Steph & Nicole

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I always tell couples that where they choose to take their pictures is important.  Don't pick a pretty park that you have never been to because you saw someone else's pictures there once and thought they looked great.  Yes, most likely you will look great too.  But we can do more then that.  I want these pictures to hold a piece of you, not just how you looked that day, but how you felt.  What places hold stories for you? Nicole and Steph have known each other since they were 8.  They grew up as best friends and now, decades later will be marrying each other August.  For their session we watched the sunrise on the shore, and than hiked into the woods.  Not just any woods but a forest plantation Nicole's mom had helped build.

Here was their sacred space, amongst the tall trees.  Sheltered beneath the pines Steph and Nicole shared their story of long lasting friendship, and love, and long distances, and adventures as we celebrated THEM in this place.

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Brianna & Alex

I would like to believe I bring a sense of calm with me to wedding days.   I want to fight the current culture that says you must spend this entire very important, beautiful day posing for pictures.

And instead I give an alternative that says spend your day being present with one another.  

Alex & Brianna had such a romantic and easy chemistry about them.  As their photographer I decided to take a step back and just capture that truth.  So that when they look back on these photos years later, the stories these photos hold will be real moments for them to keep.

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P.S.  My website is filling up with women in white!  So cool to see a dream of mine coming to life: 

Bridal Showers

I have spent a lot of this month trying very hard to embrace rain.  It has shown up in the wedding I was photographing, an engagement the next week, and again it made an appearance at my bridal shower this weekend in Duluth. But as me and my girlfriends stood watching this storm come in from the shoreline there was nothing we could do but just full belly laugh!

“We lit a fire under ourselves when we got to talking…and if it weren’t for that, we’d still be sitting at home; floating, and not swimming.” – Our Wild Abandon

Just stumbled across this quote today and it hit the mark.  This weekend reminded me that there is something so sacred about gathering with all the wonderful woman in my life, and this quote spoke a truth.  When we are together a spark is lit, and we all remind each other that life is meant to be fully lived.  Even if that means dancing in a thunderstorm!

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Weekly image 26:52.    See all the weeks so far of this project: The 52 Project