend, Nick.
The couple also wanted some more-traditional photos to document this period in their relationship. As Julia said when she first shared these images with her friends and family: "Not engaged, married or pregnant. Just in love."
Perchance to Dream // Minneapolis Couples Photography
I knew I wanted to explore themes of LIFE and LOVE and DEATH.
I knew Lakewood Cemetery was the perfect setting and David & Emilie were the perfect models.
I knew they were to be dressed in black & white - almost as if for a wedding - and we needed red roses.
And that day, when we stumbled upon a majestic, old willow tree, the final piece fell into place: I knew that Shakespeare's words - the ultimate commentary on life and love and death - would weave it all together.
“The love that follows us sometimes is our trouble,
which we still thank as love.”
“For where is any author in the world
Teaches such beauty as a woman’s eye?”
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.”
“The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.”
“Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.”
“The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree,
Sing all a green willow.
Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,
Sing willow, willow, willow.
The fresh streams ran by her, and murmured her moans,
Sing willow, willow, willow.
Her salt tears fell from her, and softened the stones
Sing willow, willow, willow—”
“Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. ”
Benjamin + Kelly // Minneapolis Engagement Photography
“The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.”
“Every tree and plant in the meadow seemed to be dancing, those which average eyes would see as fixed and still.”
“When in love, body, mind, heart and soul don’t even exist. Become this, fall in love, and you will not be separated again.”
The Kieners // Minneapolis Maternity + Lifesyle Photography
I could talk about how I've known the Kieners for more than 15 years. How we've been college roommates, travel companions, bridesmaids, poker opponents, drinking buddies, and neighbors during that time. And how our daughters were born a little over a month apart and have become besties. But all of that would still seem inadequate. So instead I'll just leave you with a set of images - a mixture of candid at-home family moments and posed maternity portraits - that I took of this beautiful family of three very shortly before they became a family of four.
Asta + Arlen // Lake Superior Wedding Photography
in Hired Work
My first-ever wedding as the primary photographer took place on a rainy, foggy day on Lake Superior. And it couldn't have been more beautiful.
Huge congrats to Asta and Arlen on their nuptials. And a huge THANK YOU to them for their willingness to put up with a little rain for the sake of some amazing images. It was such an honor to capture this special day.
( c l i c k t o e n l a r g e )
Anthony + Jen // Lake Superior Couples Photography
A month ago on the North Shore of Lake Superior, my brother and his wife donned their wedding clothes and allowed me to photograph them as a way of commemorating and celebrating their 5-year wedding anniversary. They are both beautiful people (inside and out!) and the setting was, well, the most perfect place on earth. The resulting images are some of my favorite ones I've shot to-date.
