Back to the Arboretum

This family and I enjoyed the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum when the fall colors were bursting! It was cold, but they hung in there and smiled when they would rather run into a warm building! This was my first time visiting the Arboretum and I will surely return to take in more of what it has to offer.

November Wedding

It's not often I get to show my wedding photos as I'm generally contracted to give up any rights to them. But this wedding was different and I'm able to show you some of the photos. Enjoy!

Using the fisheye lens brought out the inner fish in people.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

As many of you know, I work at two jobs besides taking photos. Sometimes it's difficult to juggle everything, BUT yesterday I had a day off from "work" and got to go to the Minnesota Arboretum which is run by the University of Minnesota. It was my first time there and aside from the bitter cold and wind, I was soooo excited to see some of what they have there. It's an amazing place and I'm sure I'll return many times over with friends and family. I want to go again TODAY, but must head to work soon.

This is one of the photos I took, highlighting the Minnesota fall colors.

I'll post more soon, so stay tuned!

A New Feature at Sam's Club - Photo Books

Make a Smilebox photobook

They're here (the colors)

There are many beautiful parks in Eagan. This is one photo from one of them.

The "J" Family

It had been raining and cold before we took pictures. Fortunately it got a little warmer and quit raining long enough for us to pop outside for some pictures.

The Jowers were in town to visit family. Their daughter, Hadessah (Dessah), is 6-months-old.

Isn't she the cutest thing?

We were just starting to get some fall colors :-)

Dessah had never been on her daddy's shoulders before, but I think she liked it.

Thank you, Jowers, for letting me spend time capturing your family!

Hermanos

I've had the privilege to photograph this family for four years. The kids are like nephews to me. I first met them when their mother gave birth to the youngest and I watched the oldest son while she rested. They are a great family and I love them dearly. They put up with my taking photos of them on a whim...like yesterday. I popped in and they were getting ready for the oldest son's soccer game. I wished I could have gone with them, but it didn't work out this time :-(

Bees

I normally take photos of people, but I stopped by a park on my way home and once again found some bees.

Late Summer

It was Sunday and Tom and I wanted to go for a drive and check out a new park. We are fortunate to have lots of parks near us. I brought my camera and hoped to capture something I'd never taken photos of before.

The intricacies of creation are magnificent!

The fall brings it's own colorful display.

I really slowed down the pace of our walk, trying to capture the beauty all around us. Tom is the most patient man I know!

I viewed all of my pictures on the way home, hoping some of them would be good enough to post. I hope you enjoyed the ones I chose.

I took photos with Noemi Hedrick at an August 28th wedding. To view some of the photos, you can follow this link.

August Evening

Taking photos of kids is easy if they feel comfortable around you. Their everyday actions & movements can make for interesting photos. I didn't tell "J" to do anything, but I just talked with her and took pictures as they happened. The sun was low in the sky and gave a warm glow to "J" as she faced west.

She was concentrating on leaves that were in her hands.

At one point she looked up at the pine trees . The sun was at her back.

Stopping to tie her boots; I wonder if she couldn't find her regular shoes, because these look like winter boots :-)

Interrupting her concentration, I did call out her name to get her to look my way.

And later she went to the playset, grabbed on and looked past me. I think her friends were in the distance.

"J" is one of my favorite subjects to photograph. She has a wonderful, friendly personality! Thanks "J" and J's mom, for letting me take photos.

Chuc's Granddaughter

My coworkers have a beautiful granddaughter! We were at a company picnic and I was able to capture some images of her. I don't know what the little girls parents were doing behind me, but whatever it was, the girl responded to them.

I hope I can take pictures of Chuc's granddaughter again...maybe at next year's picnic :-)

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WEDDINGS

I've had the opportunity to take photos at two recent weddings with Noemi Hedrick. She has posted photos from the Aug 22 wedding here.

Will, Briana and little Maxwell

I met Will and Briana through Craig's list. Briana is a young, working mom who was looking for good deals on the web. My chair needed a new home, she saw my ad, the chair is now in their living room and I ended up taking pictures of their family.

I like little Max's toes sticking out in this photo (above).


It isn't so easy taking photos of a young child who doesn't sit up yet. But Will and Briana came up with some good ideas of how to do it.

We especially wanted to get toes and fingers pictures. Kids hands and feet are so darn cute!

Thanks guys for a fun time with your family!

I Want a Little Attitude

What happens when you ask some college students for a little attitude? This is what you get.

You can click on any of the photos to make them larger.

Tamsen

Tamsen is beautiful on the inside and the outside. She is the sweetest thing. Can you tell just by looking at her photos? I sure can. She wanted photos taken before going overseas for a college internship.

