2008 February — Minneapolis Wedding, Event and Portrait Photography by Austin Images

Skiing? Me?

February 17, 2008 By Susan 1 Comment

I’ll admit, it’s been about 6 years since I have
been skiing. Gary and I used to make the trek out
to Keystone, Vail, Beaver Creek & A Basin each
winter to enjoy some “real” mountains. We always
had a great time! Turns out, I’m a darn good skier!
Once I get in a groove, there’s no stopping me!

Here’s a shot of Gary and I at the back bowls at
Keystone in Colorado.

Today Pete and I are taking Ben, Emily & Amanda
skiing over at Highland Hills. Ben is a seasoned
snow boarder and for Emily & Amanda, this will be
their first ski experience. We all leave for Mexico
in a couple of weeks, we’d all better take it easy!
We’ll be good Anne!

I bought a big package for the kids for Christmas
and we thought we’d better try to make it out some-
time soon so, today is the day!

Here’s some shots of Dr. Joanna Perkins and her boys
Nick & Alex. I met them over the lunch break at the
Airport Hilton. The MOMF was holding a retreat there
and this was as good a time as any to start taking the
board member portraits. 3 down, 10 to go!

Thanks Jason Stenvold for coming along and lending
your backgrounds. These are great!

Well, I’d better get a move on if I want to get these
boots cleaned up….I hope my ski pants fit!! :]

Filed Under: Family, Portraits Tagged With: Family, o.p. (other photographers), Portraits

DAVISimpact

February 16, 2008 By Susan Leave a Comment

So here’s the poop…I wrote this yesterday…

…..(Hey, Bob Davis sent me a valentine yesterday!
Okay, not really. BUT I did receive his DVD that
I ordered a short time ago. Haven’t sat down to
view it yet…I know, TOTALLY not me…it’s just
that my vacation deadline is drawing near and I
want my desktop clean when I leave.
It’ll be like coming home to a clean house!

I’ll report on it when I get the opportunity to
take a look at it. I’m really excited to sit
down and be inspired! Maybe I’ll reformat it and
load it on my iPhone and watch it on the plane!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my iPhone?)…..

*****************************************************
Now on to some fresh material…

Big day yesterday.
**Finished Amanda & Marks images….YAY!
**Went to the Hilton to photograph 2 Minnesota Miracle
cancer families checking in.
**On my way home from that my iPhone (that I love!)
froze up on me and got all hot from being on so
I stopped at the Apple store at the MOA and the
Genius Bar wait was like TWO HOURS! So I kept on
my way and went to Southdale’s Apple store and they
fixed it in a nano second!

**Lastly, on my way home from Southdale I got a call
from Heather. I was her last and only hope to take
a session up at North Memorial Hospital in Robinsdale.
So I whipped around and met the most wonderful family.
I met them in the Chapel where they were having a
visitation with friends and family. They lost twin
boys at about 24 weeks. There was an awful lot of
love in that tiny hospital chapel.
Then I followed the mom & dad to their room where I
photographed the sweet twins….

need I ask for you to
take a moment and pray for this family and their
devastating loss??? Thank you!

I’ll be heading to Mike & Kindra’s to photograph
Reese in a minute and then back to the Hilton to
take some MOMF board member family photos then
it out for a night on the town with Gary, my brother,
Tim and his wife Laurie..dinner & comedy.
I think I need that!

Love to all far and near,
Come tomorrow morning, I’ll meet ‘cha back here!
(hu, I just made that up. I’m a poet and I…..
naaaa, I wont’ go there.

See ya!

Filed Under: Involvements Tagged With: education, o.p. (other photographers), TECH trouble

Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 14, 2008 By Susan 3 Comments

(the jib jab I added at about 3:45pm!)

Don’t send a lame Valentine’s Day eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

Today I woke up to the sound of plows.
First from one direction, then the other.
Not my favorite way to wake up, I must say.
However, once I got to the kitchen there were
2 Valentines and a big Ghiradelli Chocolate bar
(72%..my favorite!) on the counter!
It’s not just for breakfast anymore!

Not wanting to brush the cards aside,
I opened them first!

Here’s the one from Gary….

Nice sentiment…NOT our anniversary tho’.
Gary said, “WHAT!?? I even had my glasses on!”
I love you any way honey!

And here’s one from the Cats!

The inside reads “…and we might even come
when you call us next time…love, the cats”

Thanks Hobie & Katie for thinking of me!

