Al, from Lakeville North, was the first senior from the Class of 2011 to be photographed at our studio last week. He was referred by one of our LNHS ambassadors, Shaun.
It’s hard to believe that the “season” has officially begun. He is incredibly busy during the summer, so his parents thought it was a great idea to take advantage of the early season deals. Seriously, everyone CANNOT come in August (by far our most popular month); also, all the summer sports start their two-a-day practices in August and then it becomes impossible to schedule a session.
Since we had an early spring, the outdoor “portrait park” is lush with beautiful perennial and annual plantings. I have never seen it look better! (Look for an upcoming blog article later this week with photos of the outdoor studio.)
Who do you think Al looks like? My answer is at the bottom of his photos…
The next round of the ambassadors have been photographed. Ty, Max, Tristyn, Shep, Riley, Maggie and Chad represent Eastview, Burnsville, Rosemount, Lakeville North and South. Bree, our Apple Valley ambassador, will be photographed on Sunday.
Here are links to our favorite photos from each of their sessions. If you haven’t already, become our fan on Facebook; seach for Jan Kentala Photography and click the “Like” button.
Shaun is from Lakeville North High School. His sister, Chelsea, was an ambassador for me two years ago. Shaun arrived and began unloading his car. I saw all kinds of sporting equipment coming in the door. He is a football captain, plays hockey, and lacross. He loves sports and it was important to take lots of different sports shots as this really defines Shaun’s high school experience. It was readily apparent that Shaun has spent time working hard in the gym, and he was very gracious to allow me to capture this in his photographs.
Jillian, from Eastview High School, was the second ambassador to be photographed this spring. As usual, the hardest part was narrowing down her clothing selections. The girls bring so many beautiful and interesting outfits to choose from, I have as hard a time eliminating outfits as they do! But these days, “close-up” photos are the most sought-after look, so the clothing is really secondary. (I know I could do a great session with just a black top.) Jillian has a beautiful smile, but her serious look is dynamite, too. I wanted to emphasize her big blue eyes. Eyes are always so much more pronounced in serious poses, as they are wide open. Here are a few of my favorites from her session.
Laticia, from Prior Lake High School, was the first of my “ambassadors” to be photographed this year. She arrived, with her mom and sister and a rack full of clothing choices. Our first task was to select the outfits she would wear. This isn’t easy – she would have happily worn every outfit! But we finally narrowed it down to about 5 outfits. Then, we discussed what type of photographs would make both Laticia and her mom happy. They had tons of ideas and pointed out numerous photos on the display walls that they liked. The photo session couldn’t have gone better – Laticia loved being photographed and was willing to try anything. She ended up with a ton of great images!
Wow – Minneapolis has enjoyed an unseasonably warm week with temps into the 60’s. This is about 20 degrees above normal. All the snow has finally melted and I thought it was a good time to go peek at the gardens. Oh my gosh!! There are green things out there and some of my flowering shrubs, like the azaleas, are showing new buds!
This prompted me to look at one of my favorite files in my computer simply labeled ‘flowers’ (I took these photos during the Minneapolis Men’s Garden Club tour last summer). And that prompted me to see what new creations I could make with some of my new Photoshop filters, actions, and brushes. I was having so much fun, the time was flying by faster than looking up old junior high school friends on Facebook! I had to force myself to stop. But here are some of the cool “new” flowers I was able to create.
Logan came last week for a photo shoot to obtain photos for a “comp card.” His dad was once a model and Logan thought it would be fun to try this, too! At first quite shy in front of the camera, he quickly warmed up and then began suggesting his own poses and outfits. I think his expressive brown eyes and perfect features will attract some attention with the local modeling agencies. Now his younger brother thinks he may want to “try out” too!
Though this is not the comp card design I finally submitted for print (they are two-sided), this is an example of what the agencies are looking for. Good luck, Logan!
Don't you love his big brown eyes?A classic "headshot"
Savannah and Cosette just celebrated their #4 and #2 birthdays and it was time for their annual portraits.
