Wayzata beach with Jess's kids!

Such a beautiful June day and perfect for taking photos! I had been wanting to take photos of Jess's little ones for a while. I can hardly even pick my favorites among all the photos from the day... Here's the ones I picked. Check out my facebook album for more photos! :)

Mark & Ann's wedding day

I don't think we could have asked for a more perfect day up in Duluth. An early June wedding was absolutely perfect. Camera in hand, and sun shining most of the day, I got so many wonderful photos! Here's a few (among SO MANY!) of my favorites! I loved the photos of the two of them dancing at the reception. For even more of shots I love, check out my facebook page for more photos from their day!

summer evening in my yard

I rented a couple of new lenses for the wedding I'll be photographing tomorrow. I needed to try the lenses out, play with them, familiarize myself with their settings, especially in correlation to the settings on my camera and how they work together. My dog was most often my model... and the humid summer evening my backdrop... Check out my facebook album for even more photos. ;)

P.S. I've done ZERO edits. Sigh... ah... what a difference a good lens makes! :) I know the shot... ;)

On the snow with Lilly and friends

Lilly is such a sweet girl! We had got some great photos of her a few months ago, for her Senior year. And to make things more fun, we did some photos of her on her snowboard! I, on skiis with a backpack was a new experience for me. It rocked! Best day ever!

Polly's walk

This past weekend, I drove up to my friend's house near Duluth, MN.  Sunday morning brought typically and rather cold Minnesotan temps--as in zero degrees when we returned.  Probably negative while out.  But Polly needed a walk.  And so Rachel and I took her out.  It was refreshing, albeit COLD.  We turned around to go home when our faces were beginning to hurt a bit from the cold. 

Polly is such a good, funny, dog!  So fast!  Hilarious, and loves tromping and running around in the snow!  Here's some fun few shots from the adventure out in cold, northern Minnesota.

 What a runner!

 That tongue!  Haha!

 So, it's blurry, but what a shake!  Ha!  All the snow flying off!  She ran right at me and just started shaking!  Me and my camera could hardly catch up!

 Doggy, snowy-faced portraits...

 She cocked her head at the camera... Not so used to having her photos taken.

 look at that snow dust scattering!  ;)

 And... just one little artsy photo in here... ;)



California Trip Part Eight (beach sunset)

And then to finish off a perfect day at the coast, the sun sunk perfectly gold and gloriously into the ocean.  We rinsed off the wet suits and boards in the cold showers, and got a little of the sand off of us... throwing on some warmer clothes as the sun sunk lower.

We went and drove to Morro Bay to eat at a great place for fish tacos that evening.  Fresh grilled fish--from the ocean that morning--with mango salsa.  And we also got salt water taffy.  Once we got home, I showered off the sand and salt, and hung out with Laura... and then started to fall asleep on the couch.  I slept so well that evening...

The next morning I got up for a run in 40-50 degrees.  It was wonderful.  And then I was on the road again toward the airport, stopping along the way, seeing my grandma and old friends along the way.  It was an incredible trip.  Here are some photos from the last evening in California... at the coast...

It really looked like this.  The very air and sky were gold in hue.

Some plants by the ocean:

friendly beach evenings:

little girl running to and from the waves:

 Merry Christmas on the pier at Pismo Beach, CA

This makes any day fantastic:

Morro Rock bay:

And this is my last post from my trip to California in December 2010.