Happy Halloween!

Last Sunday, we had snow flurries, and today, it is 60 degrees! Ah, now THAT is what I'm talking about! That is perfect weather for trick-or-treating!


(Actually, I took this pic at an August wedding, ha:)).


I just wanted to share this story. I find it funny. When I was a bride-to-be, my in-laws-to be (in-law aunts and cousins of aunts, etc) threw a shower for me. They came up with this really fun game, where they would ask me some questions so that they could get to know me, and then they called Aaron and put him on speaker phone and asked him how I answered. One of the questions was, "What is your favorite holiday?"
"Halloween!" I answered.
...Then I saw the look on some of the more conservative Christian faces in the group...you know that sweet, "Oh, that's nice" I'm trying ot be kind look, and I added...
"... because you get to dress up and be someone you're not... and eat candy..."
... and then I added...
"I also really like Thanksgiving..."

To make things worse, when they asked me what music I did NOT like, my answer was, "The worship kind where everyone is singing together..."
And I didn't realize until later that what I meant to say was, "The LIVE RECORDED worship music they play on the radio where a large crowd is singing together! (I just don't like live recordings at large concerts!)"

Oh my lands. GULP! So now I really portrayed myself as a heathen and gluten!! (Is that how you spell that?).

Well, while no one said anything, I'm sure they have gotten to actually know me and know that I am not a heathen. ... The gluten is to be decided on, depending on your definition of "gluten!" Ha! :)

I like food a lot (it's like a hobby), and it's true... I love Halloween (even though I am a Christian... what??!).

Why? Well, I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that I grew up celebrating Halloween in the "Halloween Capitol of the World!" No lie. Just google it, and "Anoka" pops up. When I was in Elementary school, we used to have Halloween parties, and we participated in the Kiddie Halloween Parade... we would walk down Main Street in our costumes while hundreds of people gathered to watch. We learned how to spell "Halloween" by learning THIS song... and I have been singing it all day!

(There is a "play" button under the Halloween image. The song starts around the 1 minute mark.)

This is the same tune, but with no words... I love this cartoon, haha!


We used to play Danse Macabre in orchestra. So much fun.


The Saturday before Halloween, there is a BIG parade that takes place again. People from all over the state show off their city royalty on floats, and all sorts of businesses hand out candy. This is no dinky parade, folks. This is a LONG parade... lasts a long time, AND it is at least a mile long. It's that, if not longer for sure.


Halloween parties are also a big deal... there is ALWAYS someone throwing one. I have thrown my share of them, and they are SO much fun. We also do pumpkin carving contests often.

I also like Halloween because of the excitement in the air... the leaves are blowing, the kids are running from house to house... people put up fun and/or scary decorations...

And literally, as I am writing this, I just heard some kid jump out from behind my house to scare his friends as they walked by. I love the shrieks of excitement.

I'm obviously not into the super dark Halloween stuff... just the fun aspects of it. Yeah, some people get weird about it. But let's be honest. The majority of people who "celebrate" Halloween, celebrate it because it's fun to dress up, eat candy, carve pumpkins, decorate, go on haunted hayrides and to haunted houses(the fake kind of course) and drink cider.

I hate the dark, so I don't go to haunted houses much:)



Tonight I'll be decorating my entryway (complete with a very fake looking skeleton, Dead Fred, and strobe light) so that hopefully I can once again be told by a 6th grader, "Nice getup!" Ha! :) I love handing out candy. And if I can find a costume from my huge costume box, I'll be attending a Halloween Party tomorrow night.



And so, Happy Halloween, everyone, from the Halloween Capitol of the World! (Well, next to it, anyway...I moved:)).

SNOW??

Ok, so it's suppose to snow here tomorrow night.


THIS, people, is why I've thought for many years, that Halloween in Minnesota should be earlier in October.

I was in 2nd grade when the infamous "Blizzard of '91" hit... children all around Minnesota were dressed in their costumes, ready to collect their treats, and we were forced to wear snow pants, boots, and huge puffy coats over our costumes.

It is currently 54 degrees at 9:30pm. Tomorrow it's suppose to be 26 degrees at this time.