The girls arrived Wednesday morning with their parents sporting beautiful new Easter dresses, patent leather shoes and hair bows. Savannah was thrilled to return, as she remembered having fun last year. She entered the studio smiling and chattering excitedly about having her picture taken in her pretty new dress. Cosette, however, had the opposite reaction: she clung to her daddy and began crying whenever he tried to set her down on the backdrop. Despite pulling out all the tricks and happy little props designed to make little girls smile, she wouldn’t have any of it! She did become very attached to a Beanie Baby cat, which of course did not match her dress (darn! – why didn’t I have the white cat instead of the brown and black one out?! -BAD photographer!) She would not let go of it and I realized that, even if we did get her to stop crying, there would be a mismatched stuffed animal in every photo.
Well, these photos tell the story. Cosette will be making a return appearance soon, hopefully in a happier mood! And, her parents will come in coordinating outfits, in case the only shot I can take is of the entire family. AND I will only have tiny white stuffed animals on deck……
As I’ve explained about 2 and 3 year old flower girls in past stories, generally “you can’t bribe a child younger than 4 years old”!
Here is Savannah ready and happy. (Did I mention that mom wanted the two girls photographed TOGETHER?)
Savannah and dad BOTH trying to entertain little Cosette
still waiting for little sister to join the photo…..
Would you like to join my club? Yes, I know: if I hate winter so much, why do I live in Minnesota? Good question! When Mike graduated from Michigan State, he had two job offers: at Pillsbury in Minneapolis and at General Mills in Minneapolis! Truly, he tried to find a job in California or Arizona, but that didn’t happen. We even briefly moved away to Syracuse, NY for 3 years (warmer, yes – but WAY more snow) but then we were lured back to MN again. And now I have this big studio here, so…. here we stay. sigh
I can think of a FEW things that are good about winter: Michigan State basketball on the Big Ten network, the Winter Olympics, watching the Food Network and printing off recipes and making lots of comfort food, indoor tennis leagues, going someplace warm (Palm Springs or Arizona or Hawaii) and feeding and watching the birds. Seriously, I cannot add to this list!
Here are a list of BAD things about winter: NOT living in Palm Springs, Arizona, or Hawaii in the winter, always being freezing cold (in MN, you cannot practically set your thermostat above 68 degrees – it would never stop running), eating all the food I make from watching the Food Network and gaining 8 pounds every winter, the sun setting at 4:30 p.m. (hey – we are THAT far north!), winter driving, shoveling your roof,
ice dams (which happen if you DON’T shovel your roof), cold beds – brrrr, having your car always crusted with road salt, tracking road salt into your house, not being able to sit by my pond or stroll through my gardens, falling asleep at 8 p.m., winter tomatoes (bleghckk), cold feet. Well, you get the idea!
Do you want to add to this list?
We recently had back-to-back snowstorms that have added an additional 18 inches of snow on the ground. We neglected to rake our roof and are now dealing with replacing all the wet insulation in the attic and having a bedroom ceiling scraped and re-done by Thompsons Roofs. Experts from the company had to come out and spend 7 hours removing 20 feet of thick ice dam on one side of our house with a steamer. This occured on a day that the high temp was 2 degrees. See the photo below where our yard is encased in ice and all the eaves are full of icicles! This turned our snowbanks, which were considerable, into veritable icebergs! They are NEVER going to melt until May!
sigh….. And check out our mailbox: it was hit with a plow and embedded into the iceberg snowbank. I’m sure our mailman is NOT happy about trying to get mail into our box!
Well, there is one pretty thing about a MN winter: the sky appears to be so much bluer against the white snow. After a heavy snowfall, the temps always plunge, which make the snow appear to “glitter”. Here are some photos of our Ice Palace.
everything is encased with ice
the last storm dumped an additional 12 inches new snow. This is our back deck.
What a great way to start the New Year by photographing the wedding of Gloria and Del!
Both had been married before, but Gloria hadn’t had a big church wedding. Well, that was about to change! With 5 attendants on each side and 7 junior attendants (all grandchildren), I told them it was “like photographing a royal wedding.” Del did a lot of eye rolling when we met to discuss the wedding details (“In the old days, the guy just had to SHOW UP!” he said.) But he was a wonderful sport about everything. The beautiful ceremony was held at Oak Knoll Lutheran Church in Minnetonka, followed by a reception at Stonebrooke Golf Club.
Like all couples, they later told me, “It went by in a blur.” I smiled at them and said, “Well, that’s why you hire a wedding photographer!”
The "royal wedding party"The couple's grandchildren
