by Amy | Jul 29, 2015 | Blog, The Art of Gathering, The Art of the Moment
It seems like eons ago that I shot Anne and Jay’s g-g-g-gorgeous wedding. In reality it was only weeks ago…but I suppose that’s how summer goes up here in Practically Canada. We wait for it all year long, then before we know it it’s practically fall again.
But, today’s post is far too warm and sunny to spend our time talking about dropping temps. So instead, let me tell you what an immense privilege it was for me to be a part of this big day. There is nothing that delights my heart more than watching two people who love Jesus, commit to one another in marriage. I love weddings that put Christ at the center–it’s such a beautiful picture. A miniature, mortal diorama of the love Christ has for His church and the love and submission we are called to give Him.
Anne and Jay’s big day was beautiful on all the levels a day can be: spiritually God-honoring, picture perfect weather, DIY decor that will make Pinners drool, delectable home-cooked food, beautiful singing, and a crowd of friends and family that filled the dance floor. Now, without any more chit-chat…let’s relive the day.
If I did my wedding all over again…I’d do a first look. It’s so special for the bride and groom to have a few minutes together alone before the craziness sets in. {Well–alone except for a creepy photographer standing off to the side…} Anne and Jay exchanged some meaningful gifts during these moments and their sincere reactions are really what the Art of the Moment is all about.
This ring bearer…he’s too much. He’s just. so. cute!! You might even recognize him from last winters Christmas mini sessions…
Oh, did I mention that Jay sang a song to Anne during the ceremony? Yeah, he did. This couple is just that precious.
Now. If you are into crafts, DIY and all things awesome…take a moment to go to the bathroom right now. If you don’t, I’m afraid you’ll wet yourselves with giddy excitement when you see the adorable reception details that Anne coordinated and crafted {along with help from friends and family}. Okay? Scroll down…but don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Chalk board signs. A cookie bar. A COOKIE BAR!! A pop corn bar. One of the cutest photobooths I’ve ever laid eyes on. Gorgeous graphic printables. An awesome kids area. Cupcakes galore. Ball jars. Wholesale roses in DIY arrangements. {Read…they did their own floral!} Color me impressed. This was a seriously gorgeous fete.
I only post my favorite favorite images here in the preview…so I love all of these–but I really, really love those shots from the father-daughter dance. What a moment.
Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Borseth. I’m so very honored to have spent the day with you and your amazing families. Your images are all done and will be in the mail to you tomorrow!!
by Amy | Jul 17, 2015 | Blog, The Art of the Moment
This is Mikaela. She’s crazy photogenic. Like, seriously. I photograph a lot of people–and I love them all–but she was seriously easy to shoot. She’s natural and confident in front of the camera, and magically has complete control over her face. {Something I’m still trying to master.}
I had a great time hanging out with Mikaela and her family prop-hauling, bubble-blowing, hair-fixing, pose-suggesting entourage. She asked for shooting locations that were unique, she was up for pretty much anything, and she specifically wanted some shots standing in the water. I think the session we put together answered that call. The class of 2016 senior season is shaping up to be my best ever.
Mikaela is the first athlete I’ve ever photographed with gear. And it was so. much. fun. Especially the part where her mom and uncle were holding a {surprisingly heavy} volleyball net up in the background. It was so kind of Surrey to unlock the school for us so we could get this shots on her home court.
And speaking of school spirit…I think Surrey’s bleachers are just darling. So I insisted that we take a few shots there too.
From there things got a little itchy. If you’ve looked at my other work, you might have noticed that nearly every senior shoot ends up in an open field somewhere. Mikaela was no different. Like I said, she was a sport–wading into tall grass, looking beautiful with gorgeous back lighting…all the while being eaten alive by North Dakota’s state bird–the mosquito. By the end of this series, I was literally shooing the blood suckers off her arms and legs in droves. She might feel differently…but I think the end result was worth all the swatting.
The last stop of our photo-adventure was the back side of Roosevelt Park. It took a lot of scouting to come up with this place, but I think it’s absolutely perfect. And isn’t that hat precious?! She’s so cute. Not to mention that our day was perfect too–I mean how often in Practically Canada do you get an evening with absolutely no wind? Look at this super still water!