Bless you, Tamsen, on your cross-cultural learning experience!

Linda and Daniel

I went for a walk with Linda and Daniel last week near their home in Bloomington. Linda and I have been friends for many years. Her son Daniel is 10 and very athletic! I'm going to post a bunch of pictures from our time together, but truth be told...when Linda used my camera, she got better images than me. What's up with that?? Oh well...this blog is for my pictures, so you'll have to just wonder about how good Linda's photos are.

A few more of Elsa & Aklilu

Elsa & Aklilu

Elsa and Aklilu have been awesome neighbors and friends. They asked if I could take some photos of the two of them and I was GLAD to do it.

We went to Centennial Lakes in Edina—an incredible place to go for a walk and to take PHOTOS!

I'll be posting more of Elsa and Aklilu in the coming days.

Minnesota Family

These folks are so sweet. I wish you could meet them!

Thanks M & S for sharing a part of your day with me.

Sonata & Elsa

I haven't had much time lately to take many photos :-( It's sooooo sad! So, sometimes I'll just shoot photos on the way home from work (with my husband driving, of course). I just love trying new things with my camera and seeing what it can do. This photo was taken as we drove from Bloomington to Burnsville, crossing over the Minnesota River on the 35W bridge. I focused on the "Sonata" letters on the back of the silver car.

Now, way off that subject...my neighbors, Elsa and Aklilu, want me to take pictures of them soon (yea!). I took one of Elsa, just outside my back door about 2 weeks ago. I saw her standing outside and had to ask her if I could take her photo. Isn't she gorgeous?

Tim & Diane's Wedding

This June wedding was in a small town in Wisconsin. Here are just a few of the photos I got while assisting Poly Mendes who was the main photographer.

Walking the Dinosaur

I love to see fathers spending time with their children and helping them try new things. This father and his son were on their way to the neighborhood park, where they spent the evening. I'm friends with their whole family and so they invited me along. I took lots of pictures and then posted them on the web for their family in Mexico to see. I like doing that—helping families connect and share their lives.

At the end of the string that the boy is holding is a play dinosaur that accompanied it's owner the whole way! Cute.

Jen

A friend of mine was in town from Michigan. It was great to see her again and her new haircolor! "Can we run outside and take some model shots", I asked her? She was willing!! It was fun and the best shots were of her just being herself.

Sweet lens!

I just today got a Canon 50 mm lens that can open up to an aperture of 1.8. I ran outside over lunch to try the lens on a friend's Canon Rebel xt.

This "cheaper" lens is pretty fantastic. I didn't have much time, but here is one of the shots I took.

I've decided to tell my beginning photographer friends (who want to know what to buy) to get a less expensive Canon SLR (like a Rebel) and this lens. It's a great way to start out! And the lens costs just over $100 (much less than the professional version at $1,200).

Before Opacity

My husband suggested I show you the before picture—before I changed the "opacity" and "fill" on the air condition photo layer. Here it is. Look below for how it looks after making it more opaque. :-)

Textures

My friend Poly told me about how she incorporates textures into photos. She quickly showed me some examples and how she does it. So, I just went outside and took some photos of items that have texture, such as bricks, my screen door, the grill cover...so I can give textures a try. The texture in this photo is of the top of our central air conditioning unit, right outside our home. You probably can see that it has a fan-like pattern to it. So, I started with my background photo of Matt and Lexy and cropped it to 10 x 8, giving it a slight angle (to the background) to give it a little more interest. I then opened my air conditioner picture and cropped it also to 10 x 8 and did a Ctrl A, Ctrl C. I closed that picture. I then did a Ctrl V, which pasted the AC photo on top of the background photo. Then I just played with the opacity of my new AC layer (54%) and fill (84%) until I liked what I saw. I then used the eraser on the AC layer and erased where Matt and Lexy were in the picture, so that no texture was on them. This is what I got. It's a first attempt at trying textures. I hear you can buy some great textures online, but for starters, it's fun to try your own!

A Little Girl's Expressions

I was visiting a friend and happened to have my camera along. Her daughter was reading and conversing with her mom.

I wondered whether my new zoom lens would work in tight quarters, so I tried it out and it worked well. I was able to get back far enough to capture some very expressive moments.

Sometimes these kinds of expressions are lost as people age. That's why it's so great if you can capture them when one is young.

Take lots of pictures of your kids. You won't regret it and they'll thank you for it.

