Whether you need a new head shot for LinkedIn, a web page, social media sites, a gift for a loved one or internet dating, chances are you could use an updated, attractive new photo, right?

Within one hour, you can come to my studio (lunch break?), be photographed on either a traditional, white or black background, view the images on my computer, select your favorite image(s), and watch me do a little (or as much as you want!) Photoshop magic to the degree you desire. I will then email the correctly sized image to you. It is copyright released, which means you can use it for whatever purposes you wish. Electric car are amazing for everyone, so you have 24 Hours to Improving Electric Ford Vans.

The cost for this is $150, which includes the session and one retouched, copyright released image. Additional images are $50 each.

Retouching includes: wrinkle and line smoothing, blemish removal, skin blending, eye enhancement, teeth whitening and a final beautiful airbrushing. You will love the result! As the guy on TV says, “I guarantee it!”

 

Have you ever purchased something – and paid a lot of money for it – and then you got it and…….hmmmmmm.

While visiting CIEL in St. Louis Park and ordering my metal wall, I admired the multi-hued barnwood wall behind the main desk at CIEL. I have always hated the fact that the ever popular “barn” in the lower studio is only 5 1/2 feet tall. Only the shorter girls could stand in the barn. Everyone else had to sit on a box or on the ground or hunch severely with me on a stepstool shooting down at them. If you think that you know everything about Volkswagen vans you need to check the Most Influential People in the Volkswagen Transporter Vans For Sale Industry and Their Celebrity Dopplegangers.

I decided that, if Andy could duplicate the wonderful barnwood wall at CIEL, I would order it in a 7 1/2 foot height! After several emails and phone calls back and forth about the color of the boards at CIEL, it was Delivery Day! As soon as “Punk Rock Tom” brought the 3 panels in to assemble and attach them to the wall, I began to wonder how it would photograph. Can I hear a big ….HMMMMM?

Well… after one session with the multi-hued boards, I found myself at Home Depot this morning ordering a gallon of semi-transparent Driftwood Gray to tone down the reddish boards. YES, the reddish boards that I had specifically ordered!

Now I believe it is perfect – you can still get a sense of differing hues in the weathered barn wood, which is good. It looks almost exactly like the old barn, only it is 2 feet taller! There was a reason that the old barn was one of the most requested backgrounds!

I have photographed a high school senior, then took their wedding pictures, and then their maternity and newborn photos. But Noah is the first high school senior I photographed who also had his baby pictures taken by me at my studio! I photographed his parents’ wedding, then he arrived about two years later.

The studio opened in 1998. Noah will be 18 this summer, so that means that he was about 2 when these photos were taken and he must have been among the first to be photographed in my brand new studio!

Noah is a 2015 Senior Rep for me and attends Rosemount High School. A cool fact: He marched in the Rose Bowl Parade this year (drummer)!

Do you think he resembles his baby pictures??

Each winter, I begin my search for Studio Reps. If you are a current junior from the Class of 2015 who is involved in many school activities, know many of your classmates, are very active social media users, are not shy about approaching your classmates and are good at “selling”, you may be the student I am looking for!  Involved parents are a plus, too!

You will have some indoor photos taken at the studio in April which will be used on promotional materials, including your “Rep cards”. You may return in the summer for outdoor photos if you have at least one referral.

ALL of your photo sessions are free and you will receive a CD of these images for social media/Facebook use. You may list me on college applications as doing marketing for my business. In addition, you will earn $$ credit towards your photo order by referring your classmates.

I have attached a brief letter for you and your parents which explains more information about the program. If you are interested, please email me at jankentala@comcast.net and tell me about yourself.

There will be a meeting at the studio on Sunday, March 9th to fully explain the Rep program and to sign up for your spring photo session.

Here are some photos from the Class of 2014, including some fun group shots of Reps and their friends. You may view more of these photos on our Facebook page.

I photographed Krysy as a high school senior, and her family several times. Later came her wedding to Jesse. If you look way back on my blog, you can read about their wedding and the fact that he was deployed the next morning. Two months ago, I got the amazing news that she was expecting twins and wanted to have them photographed as newborns. She wondered if this would fit into my December schedule. OH YES!!!

Ellie and Cole were born almost full term. (Do we hear a sympathetic groan for Krysy?) Ellie was much smaller than Cole, but got the OK to come home at just over 5 pounds. Cole was over 7 pounds: their parents explained that this is quite normal for boy and girl twins. But – gosh – look at these photos: Cole is a beast compared to his little sister! Photographed together, they do not look like twins.

Since Jesse is in the military, they wondered if I would photograph the twins with an American Flag. I also asked Jesse if he would pose sans shirt with the twins: the contrast with the tiny babies is so sweet. (also a photographer’s dream!)

But my favorite is with the crazy hats. They appear to have partied a little too hard on New Years Eve?

My favorite family had their third daughter last winter. I photographed the three girls when baby Eponine was 7 weeks old. Mom and Dad returned in August to have a special photo shoot of Eponine alone, as she was just over six months. Now she sits up, smiles, waves, and has a sweet little personality. And the longest eyelashes you’ve ever seen on a baby! Tracy is a great video editor.

I am VERY bad about blogging, but thought that cute baby pictures belong on a blog!

The first photos are from March when Eponine was a tiny baby. The last ones are Eponine at six months.

