Emily & Nick | Albert Lea Maternity Photographer

Emily heard about me from my girlfriend, who work together, because Emily had mentioned she needed to find a photographer to photograph her soon-to-be newborn son.  When Emily contacted me, I mentioned about doing a maternity session and she jumped at the chance.  With just a few short weeks to go until baby Connor made his appearance (which Emily was actually having contractions at my house the night before Connor came out), we got these.

I had a lot of fun shooting these guys.  Emily was glowing as a soon-to-be mom and Nick was, well, being Nick.  Henceforth the last photo.  I'm not sure if Nick was picking something out of her nose or putting something back though...

Friday Favorite - "Time Flies" | Albert Lea Maternity Photographer

Recently, my girlfriend, Michelle, moved two hours away from her home so that we can raise our son, Xander, together, and be happy as a family.  (Here's their Friday Favorite post.)  She got a job at the casino across the border and became friends with a girl by the name of Emily Malli.  Michelle mentioned to her that I was a photographer and Emily contacted me about doing a newborn shoot.  I told her that I would love to do a maternity shoot to gain some more experience.  She didn't hesitate one bit to jump at that opportunity.

There's a reason why I picked this photo to be a Friday Favorite.

Emily was due October 2nd, and like most expectant mother's, wanted her baby out NOW!  So Michelle and Emily went for a walk two days in a row.  Emily is now sitting in my living room, having contractions, and Michelle, having the heart of gold she has, is being supportive and telling her experience she just went through 4 months prior.  The father, Nick, is at work right now waiting impatiently for the call.  (Don't worry, the contractions aren't close enough to go to the hospital now.)

www.amp-studios.com

This is one of my favorite photos from Emily and Nick's session.  It really shows how much they love each other and how excited they are to start a family together.  And the black & white with the rustic building really adds a unique feel to this photo.

And by this time next week, you'll get to see baby Connor on here!  GO GO GADGET EXCITED PHOTOGRAPHER!!!

Friday Favorite - 'Nuff Said | MN & IA Photographer

So it's been awhile since I've done a Friday Favorite.  I've got a legitimate excuse though.  My other job got in the way, I did a redesign of the website and then this came along.

www.amp-studios.com

I don't think there's anything else I need to say about this photograph.  I think you can imagine why this is a Friday Favorite title 'Nuff Said.

Behind the Lens - Newborn Photography | MN & IA Portrait Photographer

I recently had the pleasure of being the photographer of my friend's twin newborn boys. I've never photographed newborns before, and for a while, had no intention to. I loved looking at newborn photos but I just felt like I couldn't be gentle enough nor create that "Awww!!" factor. But I eventually started getting curious and anxious to photograph a newborn. It's something I've never done before and I wanted to see what I could create or if it was for me.

Oh Boys...

It was getting closer and closer to photograph these two absolutely adorable newborns.  Usually when I do something new as a major milestone like this, I tend to get "wet myself" nervous.  This time though, I was utterly excited.  I went searching online for posing ideas, prop ideas, safety tips - just about anything you can think of when it comes to photographing newborns.  Of course I had the problem of finding anything for twins.  Did you know that twins are a pretty rare natural event?  Whudda thunk it...  So the day came to photograph these two boys and here's what happened.

 Be Still My Beating Heart

So I actually got to my friend's house later than I said I would be there.  Luckily, they weren't even fully up when I told them I was on my way.  I walk into his house and his wife starts going frantic.  "I'm so sorry that my house is a complete mess!"  You just had twins lady, I think you're allowed to have a messy house.  She starts cleaning while me and my friend play a little catch up and then I remembered why I was there.  So I bolted to the twins' room and just stand there with complete awe and amazement at what I was seeing.  I've seen plenty of newborns in my time, but never twins.  Just seeing these little guys made me think of my own newborn that's coming into this world.  Something so delicate, so precious and so amazing.  Thinking of one life coming out of a woman is still awe-inspiring but TWO?!  That's just sheer strength and power of a woman right there!  Now comes the fun part :-)

Becoming A Newborn Photographer

After I was done gawking at these two babe's, I went out in the living and started shifting stuff around to make way for my portable studio.  (Imagine carrying 50+lbs. worth of gear on your back, your arms are a perfect spot with anything that has a hole in it and you're doing a circus balancing act with anything in your hands.)  All I can say, and all I should say or I might just bore you to an eternal sleep, I spent 4 hours bossing my friend and his wife around, holding these two babies, seeing plenty of boy giblets, laughing, oo-ing and aww-ing, and completely forgetting everything else around me.  There have only been a few times in the past 2 years or so where I forget life even exists.  And this was one of those times.