So I decided rather last minute to attend
a lecture/seminar by a fella named
Bruce Hudson from C@L (that’s Seattle!).
It was entitled New Directions/Reality Check Tour.
Anyway, it was a packed room and much was covered.
From marketing, finding the right clients and
how to make certain that all the consumers with
the new technology don’t take anything away
from us. The new technology is great, don’t
get me wrong. But what you do with it sets
us apart. It’s about relationships and rapport.
It’s about composition and light. It’s about
understanding the needs of the client and
delivering.

So many new photographers offer CDs to their clients.
Bruce tells us that those are NOT our clients.
These are OUR images and we should protect them.

I tell people that this is my profession, not
my hobby. I want to provide quality, long lasting,
heirloom images that people are proud to display.

I resolve to welcome those looking for family
portraits every 5 years, I want to capture a
precious babies entire 1st year, I want to show
the world how important even Kindergarten
Graduation is and how beautiful our teens are
as they prepare to head off to college.
Weddings, oh my God, Weddings…I hate to even
get started with Wedding Photography.
I think I’ll post an entry another day about that.

These are all perfect times for us to be sure
that our clients recognize that these images
are priceless…even before someone dies.

Bottom line here, folks, is…Do I want people
to seek me out because I’m a good deal? No.
I pray that I can develop relationships with people.
I want to be the person that they think of first
when something special is about to happen.
I’ve been doing it for more that a quarter century
with hair, so I know a little bit about rapport.
(Thanks to all the generous people that have stuck
by me all these years!).

Wow! Sorry for the rambling soap box….that was
not my intension. But, now you know how I really feel!

Here’s Bruce (left) and his son, NOT drawing my name!

Dave Johnson of National Camera…Hi Dave!
Thanks for all the great deals!!

Here’s Chad, the bartender at the new Hilton
in Bloomington off France & 494.
Bruce came in the bar, I was there really early
(traffic did NOT suck for once) and he insisted
on picking up the tab for my Cabernet! Thanks Bruce,
GREAT show! A fabulous way to spend5 hours!!
And congrats on the new house, enjoy your week off!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!
Eat just a tiny bit of chocolate today.

Or go HERE for some fun!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: education, Greeting Cards, holiday, o.p. (other photographers), Observations

Engagements…

February 13, 2008 By Susan Leave a Comment

I forgot to post some images from my Bella Pictures
engagement session from Super Bowl Sunday….

I’ve enjoyed working for Bella Pictures on the
Wedding front and this was my first engagement session.

We met at the Mall of America at Lego Land.
From there, we just kind of hopped around~looking for
some spots that weren’t completely taken over by
guests of the park or under construction. Not an
easy task that day!!
We tore it up for about an hour and below are a
few of my faves. Now, these are just mine to play
with and do as a choose as they really belong to
Bella Pictures but that’s part of the fun for me.
Go out, meet some fabulous couples and photograph
them and turn the rest over to Bella.
There are similar operations, here in Minneapolis,
like Camelot & Bella Gala. Please don’t misunderstand
my focus here, I LOVE to deliver all my own work and
throughout the year I do plenty. It’s just a nice
departure from time to time to attend weddings at
new venues and meet other photographers without
all the added deadlines. THAT said…here’s Anne & Alan.

Anne & Alan are getting married this June here in
Minneapolis. I secretly want to shoot their wedding
as well!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: bella pictures, engagements

Blogger is limiting

February 12, 2008 By Susan Leave a Comment

I have just been made aware that the images that
I post (and it’s been the same for almost 2 years),
are too large and that’s why they keep disappearing~
much to my dismay and surprise as you can imagine.
So in the future I will size them more appropriately
so that they don’t keep leaving those lovely little
boxes, lines, “?” and such. Noted.

Okay, so last night I joined a bunch of my PUG folk
in a little “shoot & share”, if you will.
We met at Excelsior’s Mount Calvary Church on 19 in
the sanctuary and flopped into the pews and began
discussing our approaches to shooting ceremonies.
Everything from settings to where we like to position
ourselves and what light modifiers we prefer.

Then Stacey & Jason posed as Bride & Groom and
we made a few test runs…

And then shared our shots with one another.
It was great fun…REALLY!

Then we headed down Water St. to Jake O’Connor’s
for a little late bite & some libations and more
discussion. It was really nice to get out of the studio
and have that field trip feeling we had when we were
kids..only no bus, and instead of cookies & milk we
got to have wine, beer, mini filet mignon sandwiches
and really good chicken tenders!!

I posted a similar entry on my PUG blog this morning.

Here’s more images from my trip to Mexico with my
sister’s family last March…

Ben’s version for Bed Jump

This became a nightly ritual (Thanks Pete!)

Ben leading the way down 5th Ave…

Ben, Emily & Amanda..Can’t wait for all the
new fun we’re gonna have this year!!!
Let the fan games begin!!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: education, my pug group, o.p. (other photographers)

I'm soooo over the COLD!

February 11, 2008 By Susan 1 Comment

This has been one of the strangest winters I have
ever experienced. Maybe because I’m getting older
and less tolerant, true, but seriously the roller
coaster of temperatures is making me MAD!
I also think that the closer I get to a sunny, warm
vacation the crazier I can feel too…agreed?
I mean, c’mon, 40 degrees one day and then 40 below
the next…We still cram a beach towel up against
the front door, lay the foyer rug on top of that
and then I rest Gary’s big ‘ol Timberlands on top
of that…and the frost STILL covers the door frame
at the bottom…I’m over it.

Let’s find a happy place…

I’ll be going to Cabo with my sister and her family
2 days after I get back from Playa with Gary…spoiled?
No. A long overdue reward for myself. Wedding season is
fast approaching and I’ll be running like crazy after
I get back.

Emily will be old enough to scuba this trip…I wonder
if she’ll give it a go this time?
Here’s Scuba Sue…

Scuba Ben…

And Emily, who was my inspiration for doing it!

Here’s a shot that Jimbo took of us last year.
My favorite time of day down there, the colors are
just so gorgeous at dusk! LOVE the full moon too.

That’s enough.

I”m taking Gary in for his cortisone shot this morning.
Pray that this is going to do the trick.
Altho’ Gary has been feeling much better~he’s not 100%.
That’s gonna take awhile. But in the meantime, shrinking
the “jelly” between his C6 & C7 should hopefully lessen
the pinched nerve stuff..tingling etc…
I’ll bring my camera! Gary loves it when I bring my camera!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Uncategorized

Happy Anniversary Anne & Pete!

February 10, 2008 By Susan Leave a Comment

Last night Anne & Pete (my sister & her husband)
went to Redstone in Eden Prairie for dinner and then
called us and I told them to c’mon over (they were out
celebrating their 12th wedding anniversary).
So they braved the elements and granted my request.
It was about 9 below zero and wind gusts to like
30+ miles per hour taking what little snow we got
yesterday and blowing it into 2 foot, rock hard,
snow drifts! We were doing absolutely nothing, and by
nothing, I mean nothing…NASCAR Bud Shootout and
Willy Wonka (the one with Johnny Depp…so weird.)~
Hey, quality time is totally overrated!
Pete thought we were kidding…NOT!

Earlier in the day, I picked up Sherrie at Fitness 19
and we drove to Valleyview Middle School (um, yea,
NOT Eden Prairie…Bloomington. And it was snowing
and blowing so bad and the roads were pretty awful.
We made it there just fine and RAN in!

This was a Posing Seminar for NPC athletes competing
in the upcoming Gopher State, Northland and one other
show, I can’t remember which. Anyway, Ken “Flex” Wheeler
was there and WOW, altho’ he’s retired, he knows the
business and was there to give insight & tips for posing
to those preparing for upcoming NPC shows I was amazed
at how funny he was!

Chris Bongiovanni was there and I went up and said
hi to Chris. I wasn’t sure that she would remember me
but she did. It was fun seeing them both and I want to
thank Sherrie Carnicle for asking me to come along.
It seems like just yesterday that I was training for my show.

Here are a couple of “figure” athletes (Chris is far right)~

And here are two bodybuilding athletes 8 weeks out
from their shows…

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: Anniversaries, Family, fitness

Identical Twin Girls…

February 9, 2008 By Susan Leave a Comment

I got a cute e-mail from a Bride of mine the other day
and I thought I’d zip a note back asking how things
were going…I knew that shortly after her wedding,
last July, that she cut all her hair off and donated it
to Locks of Love and that she was still working on the
maternity floor at St. Francis but what I learned next
blew me away…She and Randy are expecting identical
twin girls this June! That is SO incredibly awesome!