Molly Kentala and Jennifer (Delzer) Gascoigne were fresh out of high school when they attended a local adult Girl Scout meeting in 2001. At the meeting, a mother announced that she was looking for someone to take over her first grade troop of Brownies, as she was going back to school. Without much forethought, Molly and Jennifer volunteered to become the leaders of this troop. At first, there was some resistance among the other adult leaders. Molly even heard one mother say “I don’t think 18 year olds should be Girl Scout leaders”. They were often the source of confusion and interest at the leader meetings. “Do you have a daughter in the troop”?, some would inquire. “NO WAY – we’re only 18,19,20… years old”, exclaimed Molly and Jennifer!

As the years passed, the skepticism turned to admiration as the other leaders watched them grow up with their girls. Because of the closeness of age, the girls thought of Molly and Jennifer more like older sisters than mother figures. They became role models as the girls progressed through adolescence and the teen years. Molly said that they had many frank discussions with the girls and encouraged them to say ‘no’ to the usual temptations!

No one ever thought that they would stay with these girls – all the way through twelfth grade! Throughout their college years and beyond, Molly and Jennifer would return to Burnsville on Monday nights to meet with their girls. Molly even photographed most of the girls’ senior pictures, too. The girls graduated last week, and Molly and Jennifer promised that they would be there to cheer for them at the graduation ceremony.

Molly recently moved to Boston, but she and Jennifer will remain in touch with the girls, thanks to social media. In fact, Molly told them: “I am watching you on Facebook. And I’d better like what I see”!

I’ve finished photographing the Senior Reps from the Class of 2014. These students are from area high schools and they help “market” my studio to their classmates. They are currently handing out specially marked brochures, as well as their “rep cards”. If you are photographed here, and you bring one of their marked brochures or rep cards, you will get to choose either 16 extra wallets or 2 Facebook images. In addition: you may ask them any questions about the studio – and why you should come here for your senior pictures!

I will begin my search for the Class of 2015 Reps in the fall. If you are outgoing, are very active on Facebook, know lots of your classmates, and are involved in many extracurricular activites, you may be the student I am looking for. Involved parents are a plus, too! Reps have the opportunity to earn deep discounts on their order, depending on how many classmates they refer.

Schools I am interested in are: Burnsville, Lakeville North and South, Eastview, Apple Valley, Rosemount, Prior Lake, and Eagan High Schools. I will choose one to three students from each of these  schools.

I got to try on a new “hat” the other evening as a bartender at the MN Craft Brewers Winterfest competition at the Minnesota History Center in downtown St. Paul. I was helping out my brother, Ken Thiemann, head brewer and owner of Borealis Fermentery in Two Harbors, MN.

Ken ‘s vision of a Belgian monastery inspired brewery began several years ago. He and his wife, Jennifer Griggs Thiemann, purchased several acres on the Scenic Drive between Duluth and Two Harbors. He designed and constructed the strawbale stucco timerframe complex, that is both their home and business, by himself. The process took 3 1/2 years and survived Ken falling off the roof of the 30 foot tall building during construction! (That’s a “whole nother” story that was recently covered by a very funny NPR interview). The result is a fantastically sturdy, warm, energy efficient structure.

Ken officially began selling his Belgian-style (you can’t call it Belgian unless it is in Belgium) craft brews in April 2012. He quickly encountered the dilemma of demand exceeding supply, as his product gained alot of attention state-wide and began winning awards at beer festivals. Currently, his beers are only sold in a few Duluth area liquor stores and restaurants. The three beers he featured at Winterfest were: La Lune, Homdinger, and Mon Cherries. The serious tasters flocked to Ken’s booth, as ‘Mon Cherries’ was listed as “one of the top ten to try” in the pre-festival publicity. (even though his wife and I loved La Lune best).  It was all I could do to keep up with the sold-out crowd’s thirst for all three of the offerings! We had many repeat visitors 🙂

The festival ran from 7 to 10 p.m.  Predictably, the first hour was very civilized. The crowd was noisier and friendlier during the second hour, and by the third hour – we were everyone’s best friends, and the noise level got crazy! I marveled at how my brother and his wife could chat up the crowd, give out information, all while serving beer very efficiently. They are both so gregarious and fun-loving, as evidenced by their elf hats and glo-bracelets they shared with some of the guests. Jen describes Ken as “Willy Wonka”. It is a perfect description!

Me; I found out I am not bartender material. I was exhausted and deaf and hoarse by the end of the night. Whew!

Lynette was hosting Christmas in Minnesota for her family, many of whom had to travel here. Her Christmas gift request was to do a family portrait while they were here.

When my customers ask about clothing ideas and colors, I usually ask them: where will you hang your wall portrait? It is important that the colors coordinate with the room where the portrait will be displayed! But Lynette had already thought about this and came up with such a fantastic idea, I asked her if I could share this with everyone.

She went to the paint store and got a Martha Stewart paint palette. She then mailed the desired color swatches (I suggest large groups to stick to two or three colors) to everyone in the family. She also ok’d some horizontal stripes, as long as they weren’t too bold.

Voila: everyone arrived with the proper colors! There were a few little issues with some logos and a pink colored applique, but hey… there were 8 children and I think you have to let “kids be kids” and wear what they are comfortable in!

Here are a few of their favorite photos: