As promised in my last blog–I’m back after my weekend of shooting. 🙂 (Also, it is SO nice to not be sick anymore. For lots of folks, the weekend is a time to relax–for me, it’s usually the only time of the week I’m out, by myself. It’s great to stretch myself creatively, and set myself up for the week of work ahead. When I miss that time–I miss so much.) This past weekend, I started off at Main Floral, in Anoka. I’m currently shooting with Spring in mind, as well as Saint Patrick’s Day. It’s an ‘off’ time of the year in the florist’s world–it’s after the holidays, and Valentine’s Day–and before Prom and Mother’s Day. As a Social Media Manager, and Blogger, it’s a tough time of the year to come up with good content. I’m not sure, exactly, what this week’s blog will be about for them–but, I’m leaning toward the beauty, and joy, of the first flowers of Spring. (After all the cold, and snow, this winter–I’m ready to move onto warmer times ahead–even if it’s just in thought. 🙂 )

After I shot at Main Floral, I headed up to Elk River to get a few shots for Beth at WilloRain Studio. She’s an amazingly talented potter who had spent, roughly, a year working on this beautiful dragon piece. She wants to enter it into some contests–but, the glaze is so shiny that all of the photos she was taking had way too much reflection in them–and, the details were getting lost. So, I shot some images in a dark(ish) area, bouncing the light of my flash off the ceiling. Now, I’m just hoping it doesn’t look too matte for her. If it does, I’ll head back up, and manipulate a concentrated amount of light onto it to play up the shine–just in a controlled way. We traded services and I ended up with a gorgeous bowl as I left. (It’s even microwavable, dish-washer safe, and can be baked in. 🙂 )

The other project that started for me this weekend is an group effort to create a new church directory. Apparently, the last one was done a bunch of years back, and photos, as well as information, needs updating. So, the committee I serve on, along with the church secretary, and the woman who headed up this project last time have all come together to update it all. I’m in-charge of the photos. It’s great that this project is also able to help my teen get in some service hours, as she’s attempting to letter in her volunteer club at school. These are just a few shots from Sunday; I’ll be back at it this weekend, and probably the next couple, as well.

Next weekend, I’ll be back at Main Floral, then out to Bloomington to shoot a wedding, and then back to church to keep the head shots coming. 🙂 After that, I’m contemplating putting together a day for spring, mini-sessions. I’ll have more information coming up on that if I pull it together. A lot of it rests on the weather (ya know, if the snow ever melts), and/or if I borrow some studio time from a friend.