This will undoubtedly be a crazy, busy, tiring and
blessed time for this couple and I know you will join
me in prayer for this newlywed couple and their babies
in the months to come. Thanks in advance and
CONGRATULATIONS Randy & Megnan (yes, that’s spelled right!).

Later this morning I’m going to meet Sherri Carnicle
at the Eden Prairie High School for a
Clinic/Seminar on posing and NPC Athletes meeting.
I don’t know really why I’m going but I will know some
of the folks there like Chris Bongiovanni
She was a client of a friend of mine “back in the day”
and Chris offered to loan me one of her suits for my
competition when mine was not arriving on time and I
was in a panic. When you spend all the time and energy
preparing for a competition like this and the thing
that keeps you from it is a teeny, tiny regulation suit
that is coming from LA…you’ll do ANYthing.
Fortunately for me, mine finally arrived.
Anyway, Chris competes in NPC and I competed in NAMBAF,
which is natural body building.
WHAT? You mean to tell me that those other girls are
not natural???

(funny side note…when I posted that photo of me
the other day at my competition from 11 years ago,
Amanda, my 7 year old niece said..”Oh my gosh,
someone put Sue’s head on someone else’s body!”
hmmm, that’s funny…No Amanda, that was your aunt
Susan’s photo! I’ll show you the others someday
when I’m certain that it won’t scar you for life!)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Maternity Corner

Bob Davis.

February 8, 2008 By Susan Leave a Comment

If you don’t know Bob, you should.

I’ve mentioned he and his wife, Dawn, before
so they are no strangers to this blog (“hi Dawn!”).
I stole this photo off of their la Storia foto blog.

Well, I ordered his DVD and I am so excited
for them and I’m looking forward to seeing the
final product as Dawn has shared some of the
footage from it during the process of creating it.
It’s pretty cool.

Moving on….

This is my brother giving his new daughter, Reese,
an eskimo kiss at the hospital on Monday.

I’m heading to the Hilton this afternoon to greet
2 cancer families. A 2 year old boy and a 7 year
old boy (different families).
They’ll be checking in for their “Minnesota Miracle”
weekend…free of charge. This is the first 2
families of 2008. Unfortunately, this will be the
first of many but what the Hilton provides along with
the Miracles of Mitch Foundation it allows these
families a little “time-out” from the cancer.
It fills my soul to see these cancer kids get
excited about their hotel stay. The smiles are priceless!
I especially love it when they allow me to accompany
them up to their rooms and witness them opening the
door to all the balloons and gifts…sometimes, if
they are in the mood and healthy enough I get them
to jump on the bed with their friends and siblings!
That usually doesn’t take much coaxing!

Well, back to editing.
Make the very most of your day today.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: brand new babies, o.p. (other photographers), product information

Meet Reese…

February 7, 2008 By Susan 1 Comment

I started a blog on Monday night when I got the news
that Reese had finally come into the world…
I was saving it to post on Tuesday morning. I forgot
that I had started it so it’s still sitting there.
Boy, talk about your “2nd born syndrome”, right?!
Sorry Reese. You are darling, perfect and I love you!

When my mom & I got to the hospital yesterday, Sue,
Kindra’s, mom was holding Reese and the nurses were
giving Kindra her “exit” speech. Interesting really,
I’ve never heard one. I especially loved the part about
stitches and stool softener….yeeeeooowwww!

Shortly thereafter, Mike arrived with Owen (the big
brother) and he just went on and on about the whole
experience. Owen is at that really funny age where
he is all about what’s going on. He sat next to Kindra
on the sofa and pointed to her belly and said “it’s
empty now cuz Reese isn’t in there anymore.” so cute!

I took a ton of photos and Kindra tried to set one up
by getting Owen to lean in and smell Reese…
he then said..”she doesn’t smell like cookies, she
smells like a baby.” again…funny!!

We stayed and had lunch with Mike & Kindra (Sue had
taken Owen home for a nap) and then the 3 of them would
pack up and head home to begin their life as a family
of 4! I love you all so much and I’ll see you again
soon, no doubt!

Here’s some shots of the newest Craig..just 48 hours old.

Oh, and guess who didn’t get the eyelashes!
Seriously, Owen has more hair on his eyes than some
people have on there head!! I think they need brushing!

Proud Aunt Susan!

Shhhhhhhhh…the baby is sleeping.

Filed Under: Family Tagged With: brand new babies, Family