Where to begin? From an awesome bridal party to snapping turtles and a Michael Jackson mix tape, I would have to say we did a lot! Greg and Amber were so much fun to shoot with and picked out a great place to take some fun group shots. Working our way over to a cute little bridge in the park, we discovered that the recent rain had turned the land into an almost marsh land and we were forced to choose another location. Don't worry, Amber's shoes did not get wet, she took them off. At that same park we ran into the biggest snapping turtle we've ever seen. It looked like something out of the Jurassic period, and though it seemed to lumber, it could really move when it wanted to. The reception was great! Good choice on the buffet Greg and Amber (thumbs up!) They had some of the best chocolate cake that has ever been conceived, and a candy bar with gummy worms! The DJ wore an interesting hat, but knew how to get the party moving. Thanks Amber and Greg, we all had a wonderful time!
What a crazy day! Northern Illinois was more picturesque than I imagined with rolling green hills dotted with farmland, super tall corn, and all kinds of cool old barns. We got caught in a heavy rainstorm but made the best of it by getting an "American Gothic" image just before the deluge. A short stop at Sharky's bar yielded some cool images with old signs, the band stage, and Paul and Emilie catching the raindrops on their tongues. When the rain finally let up a bit, we piggy-backed Emilie into "no trespassing" territory for the images that will probably be hanging on their walls soon. Both Paul and Emilie have HUGE families - check them out, I'm part of one. :)
Paul and Emilie are such a fun-loving/adventurous couple that I had to censor some of the images - you guys will get to see them on the proofing site. :) I love the "bride, mop bucket, beer" shot, Tom carrying Emilie to the rusty car, and the shine of rain on the wedding party - what troopers! The Bridesmaids went through the cattle catchers... yikes! What a great weekend! -Judd
Well, well I think I'm going to start handing out awards again: Best Wedding Cake Ever - somebody comment with who made it. Red velvet cream cheese filled slice of heaven with a perfect touch of light frosting. That was a run-on sentence but I don't care; I told Josh that I could have died a happy man after sneaking a second slice of that cake from the waiter's plate at International Market Square.
Two incredibly delightful families of CPAs and teachers loaded this wedding. I think it was Jason's dad who stood up and toasted at least 20 teachers in the crowd saying "these people often don't get the recognition they deserve; dedicating their lives to educating young people." I concur. As a former math teacher, I know the energy these folks (including Tara) put forth. Jason proposed to her in her classroom early one morning. Awesome - were you giddy all day, Tara? :)
Dave had a funny toast to Jason with "You had me at CPA." Hilarious. Some of my favorite images are below: the cake I mentioned, awesome graffiti wall we stumbled upon, the "heel click" first-of-its-kind image that I've taken, and the "levitate" shot the guys did on THE FIRST TRY. Also some cool silhouette stuff in there, shot of the 36 passenger limo (complete with bathroom), and some really cool sun rays coming down outside Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.
Thanks to Elsa's idea, the bridesmaids made headbands out of their bows that were supposed to go on the dresses; they were a little gaudy on the dresses apparently. -judd, Josh, and Lee
Liz is this joyful, croc-loving spitfire from Eastridge that is one of our studio's high school senior ambassadors this year! We got some cool cave images and really cool lighting by the waterfall/brown mystery drainage pipe. During our 3-hour, onlocation elite session, I'm glad to have found my croc soulmate! Or is it solemate?
We always try to blog our 3 hour Elite senior portrait sessions (especially on location) and Alex and Alyssa proved to have some awesome visions for their senior portraits. Josh and I hopped on our motorcycles and cruised to a farm for Alex and Victorian House for Alyssa. It was so refreshing creatively for us to step into new locations we hadn't seen and capture these images for these young women full of personality. These images were so fun to edit, it is now 1:30am and I need to leave the studio! The people coming out of the bar upstairs are giving me weird looks... :) -Judd
Alex / Farm shoot session: FFA, Rachel and Nicole there to help close the cow pens, us shooting until the cows came over, me falling though the floor in the barn, little Henry tagging along, Josh testing fantastic light coming through the barn, and a shot with 86-year-old Nana on the front porch. What an awesome night, until Josh had his gloves slip off his motorcycle and we had to backtrack. :)
Alyssa / Victoria / Gothic / Edgy session: Nikki and Deb (the dynamic duo) there to assist, amazingly cool architecture, harsh shadows, video lights, and Alyssa with an amazingly cool and creative vision for her senior portraits. Hopping in the fountain "Friends" style with Nikki was fun at the end!
We can't keep up with portrait blog posts with the number of portrait sessions we're doing now in Stillwater, so just check our facebook page after your ordering meeting. Most of the facebook images are not retouched by master retoucher Josh yet, but feel free to tag yourselves!
Two beautiful venues for today's wedding of Joe and Amber. Amber did hair & makeup for our bridal fashion session a couple months ago, so it was fun to turn the camera on her! We've shot a couple hundred weddings now and think we've seen it all but we had THREE "firsts" with Amber and Joe: 1. Limo breakdown and subsequent jump start (video to come later), 2. Tornado Watch sent all guests to the basement of the Millennium hotel (we had a great view of the storm from the domed ceiling of the hotel! and 3. Groom Joe wiping out on the dance floor for both dollar dance and garter toss. :) I got to polka with Amber as well, not sure if that was a first...
The Church of St. Michael is a beautiful historic church in Stillwater, and the priest actually married Amber's parents, Amy and Steve. Usually during the message of the officiant I usually take a little break, charge batteries, kick my shoes off or something but something somewhat magical happened Saturday. Somebody comment with the guy's name - it was a guest preacher and he told this story about "true love" that had everyone on the edge of their seats:
(Abridged version) He was sitting in a park enjoying the summer day when along came an elderly man pushing his wife in a wheelchair. She was smiling as they passed by him on the bench. The man pushed his wife up very near to the swings, helped her out of the chair and gently onto the swing. When he gave her a gentle push her smile lit up even brighter. Then the man said to his wife, "Now get ready for the run-under!" and proceeded to 'run' along side the swing and push her even higher; both of them beaming. You could hear a pin drop in the church... what an amazing storyteller. He told Joe to always give Amber the "run-under." Awesome.
Remember when you were a kid on the swings and you started getting "in sync" with the person next to you and you called it "married" to that person? Funny but it's really true that as a couple you need to be on the same page otherwise it's pretty crazy trying to communicate, and I think we all can relate to that! Joe and Amber have been dating since 7th grade so they are pretty in sync. The guests were peppered with our portrait clients and models so we ended up staying late until the tornados passed. :) I'll post their video soon but here are some of our favorite images to start below. -Judd and Joe
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