Fall is wonderful, and then it gets cold REALLY fast. It's ridiculous. I am so not ready for snow tomorrow!!!! It probably won't stay, but it's still not necessary for winter to rear its ugly head at us so early! Winter is only welcome from December 10th through January 10th. Then it can go away.

Unfortunately, that's not how it works here in Minnesnow-ta.

Faith and Fotos tonight!

Tonight I will be hosting a woman's photographer retreat titled Faith and Fotos at my parent's place. It was such a busy time in the season for so many photographers, so it will just be an intimate group, but we are hoping to do it again in the future!

We'll be talking about our business, photography, and what role our faith plays in those things... it will be a good time for us to bond as photographers, answer each others' questions, challenge and encourage each other to set new goals, and hopefully find some renewal! (As I said, it is the busiest season, October in Minnesota, because we are all doing many weddings and portrait sessions because of the fall colors).

We're going to throw a log on the fireplace, enjoy some great food, and music too-- provided by my husband's cousin Heather, who often assists in leading worship at her church (and she has such a beautiful pure voice!).

I'm really looking forward to tonight. While tonight isn't about actually taking photos, I will do my best to do that so I can post some up here;)

Sarah and Dan's Engagement Session

The pics below were a few of the images from Sarah and Dan's engagement session.

They are two of my favoritest people in the entire world. I have known Sarah since 2nd grade, and Dan (who I call Nimmy:)), since my freshman year of college-- we met through a mutual friend and hit it off online-- but we didn't' actually meet in PERSON until about a year later.

Sarah and Dan never actually met until a New Year's party at my place (is that right, guys?). It wasn't until a year later that Dan apparently started liking Sarah (which was first noticed by my friend Johanne-- just to give her credit), and Sarah and Dan would both come over for "24" (the TV show) nights at my place for the next few months... and then they started dating... which made my cry...
Because every time I thought about it, I KNEW they were going to be married... and it made me so happy. Because they are absolutely perfect for each other, and two of my best friends.

I will be Sarah's maid of honor in June, and the fabulous Erin Benner(another good friend of mine) will be shooting their wedding... she allowed me to take their engagement photos:)

We shot them up at Gooseberry Falls, along the amazingly beautiful north shore. (To those of you who don't live in MN, "The North Shore" is the shore of Lake Superior... it is the closest thing we have to an ocean around here:)).

Here are just a couple of my faves:

(Dan says this is almost exactly the spot where he asked her to marry him...)



(This one is obviously not a "serious" engagement pic... haha:) A wave just splashed up and Sarah was feeling the freezing cold mist... it was super funny).











Sarah and I lusting over the shirtless statue:


Dan took this pic of me and my hubby, Aaron:)

Before and After

I love editing a photo to make it look what it was meant to be, and how I "see" it.

I love flipping back and forth between "before and after" shots if I've really done some tweaking with them. ALL of the photos I give my clients are edited. Each photo receives a basic editing procedure, but some of them need some more work-- whether it be the lighting conditions, the settings the camera was on, the lack of color in the image, to some people, a "blah" photo may be present-- but to me, I see potential-- and I edit the photo to bring that potential out. You will likely never see the original photos that I take, because they are not "the best they can be," (I only give the best quality to my clients), and so you may never notice the work that goes into the photo.

And so, today, I wanted to show you a few Before and After shots to give you a better idea of the work, process and love that go into my photos! :)




(In Lightroom: Boosted the temperature, brought out the blacks, vignette, contrast and vibrance boost. In Photoshop: adjusted the curves.




(In Lightroom: Cropped, boosted blacks/shadows, flare control preset, readjust contrast, lighten auto vignette, In Photoshop: select subjects with "circle" tool, feather, adjust curves so that subjects are brighter. Clone out a few flyaway hairs--it was super windy! :)).



(In Lightroom: Crop, Flare control preset, tone down the preset (contrast, vignette), and boost temperature. In Photoshop: select subjects with "circle" tool, feather, adjust curves so that subjects are brighter. Clone out the shadow in foreground so that photo is brighter, more symmetrical, and "happier.")