{And, I should add that we owe a big THANK YOU to our amazing bubble blowers. They risked falling in the river to help us get these shots!}
Okay. I mentioned earlier in the post that she wanted some images in water. Well…this is what we came up with and I’m pretty much in love. That’s why I saved them for last here. The lighting, the sunset, the water…stunning. These photos are cool. And that’s all there is to it.
So there you have it. I am so happy with the way these photos came out and I hope she will be too! As you can see, I had a lot of favorites from this session…so I had a VERY hard time choosing just one for the B&W vs Color challenge on the Facebook page. So I didn’t just pick one. I picked two. Be sure to head over to Facebook and vote for your favorite. If enough people chime in with an opinion, Mikaela will win a free print!
by Amy | Jul 13, 2015 | Blog, The Art of Adventure, The Art of the Moment
Once upon a time when I was new to Practically Canada I was strolling through our local bookstore. For the first time ever, I laid eyes on one of the Ghosts of North Dakota photo books. Instantly, I was captured. Naturally I gravitate toward desolate, creepy things–it’s a quirk that leads me to long walks in cemeteries and a love of all things fall. {But now I’m getting off topic.}
Ever since that first peek at Ghosts of North Dakota, I’ve thought a session in one of the Practically Canadian ghost towns would be simply the best. I also knew it would take a very special senior to pull off such a sweet spot…it would also take a special senior to want to trek out to a ghost town with me for their senior portraits.
Maddie is that special senior. While eating Easter dinner with her family {they were kind enough to take Derek and me in for the holiday} we started chatting about photos. She told me she wanted something really different. She likes vintage, she’s got timeless beauty, and for some reason enjoys my company enough that she and her mom didn’t mind spending an hour in the car with me en route to our location. She was perfect for this location. I’m so glad she was game for a ghost town and I’m so excited to share this preview with all of you tonight.
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by Amy | Jul 7, 2015 | Blog, The Art of the Moment
When Denise first emailed me to inquire about a photo session for her three sons, she used the words “fun” and “playful” to describe the feeling she wanted to communicate. I am so glad those are the adjectives she chose, because had she said, “posed” and “traditional,” I don’t think I could have delivered on that promise.
I’ve found that the best photos are those that match the personality of the subjects. Serious people take really nice serious photos. Zany people can pull off wacky poses. It’s all about knowing yourself, and as a photographer, knowing your audience. Denise knows her audience very well. Her sons are very sweet and very handsome–but two out of the three have a hard time sitting still. {I’ll give you one guess as to who’s who.} So instead of sitting and posing, we played and ran around and laughed…and the younger two did a little whomping on their {dazzlingly patient} older brother. All in all, I think we had fun {at least I did} and hopefully the two little ones were worn out by the end of it all.
I’m pretty much in love with this series of images. It’s all fun and games to the middle child–meanwhile the well meaning youngest just giggles.
While the boys were laying on the blanket the little ones were pretending to sneeze–then laughing wildly. I still don’t quite understand why it was so funny. To me the funniest part was that one would go, “Ahh, Ahhh, ahh…” then roll over toward toward Jordan {big brother} and let out a spit-shooting “CHOO!” Then they’d laugh again and roll around, occasionally giving Jordan a solid hit on the head…or kick to the belly.
The moral of the story is, I love people with personality–and I love parents that are eager to let that personality show in photos. That’s the Art of the Moment. I’m sure as time goes on, they’ll learn to sit still–and stop hitting–and smile on command–and stop pretending that they just “fell asleep” with closed eyes and gaping mouth when Mom requests that they look at the camera {yes, that was happening}–but I think these things are precious and worth remembering. Unabashed childhood and confidence to be a full fledged goof ball on picture day are fleeting. I think it’s a stage of life worth freezing and keeping forever.
by Amy | Jul 6, 2015 | Blog, The Art of Art
Hemingway once wrote, “The earth laughs in flowers.” That might be true…but a few weeks ago the earth was laughing with flowers, butterflies, rainbows, ice cream cones and a few basketballs…or at least that’s what our community chalk mural was filled with.
