09.30.07 KATIE'S SENIOR PHOTO SESSION

Finally had the chance to hook up and get Katie's photos done on the way home from Sioux Falls. She lives on a farm just outside of Olivia, MN. Like the Ideal Yardware shoot, it was rainy and blustery, but I managed to keep her on the downwind/downrain side of most of the locations that we shot.

Katie's farm was one with every animal you could imagine. She has been involved with lots of poultry, dogs and the family even has a 1 acre wine vineyard. There were some great spots to get photos and we pulled it off even in the rain!

Katie is also a FFA State Officer, so we got some shots with her three blue corduroy jackets (much like you saw in Derek's gallery).

HERE are the rest of Katie's photos.

09.30.07 IDEAL YARDWARE SHOOT

This shoot was a preliminary shoot for an advertising campaign for Ideal Yardware in Sioux Falls, SD. I took shots of a few clients of Ideal Yardware and their subsequent Gravely lawn tractors. It was a rainy blustery day just outside of Brandon, SD, but the shots turned out fine.

I will post an updated look at the ads when they get finished.

By the way, good job to Jarrod. You look like you "run 3000 acres and don't have time to worry about your lawn tractor"!!!

Trip to South Dakota

We went out to South Dakota this weekend to visit my friend Jacob! He was born about 5 weeks after me, but we are about the same size! Our daddies are buddies from college and love to hunt together in the fall, so no doubt Jacob and I will have to tag along in a couple years. Jacob's has a sister Grace and a brother Caden too.

I have been liking the food thing just a little more now too since mommy and daddy have tried sweet potatoes. I just don't care for that rice cereal much. Sweet potatoes are a lot messier too which I like!

09.29.07 JACOB

A beautiful little boy Jacob was a smiley little subject to work with in Brandon, SD. His 1 1/2 year-old sister, Grace was a big help in getting him to smile. These photos were Jacob's 4 month photos and he is doing really well. Like I have found with our boy Cameron, those hands like to go into the mouth almost all the time!

The rest of his gallery is HERE. Our boy Cameron was right there for a few shots at the start of the session too. These two buddies have some fun times ahead.

09.27.07 TYLER'S SENIOR PHOTO SESSION

Another unique shoot for me today. My first time on the runway at an airport for sure! Tyler is really into gliding so we met at the airport to do the first part of his shoot there. It was awesome. Right when we arrived a glider came in a landed close to us...it was magical to see something so huge slip in so quietly. I can't imagine how peaceful it would be to be 3000 feet in the air sitting in the quiet of one of these elegant gliders.

Shot much of this part of the session with a 10-22mm Canon lens. There was just this incredible need to capture as much of the glider as possible. I feel like we got a good combination of Tyler and the glider. Not like your typical photo shoot prop, that's for sure!

The only other prop we used was Tyler's dad's 1967 Fender Stratocaster. A real beauty that any guitar player like me would really appreciate!

Tyler had a great smile and was proud to show it off as he had just gotten his braces removed a couple weeks ago! The rest of Tyler's unprocessed gallery is HERE if you want to see some more!

09.23.07 DEREK'S SENIOR PHOTO SESSION

Had a great time with Derek down in Fountain, MN. It was a really, really windy day and I have found that people with shaved heads are the easiest to photograph on windy days!! Derek didn't fit that hairstyle, but we still got some good shots. We did a number of shots in his garage that they are in the process of building right now. Had kind of a dusty, dirty feel to it. Nice for the contrasting feel of a stark b/w photo.

We also hiked through some tall weeds to an abandoned barn and corn crib to get a few mosquito infested shots! Derek's mom Barb was a real trooper making the hike with shorts and flip flops on. One of the best discoveries was Derek's spur of the moment idea to check out an old culvert he used to play in. In addition to some good light and no wind, it will have a personal connection for Derek. That is the goal with any portrait - capturing the person for who they really are.

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon for a nice drive through southeastern Minnesota. Derek's unprocessed gallery is HERE if you want to check out the whole shooting match!

Weekend at the Farm

Got to spend the weekend at the farm again. It was very windy so I wore this bandana on my head...an old trick Gma used to do with mommy when she was a baby. I was outside for a while in my walker. I still love watching Sogn move around me...it always makes me laugh. I am trying to get better at petting him too. Sometimes I grab his fur too much and he doesn't like that much!

Gpa Don was working on the combine in this photo. He got out in the field and started harvesting beans too. Daddy and uncle Josh helped out hauling loads (in between hunting of course).

09.16.07 THE BAXTER FAMILY

Had a great session with the Baxter family on Lake Minnetonka this evening. It as a beautiful night along the lake as the sun was slowly going down on my back. The Baxters are a great looking family. The 13-year old daughter, Abby, came through at the State Fair with a friend of hers. They got their photo taken with some lambs.

Much thanks to a great family who really seemed to enjoy being together and having their photos taken. That makes the job of the photographer much less a "job" and more of hanging out with some fun people and capturing their time together.