Sepia

I've changed photos to a sepia color, but not in Photoshop like I did with this picture. I just followed these instructions I found online tonight:

Click the button at the bottom of the layers palette that looks like a circle half-white and half-black. Select Hue/Saturation. When the dialog box comes up, check the Colorize check box in the bottom-right. Change the hue to a yellow-reddish color and pull down the saturation. Lighten it a little, as many older pictures don’t reach true black. When your image looks good to you, hit Okay.

It was very easy to do! I know there are many programs out there where you can just click one button, but this is a good way to do it in Photoshop :-)

There are so many ways to learn about photography online. An RSS feed I get every day is from the Digital Photography School. I've learned a lot—reading something almost daily from them. I highly recommend checking them out—they're a great resource for budding photographers!

M & L Again

Being a part of someone's special day is so much fun and very rewarding. The day goes by in a flash for me—ten hours seem like two. Many shots are taken that you never view until you get them on computer. I've been saying, "Oooooh, I like this one" to several shots (with many more to view and edit). I forget what I captured until it's before me. It brings me so much joy knowing I've produced something the couple will cherish.

Matt & Lexy

Poly Mendes asked me to assist her with a wedding this week. I shot almost 1,000 images - a photographer's heaven!

Truth be told, I was learning how my new lens works (70 - 200 mm), so I was unhappy with many of the photos, BUT there are a lot of good photos, too. That's the way it goes—every photographer keeps making mistakes, but the blunders help you learn how to take great images.

I'm finding out how important it is to choose the correct aperture. Sometimes you want parts of the photo blurry and sometimes not (like in group photos when you want everyone in focus). That's what I need to work on!

Shutter speed is also very important. It has to be fast enough so your images aren't blurry. I'm still trying to get that down, too.

Getting those two correct is my challenge!! I like a good challenge, though...wish me luck!
By the way, you have to check out Poly's images. She is incredibly gifted with capturing unique compositions. www.polymendesphoto.com And she's fun to be around!

I'll be sharing more photos from this wedding, so stay tuned.

He Makes Me Proud!

I got my new computer, but not without some pain. My son came over as planned, but in the process of putting together all the different parts, he pulled his hand up in a box that had some sharp metal in it and ripped open the back of his hand. Ouch! I missed the drama of him getting 6 stitches because I was at work; but you know what? He came back to the house, didn't make a big deal of the stitches and completed the job (staying way later than expected). What a guy! I just have to say I have an incredible son and he deserves some major kudos!

p.s. I'm assisting at my first wedding of 2009 on Saturday and I am psyched!

Frustration

I hope my son reads this post. He is planning to come over tomorrow and set up a new computer for me. This computer is so old and slow. It can't even open my pictures from my new camera because the images are too big. And just now, I got a fatal error in Photoshop Elements (the one program I was able to open images in). So, yeah...I'm a little frustrated right now and I hope my son doesn't cancel tomorrow.

I asked Tom to stop the car at the mailboxes as we drove into our driveway tonight. Kids were outside playing and I could see the light was producing great highlights around them. I just had to take a few shots, even though I still had to make supper and my tummy said, "EAT."

I got a photo of little Joanna (featured on this blog before) that was soooo cute! I'm going to blow it up for her mommy! Joanna is like a little model, giving me the cutest poses without any coaching. How does she know to do what she does? She does things like putting her hands behind her head and looks up towards the clouds. Her personality just SHINES in her photos. She's such a happy, little girl. I can hardly wait to post her photo. She even had a bow in her hair!

Lenstastic!

My 70-200mm lens arrived and I got a $200 rebate buying it through B&H. I love rebates and I love this new lens which allowed me to capture former Bethany students!

Amy and Krista from Wisconsin were visiting my neighbor and friend, Leah. I'm so glad Leah called me to "come down" to her place so I could see the two sisters who are dear young people I so admire.

I positioned the girls with their backs to the sun so that there would be highlights framing them, rather than have their faces facing towards the sun which would cause washed-out faces and squinty eyes. I had a lens hood on the lens to eliminate lens glare.

Kiss

See the blur behind this couple (the photo term is "bokeh"). I love the bokeh that this lens (70-200mm) gives you! By the way, the white bokeh behind the couple in the first photo is a lake. Today I am ordering Canon's 70-200mm L series lens for myself. It's got image stabilization, which I'll need when zooming in on subjects. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to finally be getting this lens. I've worked extra and saved for months to finally have my own equipment (well worth it). It's been years of waiting and using others' cameras and practicing, practicing that have brought me to this place. Now I want to continue learning by trying new angles and techniques and to bless others with great family photos. Through the process, I will give some technical explanations for anyone wanting to learn more about photography. It's going to be fun!!