To my friend Sam and his wife Annalin, thank you.  It was my pleasure to create something for you guys to enjoy for many years to come.  After photographing your two precious gems, I feel that this will be something I want to do more and more and will never get bored.

My Favorite

Here is my favorite shot that I took of Khristian.  I just love everything about this.  The colors, the pose, the feeling.  Every time I look at this, I become speechless.  If you want to see the rest of this session, you can go to my Website or Facebook page.

www.amp-studios.com

Khristian & Kheaton | MN & IA Newborn Photographer

Do I have a treat for you!

A friend of mine recently had a set of twin boys.  I sent him a message congratulating him on his new additions and that I want to take their newborn photos.  His sister was the one who actually contacted me and wanted me to do them.  I should note, my friend doesn't check his Facebook very often so he never got the message.  (He's kind of a loser like that...)  I got his wife's phone number, told her I would love to photograph the little bundle's of joy and set up a day and time.  As the days went on, I got more and more excited.  Looking at all the props out there for newborn's, some posing ideas, ideas on how to handle twins...everything you could possibly imagine.  I ran to the local hobby store the day before (20 miles away local) and picked up a few things that I had for some ideas.  And the results are below.

Those adorable hats were provided by Amarama Art (Facebook and Etsy)

I should mention, this was my FIRST EVER newborn photo shoot.

:-) Enjoy :-)

Khristian & Kheaton | MN & IA Newborn Photographer

What photography means to you

There's an age old question that a lot of people ask: "Why?"  When it comes to photography, these questions are no strangers.  Why are you so expensive?  Why can't I get a disc of my images?  Why can't I just print the photos myself?  Why go through you when my friend has a camera too?  (That last one kind of rhymes.)

I recently read an update on Facebook from fellow photographer Christopher Lee Photography (Website and Facebook) that they get asked these similar questions.  I couldn't help but feel for him and be instantly put into his shoes.

A lot of people that didn't know I was going to get into portraiture photography would complain about the high prices and lack of "service" they were going to, or did, receive before going to a family friend "who used to do photography back in the day."  I couldn't help but think to myself, "If others are charging so much for so little, I'll do the opposite."  Then I started realizing something and I changed my whole mentality:

Photography is art; a one time masterpiece

Don Giannatti, a renowned photographer in Phoenix, AZ (Website), couldn't have said it any better, "We have one moment to capture a photograph forever."  This has been my mantra for the past couple of years and believe in it with every inch of my soul.  And I'm sure if you ask any other photographer, that's the exact same way they feel as well.  It is our number one purpose to capture every moment possible, whether on purpose or accident, so that it will never be forgotten.  Now some may think, "Well of course you can capture the same moment again.  Especially if you posed it or if it's a reoccurring event ."  Let me rattle your brain with some science.

If you think of time in a linear fashion that doesn't have the ability to go into reverse, every second we live will always be a second lost.  If we say or do something that we regret, we have no way of going back and changing or preventing from that moment happening.  If you do something that was a lot of fun for the first time, and you do it again, it won't be as fun as the first time since you've already experienced it.  Now it might be MORE fun than last time, but if you didn't know that that particular situation was at your disposal, could you have done it within the same sequence of time?  No, because we can't go back in time to recreate the first event to enjoy the second event, nor can we recreate the same event the exact same way, from each step you took down to each laugh you had..  We can only enjoy each event in a time sequential course.  You can DUPLICATE the event, but you can't recreate EXACTLY the same event.

Now if you take that same mentality and put that into photography,  we can't make the same exact mistake twice, we can't recreate the same exact pose twice...we can't recreate anything the same exact way as the first time.  We can close, but when you look at the tiny details; strands of lose hair, angles, lighting, color, all the minute, microscopic details, it will never be the exact same.  So when I say "a one time masterpiece," it literally IS a one time masterpiece.

Ok, let me take this down to a more manageable post now...

Now, let me go over the questions of "why" from earlier.  I'll start on the ever deciding question: Cost.  There's just no way to sugar coat this, photography isn't cheap for both parties.  But for the client, it's an investment.  You're investing in products and services of moments, you want from a trusted source, to be handed out to your friends and family and for your home.  Do you pay your accountant to do your car repairs and expect your car to work like it should?  Probably not.  You take your car to a mechanic who can pinpoint the problem in record time, repair it, make a few phone calls, take a shower, take an extended lunch and have down time all before you go on your lunch break for the day.  And I'll bet you my left pinky toe he charged you a lot of money.  But you're going to pay it because you trust their expertise and their work.  Photographer's are the same way, but with a way less, and possible reoccurring, cost.  You pay a photographer for their expertise of capturing those masterpieces and creating art for your walls.  And the photographer has chosen the absolute best vendor to print those masterpieces for you that will best fit their style and compliment your walls.  Which brings me to the next question.