Bath Time

I got to stay at the farm with Gma Deb today!!! Mommy, daddy and I stayed over night last night and they both went to work today. I got to go in the stroller and hang out in the barn with the cows. I was a really good boy and took a couple good naps, ate some oatmeal cereal and had some formula.

Aunt Lindsay and Wyatt came later in the day and we got to hang out too. Daddy came to get me after school and we road home with Sogn.

After going for walk, mommy thought I still smelled like the barn so I got a bath. I love the bath and playing with my rubber ducky!!

First Football Game

Here I am at my first football game!! It would have been a really good time if I could have seen out of my snowsuit! Once I got all bundled up and warm, it was just so hard to stay awake. We watched Uncle Kevin's Mayo team whoop up on Faribault 40-20. They started a bit slow, but got it going late.

It was a gorgeous weekend. We stayed at Gma & Gpa Addington's and had lots of fun. Daddy and Gpa did a little bowhunting and I stayed with Gma and just kept rolling over ! I can kind of spin around a little bit too. Not too long and you won't be able to look away from me!

We also went to my cousin Wyatt's baptism at Grace Lutheran in Goodhue on Sunday. I tried talking to him while he was up in front of the church. He was crying and I was just trying to console him! He and I will be quite a pair in a couple years.

09.12.07 MATT'S SENIOR PHOTO SESSION

You know those times as a photographer when the light is just right...those "magic times" when everything has a glow that is hard to forget. The one-hour Matt and I spent together on a quiet county road with his Harley was that time. We simply did a bunch of shots on the pavement cutting right through the middle of some southern Minnesota corn fields.

Knowing Matt from a previous class, I knew that he wasn't a real smiley guy. And I think that we captured his personality to a T. Sometimes those types are the easiest to shoot because they really aren't worried about their smile/hair/etc and simply spend those moments being themselves while the camera shutter clicks.

HERE is a bunch of Matt's unprocessed photos if you want to check them out.

09.07.07 SPEAKER STEVE SVIGGUM TRIBUTE

In last minute fashion, one of my best friends, Steve Sviggum asked me to shoot a "small event" on Friday night for him because his staff at the Minnesota State Capitol didn't have a photographer lined up.

The little event was actually a wonderful evening in tribute to Steve and his 28 years of service to the Minnesota State Legistlature. Steve was one of only two people in state history to serve as Speaker of the House for 8 years. Over 450 people attended the event including Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, US Senator Norm Coleman, media mogul Stanley Hubbard, William Pillsbury and several other supreme court justices and legistlators.

It was a great evening to pay tribute to Steve and his service to the State of Minnesota. Though so many of the attendees held positions of high profile, it was amazing to hear them all speak simply of Steve's friendship. Amidst all of the dignitaries in the room, Steve was most proud of his family that joined him.

Back at the Fair

Well I sure haven't had too much time to be on here writing in my blog. Seems like a lot has happened in the past week or so.

We spent a fair amount of time at the Fair (that was a joke) and now we are all exhausted. Daddy was really busy with the photos, mommy helped him a lot and worked hard in the FFA Leadership Center and I pretty much went back and forth between the two! I stayed home one day with Aunt Kecia too. We saw lots of friends and family who stopped by to visit. Steve and Debbie Sviggum took me on Monday for quite a long walk. Along the way, I joined Steve for a radio interview on WCCO with Don Shelby. Don held me and talked for a little bit. He is a really nice guy and someday I will see him a lot on TV.

As you can see in my photo, we tried rice cereal for the first time tonight. I wasn't quite sure what to do with that stuff in my mouth. So I kind of pushed it back out with my tongue, rubbed it on my hands and then wiped it on my eyes, face, ears and hair. I think at some point I will like it, but not quite full-time yet.

Another thing that I am doing a lot now that we are home is talking to my puppy, Sogn. I seem to stare, smile and squeal at him everytime he is near me. He is a lot more friendly with me now too. He is excited that we are home since he spent the week with Gma and Gpa Addington...that equals getting up at 5:30AM and a walk about every hour. He was spoiled!

09.03.07 MINNESOTA STATE FAIR

Well it was the end of a very long 12 days at the Fair.

The Photo on a Stick was an overall success. I did over 375 sessions with everyone from a 4-week old, to families, to toddlers, to a major league baseball player. We shot photos with piglets, chicks, ducks, bunnies, lambs and even a calf.

My wife Leah was a huge help as she shot while I was at teacher meetings or shooting the FFA Livestock show.

It was a learning experience and we found lots of things that we would like to do differently if we are able to work again next August. Because it was in a separate room, folks were somewhat unsure of what was happening in our studio. But when people were on the set, a line usually formed at the door.

Kurt Weber and I also have had lots of inquiries regarding Vision Custom Design and our products we had on display. Considering that over 1 million people came through, we couldn't have asked for better advertising.