Paula's Pregnancy

My friend, Paula, was a willing candidate for me to take my first maternity photos. We meet at her house today for mom's group. Her first child, Taylor, is just a few months younger than my son. Taylor also got some photo action with her soon to be little sister or brother.

Nathan and Sherri

Nathan and Sherri from Monona planned on taking photos at the Monona Holiday Open House but we rescheduled for a more intimate setting at the studio on Main Street in Elkader. Nathan and Sherri were a couple showing true affection for one another. What a lovely couple.

Grandkids

Link and Diana had a lot of fun with the red wagon and empty fireplace. Look for these photos on my mom's Christmas card. She wanted to send out something with the grandchildren on it. I'm not sure the soft focus is something I like or not in these photos. I was getting light from the street window and my own studio lights.

Banse Family

During Elkader's Holiday Open House the Banse family from Strawberry Point had their pictures taken. Marge and John also donated the use of the fireplace seen in the photo.

Swigarts Thanksgiving Quickie

The Swigart Family in Elkader needed a family portrait for their holiday cards done during the holidays while their son was home from college. This was my first run in the indoor studio. I was surprised to find Peggy's glasses having no glare and her daughter and husband's with lots. I am wondering if there are different types of glasses that do this. I learned to always take a photo without glasses for at lease one photo to use in Photoshop if necessary.

The Moore Thanksgiving Challenge

Every Thanksgiving the Moore family poses me with the challenge to get everyone looking forward and smiling on their ever growing family. While I am able to change expressions in Photoshop using the multiple photos I take in each session I thought this one came pretty close to hitting the nail on the head. Only two kiddos were distracted by the entertaining family members to my right.

Jansens Shadow Problems

I wasn't at all happy with the results of the Jansen family portraits so I offered them another shoot at a later date. The problem being a terribly bright day. I looked for the prettiest spot with open shade on their land and tried to get the sun out of their eyes but not behind them. Big shadow play fail. Not to mention one of the kids was sick and they were in a hurry. This photo shoot lasted all but 5 minutes.

Justin Rockin Out

I had an absolute blast snapping photos of my Godson, Justin. I set up shop in the basement during a family gathering to play with the lights I was borrowing and let him have all the fun he wanted.

Kids at Play

It is so hard to choose just one of the great photos that happened with Link and Diana played in front of the camera for me. They were so funny and got along great together.

Emily's Wedding

This is a bittersweet photo for me. I was able to do my second wedding photo at the reflecting pond and it was in pristine condition. However the bugs were bad, keeping many people swatting and swaying and it was here that my second camera was stolen with half their wedding photos. My heart still aches for that hours worth of awesome images that can never be replaced. Fortunately I was able to still have one camera on me and continue to take photos the rest of the day.