The question of, "why can't I just print the photos myself?" feels like having a piece of ourselves ripped from our body in the most torturous way possible.  All photographer's value their craft and their art.  If you take your photos to a one hour photo lab, provided you have been given a print release and the disc of the photos, you're basically telling us that you value our time but not our work.  A lot of the one hour photo labs don't have the proper color correcting software or capabilities that a professional lab has AND when your photos get printed, the colors are more than likely going to be off and the person working behind the counter won't take the time, nor care, to correct it.  So what you're paying for when you order prints from the photographer is professional quality color, the photographer's art and hi-resolution photos.  (Maybe in another post I'll explain hi-res photos.)

On to the question of the disc.  Why don't a lot of photographer's offer a disc with your photos?  It's simple really: Protection.  The protection covers a wide area; copyright, print, stealing, claiming...just to name a few.  We don't want our photos to be stolen and claimed as someone else's and put all over the internet or sold to a company who might use the photos for promotional reasons.  The photos we create are intellectual property according to the Federal Copyright Act and we still own the rights to those photos.  Another reason why photographer's might not offer a disc is because you then have the ability to go where you want to print them out and honestly, we don't want our masterpieces printed on poor quality paper or with poor quality ink.  Whether you want to believe it or not, it does reflect on us and our quality of work.

(I promise, we're getting to the end of this.)

The final question: why choose us over your friend or relative who has a camera similar to us.  This one should be a no brainer.  Assuming your friend of relative has little to no experience with photography, they won't know what they're doing.  Photographer's are very meticulous, on an obsessive level, about making photos.  We pay a MASSIVE amount of attention to detail about color, position, camera settings, composition, posing, lighting, angles, hand placement, clothing placement, head position, hip placement...EVERYTHING!!!  I've completely lost count at how many times I've heard this line: "We had our friend/relative take our photos and we were so disappointed.  I really wish we would have hired a professional to take our photos."  Every time I hear a story like this, it just breaks my heart.  No one should ever have to receive poor quality photos.  Ever.

So what does all this technical, artsy, fartsy stuff mean to you?  Literally everything.  When you hire a photographer, you're telling us that you trust us to capture moments in time for you and create masterpieces for you.  You're not just paying for pictures, you're investing in masterpieces of art that have been carefully crafted with proper lighting, posing, composition, our vision, and for one-time moments that can never be returned.

So the next time you want or need to have photos done, don't ask yourself, "how much can I spend," but rather, "what kind of quality do I want?"

(FINALLY!  THE E N D!!!)

Birthday Bash Giveaway!

WOOOO!!!  We gonna party like it's 1999 all over again!

This month is a special month for me.  I'm turning another year older on this month and I want to celebrate my birthday month will all of you.  I want to give you guys a gift instead of me receiving one (besides, my gift is still in the oven and won't be here until the end of May, beginning of June).  Here's the gift I want to giveaway:

26 of you will get a $50 gift certificate towards session and prints!

That's right, I said 26 people will get a $50 gift certificate towards their session and prints.

Contest rules:

• If you're already a fan of my Facebook page, all you have to do is "SHARE" the status update from my page with your Facebook friends and you'll get 1 point into the drawing.
• If you're NOT a fan (yet), go like my Facebook page AND share the status update with your Facebook friends and you'll get 1 point into the drawing.
• Every time you see a status update with "Birthday Bash Giveaway!" in the text, share that update with your friends and get an additional point into the drawing.  There is no point limit so share away!!!
• There has to be a minimum of 200 "Likes" on my Facebook page for the giveaway to be, well, given away.  If you have shared any or all of the status updates to gain an entry into the giveaway and there were UNDER 200 "Likes", you will still be entered into the drawing.  Just need 200 "Likes" for the giveaway to be given away.
• Deadline is April 24th and a winner will be chosen via random.org on April 25th.

That's it!  Need 200 "Likes" on Facebook and just share each update with "Birthday Bash Giveaway!" in the text and you could EASILY win $50 off your session and prints.  Good Luck and "Sorry for Party Rockin`"!


PS: If I get well over 200 "Likes" on Facebook, I'll throw in a little sumtin` sumtin` extra ;-)