A few weeks ago I was the featured artist at Minot’s Arts in the Park series–from the arts council. And…in an effort to draw a bigger {maybe younger} crowd I decided to create an interactive sidewalk chalk mural. 1.) Because I love side walk chalk–and all chalk, really. 2.) Because I really like to think up ways to get the community involved in art. And…3.) Because I get nervous being “featured” at anything–I’d rather make up some activity and trick others into hanging out with me. Yes, I’m really that awkward and creepy.
I put this flyer out on the web just a few days before the event {it was a last minute decision.} And I was so impressed at how kind people in town were to share it. Minot really is hungry for fun things to do…so folks are eager to share and spread the word.
And I think it paid off. We did have a bigger and younger crowd. I started with this blank canvas…and if I did it all over again, I’d bring a broom to sweep up the goose poop and dirt before I started drawing. {I touched a lot of goose poop with my bare hands that night…} Before the concert I drew in the quote and outlined a few flowers. When folks arrived, I encouraged them to color in an outline or draw flowers–since that was the theme–but I don’t like to be bossy, so really there were no rules.
I was hoping we’d get more people who stopped in and contributed a flower or two–and some did–but I was just as content with the solid stream of kiddos and teens who stayed and colored with me the whole night. Some even stayed after the band had packed up and gone home.
In the end, I think it came out pretty well. Colorful, joyful, summery. If the earth laughs in flowers, I honestly believe sidewalks smile in chalk.
Amy
by Amy | Jun 30, 2015 | Blog, The Art of the Moment
Hey everybody–it’s time for you to meet the Winningham family. This is a very special session for me to be showing off to you…because it’s the first session I shot with my beautiful, brand new camera. Yes, that’s right–it was time for an {early} upgrade. My other camera took a dive at the very end of Ethan’s session and it turned out to be super expensive to fix. Bummer. But–the upside is that I LOVE my new camera.
This sweet family was kind enough to move their session date while we waited for my new model to arrive. {I’m telling you, they are a great bunch!} And after the waiting and schedule shifting we ended up with a gorgeous day. Even the wind and mosquitoes behaved {very unusual} while we shot these fresh family photos.
I’m super stoked about how these images are turning out–and this is only a small sampling of a few of my favorites. I’ll be busy the next few days finishing up and getting the whole shabang loaded onto a flash drive. So–if you are a Winningham, be on the lookout for your photos to arrive in about a week.
If you aren’t a Winningham–keep watching the blog here. I’ve got two awesome seniors, a wedding, and a quirky group of brothers soon to appear–AND–I’ll finally get around to showing off the progress we are making in the basement. I know, I know…it’s been far too long since we’ve done a project together. I’ll show you how our dungeon is shaping up next week.
Amy
by Amy | Jun 24, 2015 | Blog, The Art of the Moment
This is Ethan. You might see a family resemblance between him and his brother Andrew–class of 2015. Ethan is officially the first senior of the season. I am simply in disbelief that we are looking at 2016 seniors! I’m mean, that’s crazy–right?!
He is smart and kind and extremely wise for a soon-to-be-senior in high school. As you might have guessed, I know Ethan outside of portrait sessions. Getting to know him over the last three years has been such an honor…and getting to capture his senior portraits was the icing on the cake. We had a great time and awesome weather for shooting these golden hour senior portraits–with creamy light that was just right.
One of my very favorite parts of Ethan’s session was shooting some musical images in Minot State’s Anne Nicole Nelson Hall. He is a very talented musician, and it was amazing to hear him play some classical jams on such a beautiful instrument in such a beautiful space.
As usual, I’m so flattered that Ethan trusted me to capture this important milestone! {Seniors portraits are my absolute favorite!!…sorry babies and brides!}
PS–Come over to the Amy Allender Facebook page to vote for one of Ethan’s images. If at least 40 people chime in with an opinion, he’ll get a free 8×10″ print of the favorite!
by Amy | Jun 8, 2015 | Blog, The Art of the Moment
A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting the Anderson Family farm. The country setting, hot sun and cool morning breeze made this session feel idyllic. I loved capturing this family just as they are, in a place that they feel comfortable and playful. It was a morning filled with fences, lilacs, grass, and the promise of Popsicles for children who smile for “just a couple more.” I am so blessed and flattered that they chose me to freeze these special moments in time.
