3.30.2008

NCAA Bracket

With the loss of Louisville, I am officially done in the NCAA Bracket I had through Chris' Mom's hospital in Appleton.  
Bummer.
Now, on with the Twins Baseball Season!

3.27.2008

Everybody is Going Green

Seems like nowadays everyone is promoting their "greenness". Not as in newness to your profession but enviornmentally
friendly-ness. Which is great!, but why has it taken so long for the media to start to recognize the significance of earth friendly things? Did someone finally give them the green light to start to talk about this?
Chris and I have been pretty earth friendly for a while and are always looking for new ways to be more so. But, we might as well jump on the bandwagon and proclaim our greenness to the world (or whoever reads the blog). Hopefully these green posts will be a little more thorough in posts to come (with photos and maybe even facts I drum up).
But our most recent way of being green is
walking to work.
We have shortened our commute from a 15 min drive each way to a 5-8 minute (depending on icy-ness of the sidewalks) walk from our home to our neighborhood business.
I know not everyone can do this, but maybe just living a little closer to where you work, or taking advantage of public transportation (hey! you can get a ton of reading done while someone else drives!), or utelizing your legs & feet would be a big improvement in not only your quality of life, but everyone elses.
There is my PSA for the day, and another post for the week (in my quest for posting 5x a week!).
:)
Calculate your carbon footprint

3.25.2008

Minnehaha Falls during March Snow

On Saturday I went over to the falls while it was still snowing. While I wish it was warmer right now at the end of March, I haven't minded the snow that has fallen these last few days (my garden certainly appreciates it!). At a time of year that is usually gross, slushy, gray and dirty the covering of white was a refreshing change of scenery. Minnehaha Falls is gorgeous any time of year, it was a very serene morning as the snow fell and the falls flowed. I was lucky that there weren't many people out and about yet, when I was leaving it was starting to be over run by photographers - professional and otherwise.
Here are the falls -
The creek
The bridges
some icicles or ice formations on a railing




3.22.2008

Michael & Jessica's Handmade Album Materials

Chris and I are working on a custom hand made album currently for Michael and Jessica. We will post the finished product with some of my favorite spreads when it is all complete. These are the materials I am planning on using so far.
I don't think my p&s camera does the colors justice here. I would call the red a cranberry red with a light sheen, not as high as satin. The cream fabric for the inside does have a higher sheen. The ribbon I think is the most robbed here, it is a very nice rich buttery yellow color. There are three brooches I picked out and I think my favorite, because of the intended design of the book is the longer skinny one with the orange inset stones. My second fav is the lighter one, but it definatley has some wear to it since it is an "antique", or at least previously owned - since I don't know the technical definition of "antique".

I am thinking of a covered spine with the horizontal double ribbon like this book. I still need to get the orange ribbon I would like to have as the top accent to pull in the brooch.

Chris is printing inside pages.
I can't wait to get the finished product all done. It is going to be awesome!

3.21.2008

B2B Group Event - Appropriately the subject was Blogging

Sue Ginsberg of GrowthLynx asked me to photograph her B2B Group's event 
held at SALO on Wednesday.
The B2B group is a Business to Business Networking 
group through the MPLS Chamber of Commerce.
I wish I could have listened more as I photographed, the speaker Steve Borsch was very interesting. The topic was "Your Stake in the Ground: The Ins and Outs of Effective Blog Marketing". I picked up a few blog sites and tools to use. One thing I remember he said is that he doesn't mind spelling errors. :)
There were many more nice photos of many of the people in attendance, these are mostly people I know and have worked with on projects or committees.
Roger Halverson of Matrix Resources

McKaela Grasmick of Express Personell Services





Hot Coffee


3.19.2008

Alissa & Jeremy's Brand New Baby Girl

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting Alissa & Jeremy's baby girl Maura. 
What a little sweetie she is.
The family with Maura in her Christening outfit


Jeremy puts on her rosary bracelet.

cute baby & daddy moment
Alissa looks so pretty here, and the pink walls of her nursery were great as a background
Is this Mommy or Daddy's smile?



I think she already has the "Hey Song" down - next it's the "Iowa Fight Song"!
baby toes
baby tears

Some Nursery Details - super cute sheets from Pottery Barn Kids

Henry finally got in on the action
and cooperated enough, once I started barking, for this complete family photo.
Congrats Again!

view on pictage

3.18.2008

John & Monika

John & Monika came in on Sunday for a portrait session in the studio. Here are my favorites with effects applied -
BW
just touched up, no effect
russet
sepia with vignette

my fav of the 4 below
the progression of effects
tough choice here as to which one I liked better
the funky effects layered really worked on the brick wall outside

my favorite of the 4 below




frame you saw at studio with clock

same frame but just corner sample with matte to be used (this is what fits your description of what the framer has in stock).