More of Nicola

Nicola hasn't done any modeling, but she sure did well when directed how to pose.

The wind was a problem - her eyes were watering and she had to blink a lot, but she kept doing just as we asked. It kept getting colder and colder. We were glad when we were done!

Poly Mendes also took photos of Nicola. I just met Poly and will be photographing two weddings with her soon.

I'll include a couple pictures of Poly...one of just her and one of her photographing Nicola. Poly has a photography business and is mentoring me. Check out her blog!

Poly Mendes.

Nicola

A photographer friend met me at Centennial Lakes in Edina to photograph a young woman who was willing to be photographed by the two of us (practice for me as I learn to use my new camera). I learned a lot! I'm still editing the photos, but was anxious to post at least one photo to my blog. Isn't she beautiful? More photos will follow...

Spring in the Park

I took a good part of a day to just take photos. I wanted to enter a "Noemi Photography" photo contest last spring. This wasn't my final submission, but I still like the composition, the reflections in the water and the peacefulness of this shot.

A Walk with Mom

Mom has always been a walker. She LOVES to walk and it helps keep her diabetes in check. She stayed with us for a few days so we checked local parks to find a place to stroll. We'd never seen this park before (in Eagan). It had a lake and big, tall trees. Mother and son enjoyed the scenery while looking for a geocache nearby and I shot a bunch of photos. The golden sun was getting low on the horizon, which made for gorgeous hues. The only thing I'd do differently next time is ask mom and son (my hubby) to be closer together, with mom's arm through Tom's.

A Different Effect

I saw a tutorial on how to make a TV scan line overlay on a photo for a different kind of effect. I followed the easy tutorial and this is how the picture turned out. You can find the tutorial here: http://digital-photography-school.com/creating-a-tv-scan-lines-overlay-photoshop-creative.

I adore taking children's photos and when they are all dressed up like this, it makes taking their photo even better. I love how the light hits this little girl.

Wedding Backup

I used the Canon 30D with an EF 70-200 mm f/2.8L IS USM lens for this shot. This professional Canon lens has image stabilization which made it almost impossible to get a bad shot. I had so much fun with it! It's heavy though. I thought my arms were going to fall off the next day, so I started lifting weights and it helped me the next time I used that lens!

I like shooting backup for the wedding photographer because you can get angles they can't get. This was a very handsome couple and they were very comfortable being romantic in front of the photographers and their guests. It made our job easy.

If you want a backup photographer at your wedding, let me know! My prices are currently much lower than most professional photographers.

As you can tell, I enjoy taking photos of children. You can get such CUTE shots.

This photo doesn't seem like a wedding photo, but it is! This child in it's crib belonged to the bridesmaid's sister and and the bride was getting dressed nearby.

Notice that I didn't place the baby smack dab in the middle of the frame, which gives it more interest. The lens was wide open (I believe it opened to 1.2 mm) - thus the blur directly in front and directly behind the baby.

I'll post a bonifide wedding photo in my next post. I had fun shooting some wedding candids last summer that I'd like to share.

Bethany (MN) Library Nightshot

Back in 2003 I had a 2 mp camera that could take long exposures at night. The sky was a deep blue and the moon was out. I set up a tripod outside Bethany Church and faced east, toward the Bethany library. After taking the shot, I added more color saturation (control U in Photoshop) and then put a "drybrush" filter over it. I like the richness of the colors.

Allison's Golden Hair

Allison agreed to pose for me more than once. She being so beautiful, it wasn't difficult to get good shots. Natural lighting is always best to use, so she sat on the sill of a window and glanced outward. Angling the composition gave it more interest. I wonder if I should have had her look out a bit more, so that more light would hit the right side of her nose - or I could have used slight fill-flash to lighten the shadow. I've seen attached flashes that will aim slightly backwards, so as to give the slightest fill-flash. That's the kind of flash unit I'd like to get!

Perfect Fall Day

I was on a 2004 retreat with girlfriends and the colors were magnificent that weekend!

Having Fun with a Model Friend

Alicja was keen to have me take a few shots of her - no direction needed. Her mother had been a model in Europe - maybe she'd learn a few things from her. Seemed to. Guess which photo Alicja liked best.

Capturing Emotion

Emotion in a photo is very moving. It initiates a response from the viewer. Someone crying, laughing, or frightened will give more interest to a photo. Photojournalists hope to get these kinds of photos. Try to capture emotional moments when you can!

Nothing Like Children's Photos!

This little guy, Zeke, knew I was aiming the camera at him. He was a bit uncomfortable despite my trying to get him to smile for me. Slipping, sliding down the bench; hoping to escape from view...