Monday Inspiration on a Wednesday

I completely forgot to post my Monday inspiration for this week: DIANE VON FURSTENBERG

I would love to someday meet her! She's enigmatic in every part of herself. She's so interesting to me in her ability to create fashion for the "woman". I have a couple of her dresses and just love them! She has an ability to create clothing that makes you as a woman feel terrific! She reminds me to slow down, take it in, take a breath!

She did a commercial for American Express. To view it click here: AMEX Commecial with Diane Von Furstenberg
I can relate to this commercial entirely. I'll go out and photograph film, develop them, use my old darkroom and create a photograph. CREATE A PHOTOGRAPH with chemistry. It's the process in a darkroom I feel connects me to a the photography I use now.

Thank you Diane for inspiring me every day to create beautiful photographs!

Anna & Colin, 7-19-2008

Anna and Colin were married July 19th, 2008 in a small church down the street from her parents home, where her reception was held on Lake Minnetonka.

It was an incredibly hot day, then suddenly in the middle of everything it rained for about an hour, the sun came back out and it was just enough to cool it down for a sunset reception. With her mom being a florist, she was able to create one of a kind centerpieces that accented the couple's tastes.

Thank you Anna & Colin for including me in your wedding day!

A Surprise Gift!

A very special couple were thought of by a very special person. I was asked to photograph a gaggle of kids on an outing to the Minnesota Zoo. The special couple recently celebrated their 10th Wedding Anniversary and their secret gift is finally finished.

It was a great day to shoot and result is a 10x10 book for the parents!

To view CLICK HERE

Thank you Teena for asking me to enjoy such a great day at the Zoo!

Monday Inspiration is a Sneak Peak!!

On Saturday I shot a wedding I've been waiting for since I first met with the bride. It's been well over a year of corresponding and meeting. The day was as lovely as I had hoped and more!

It's an inspiration to be around lovely people. They are the people most others gravitate toward. Anna was my bride for 7-19-2008 and she proved to be everything and more. She's an artist's muse in a way. In her was something that brought out the best photographs. Coming from a Fine Art Background, she allowed something to funnel out and I appreciated her willingness to sit and "be".

So, my Monday Inspiration is the BRIDE. She "is" and it's everything I as an artist want to convey. She is beautiful, each her own. She is subtle, she is full of emotion and color and poise. She radiates light, love, vision and character, with or without knowing it's all being captured.

So I thank the bride, I thank her because she wants me to document what "is" for her and her family in the future.

Thank you Anna for being an inspiration!

Please click image to enlarge.

Dolls again.

Every morning I head over to the starbucks down the street. It's my biggest guilty pleasure, 1 venti drip coffee. I've made coffee at home and it just never tastes as good as my lovely Pike Roast drip coffee.

So, driving along the other day, I was sitting at the stop light in my car and looked up. There they were. about 10-15 Barbies strung up on a power line.

Why do I keep finding dolls!

Monday Inspiration

On Saturday I watched the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon. WOW! To see the Olympic athletes compete was amazing! They are my new inspiration. Anyone that can plow through a 1.5k swim, then hop on a bike for a 40k ride, then run for a jaunt of 10k...that's just inspiring. It was great seeing all the spectators out to support the athletes. I had 2 friends compete and it was great seeing them through!

THE Emma Snowsill won again for the ladies! This is her heading out for the run. She's all of 90 pounds and all muscle.



Here's a couple of the men, heading out for the run. Interestingly, the men's winner Simon Whitfield was behind all of these guys and managed to pull through.

Monday Inspiration: Tina Barney

I'm in LOVE LOVE LOVE with Tina Barney's work. Her aesthetic is so different than what normally is seen. She shoots with a large format film camera. For those of you that don't know, it usually takes about 45 minutes to set the camera up. There's this distance that's created in the slow set up and the subject that always ends up being interesting. She was born in 1945 and is still going. Her subjects started with her family and then went into the family structure of others. I'm just so in love with her work and am influenced by her artistic tendencies!

Images from: Museum of Contemporary Photography

6-28-2008 Erin & Evan

Erin & Evan were married Saturday 6-28-2008. The day began like any other and then it was almost as if a hurricane swept through the tiny city of Big Stone City and we were in the midst of 50mph winds, rain drops the size of golf balls and the craziest weather I've ever seen. Their outdoor wedding was no more. Plans moved the intimate gathering to a nearby reception site, the Dairy Institute near Millbank, SD.

So it was a day filled with movement and beauty. Erin was a terrific bride, you just gotta roll with the punches and see through to the fact you are getting married to your love. Whether the rain comes with wind, or the sun shines, it's the fact that 2 people found each other and are celebrating with friends and family.

So, the first image is looking out of her parents home, where the wedding was going to take place. That's the scene we watched unfold as she got ready.



Erin's dress was her mother's, only revamped for Erin:





They meet in a room of her family's house, looking out at the crazy weather that's passing through:





















A break in the weather gave us an opportunity to head outside: