Photo Blog

Northern Minnesota Personal Branding Photographer // Meet Clara

Whether you’re a business owner, entrepreneur, speaker, student, or a photographer yourself, having photos for your business profile is a growing trend in creating a presence for yourself in the professional world. With this in mind, my sister-in-law and I had the perfect plan. (Yes, the Lord blessed me with a sister photographer. She’s amazing. www.clarafiedimages.com) We were going to do a little sister session swap in gorgeous Dubuque so we would both get a start on that personal visibility in our businesses. And then I remembered I was 7 months pregnant and postponed my half of the swap. But here’s (Aunt) Clara!

I loooove the greens. Ask me if I want to do a session for your personal branding in lovely green outdoors. I’ll say yeeeeessss!
What’s your brand? 🙂

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CeJae & Brady | Northern Minnesota Farm Engagement

You guys! The wedding is finally here! CeJae and Brady are tying the knot TOMORROW!!!!!

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Rose + Shehan | A Sri Lankan Catholic Wedding

It was a massive honor to photograph this wedding last January. I lived with Rose for a year, and the more I got to know her the more I admired her. I’m proud to say Ben and I bought them the first celebratory engagement cake (were there more celebratory engagement cakes? If not, good thing we got them one). I looooove this wedding album for personal and creative reasons. Each new location could have been an album all on its own. We got to photograph in sooo many styles, and they sold the heck out of every one. We have more variety here than any other wedding I’ve done. These two are simple and detached. I said I admire Rose, and one thing she rocks at is living in the present moment and not getting attached to things or plans. That being said, she loved her day, and her groom adored her all day long. And of course, getting to see Rose in her sari and her epic second entrance into the reception tops the charts for wedding stories. Happy Anniversary, Pereras! Check them out.  I think the question was if she was going to have to leave Chonch (llama friend stage right) behind once she was married or not…
Shehan’s mama did gorgeous work on the flowers!
Meanwhile…
The girls really took care of Rose. They just really didn’t want her to get hungry.
Groomsman goals. Right here. Hide the groom and bring out the BRIDE!I’m getting nervous just looking at these. Last prayers before mass!!!! Have you noticed how much Shehan loves his mom??? And dad 🙂 Holy cow! Getting real! Here we goooooo!Rings!!!They’re like “oh my gosh. We are married.”The Eucharistic prayer. Even when I’m editing these I can’t have any other noises around. Because WHOA!! There He is!I love Shehan in this one. You know he’s a happy man!!Sign their lives away, Clare! That’s a marriage licence! And I always love the parents. So cute.
Annnnnd groom photo of the year goes to…..Poofy dress brides need all star maids of honor. Rose: 1 Bathroom: 0
Onto the reception!! Their timeline included photos at the hotel lobby. Normally that is a bad idea. Not this time. Not a bad idea at all.  See what I’m saying? We got a LOT of different styles. Throwing in the creepy shoulder touch for fun. We were having fun.  Note to groomsmen: There is a possibility of you being photographed at any moment. Just know that. And be yourself. 🙂 Llama cake top. Not even kidding. Shehan and the dads. Man stuff.
Ok here’s where I melted. Shehan’s mom gave Rose this gorgeous sari for this big moment. Rose had a special entrance, and the circle of joyous friends and family welcomed them onto the dance floor. Sri Lankan music, everyone glowing with pride, and one very happy couple. Family is the most amazing thing, and this tradition made it visible that Shehan’s bride was now part of the family. And have you ever seen a family so thrilled?! UH! Sooooo good!   I secretly wanted to name this blog Sari Not Sorry…..funny right…Last song farewell to the bride and groooooom. Farther Along by Josh Garrels. Oh my heart.

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Meet Eleanor Mary Berning

I’ve been very slow to photographing our new little girl because it’s so hard to step away from the perfect moments long enough to capture them. I’ve wondered all my life what it would be like to be a mom. I’ve wondered what it would be like to see a child looking back at me and know she’s mine. And once that child arrived and looked back at me…I realized…I needed MY mom! Ben went back to work this week, and Grandma Terri came to town. It was a dream week. We three girls cleaned, set up Eleanor’s nursery (she was 5 weeks early, and the nursery was still on some distant future’s to do list), wrapped Christmas gifts, and flew through our heaps of congratulatory chocolates. Grandma got us caught up on laundry and made the apartment that Nora isn’t allowed to leave because of a still-developing immune system feel cozy and fun again. Before Grandam left for home today, I snapped a few treasures. My mom and my daughter. I can’t believe these girls are mine, and I can’t believe I got to live these moments.
Eleanor is inside of a Christmas stocking my mom made for her out of fabric she had been saving from HER mom’s collection. Eleanor’s Great Grandma Irene would have been so thrilled to see her Christmas flannel made into this special stocking. We love it, and I’ve never been so thrilled about the gift inside a stocking! Coming up next, those cute cuddly close ups of Miss Eleanor Mary Berning, and maybe a few with mom and dad. 🙂 Welcome to the world, Honey. You’re just in time for Christmas.

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The Henrys Fall Family Session | Greenbush Minnesota Photographer

One of my most favorite families of all time filled up my memory cards one last time before my own little girly arrived! I loved this quick evening with them, and I can feel my smile getting wider and wider as I work through the photos of their happy little personalities! It’s a little late for fall, but I just had to share. If you haven’t met the Henrys, you’re in for a treat! Faustina was ready for her solo pictures first…

Happy girl!More of Matthias “Tonka” coming..
Can you believe Robbie is TEN?! He’s ten right? He can’t be…..The cutest girls! Did I mention these littles were our flower girls? And their mama was our matron of honor. Can you see why we love them so much?Philomena was just a little shy. Here’s our secret to those smiles…The newest Henry, Dorothea, was SO good even though it was cold!
I never let a session end without at least one cute one of mom and dad. 🙂 Just when we were heading in to take a few of Dorothea, Philomena asked in the sweetest way if we could take a few in her white dress. She had wanted to wear it for the family pictures, but since she didn’t get to, we did some special photos of just her. And I think she felt AWESOME. The “good” clothes were sure traded in quickly! Tonka is very hospitable. When I see these I can just hear him inviting us to come in and play.Faustina also insisted we come in!We ended with a few snaps of Dottie (Dorothea) in her chunky cute newness.