Sarah and Terry's Reception

Last August Sarah and Terry were married in an intimate ceremony. On Valentine's Day they celebrated their marriage amongst family and friends at the Carousell Works in Big Lake. The event center was decorated in red and white, very fitting for Valentine's Day, but the colors wore actually chosen long before the Valentine's reception was thought of.

Sarah and Terry's wedding was originally planned for October of 2008, but an unexpected twist in life change that. In late July 2008 Sarah was diagnosed with cancer so all of their wedding plans were adjusted. (you can read more about their wedding day here)

By the time Valentine's Day rolled around Sarah was officially in remission- cancer free. So not only were their family and friends celebrating their marriage, but also Sarah's health. It was a true celebration.


I have to admit that my eyes swelled up when Sarah and Terry first arrived at the reception. Both of them looked fabulous and were so happy. The whole room light up.
In memory of Sarah's father that passed away, some members of her family drank a Schlitz beer (his favorite).

The Orwoll Family

Recently the Orwoll family stopped by for an evening filled with lots of fun and bright flashes of light. The flash from my lights proved to be a bit much for the youngest gentleman. At one point he pretty much just had his eyes closed until the light stopped flashing. His mom and I could not help but to laugh a little bit because he was so cute. Here are some of my favorite images from that evening:

I just have to quickly say that I love this image. I think it is adorable how the little guy is just soaking up the moment and holding onto his Dad. Love it!!!
The tickle monster strikes again...




Doing his muscle pose.

The Great Mississippi River

While driving to Monticello last week I noticed some beautiful birds hovering around the Mississippi River. I believe that they are swans, but I am not 100% sure (If there is an avid bird lover out there please let me know if I am wrong).

Later in the day I returned to the same location that I originally saw the swans at. This time I was wearing my Canon 5d, my 70-200mm lens and of course; a pair of boots. My mission, to carefully walk down towards the river without scaring the swans. I was partially successful at my mission.

As I walked down to the river the swans started to swim away from me and some of them actually took flight. I was able to capture a few images before they were out of sight. Here are the images:

I hope to be able to go to the same spot another time this winter at sunrise. I think that the lighting would be phenomenal then.

Arizona- Part 2

I finally took a few minutes to process a few of the images that I took during my Arizona adventure a few weeks ago.

One thing that caught my eye while I was visiting Arizona is how different all of the churches look compared to the churches we have in Minnesota. The image below is from a church that was located in downtown Phoenix. I adore the roof and how there are multiple crosses upon it.

Since arriving back home, I have been look at the churches in my area more closely. All of them only have 1 cross being proudly displayed. I just thought that was interesting.
On my last day in Arizona I asked the hotel driver to bring me to a desert area because I had never seen one in person before. About 20 minutes later we came upon these 3 rocks. They were a beautiful shade of red and were surrounded by plant life that I wasn't familiar with so I grabbed my camera and attempted to climb up the rock on the right.

Had I known that I was going to be climbing a rock, I wouldn't have worn flip flops that day. The flip flops along with a 7 month pregnant belly wasn't a good combination. Let's just say that I finally gave into the idea of being pregnant and had to stop climbing. For those of you who have seen me within the last few months know that I haven't let my belly stop me from doing much so this was big moment for me.

All of my bags are now unpacked and my flip flops have been put away. Even though the weather was beautiful while I was in Arizona, I have to admit that my heart was still in Minnesota almost the whole time I was away.

8th Wedding Anniversary

Eight years ago today Jon and I were married. It seems like a lifetime ago. Probably because we figured out a few weeks ago that we have known each other for almost half of our lives.

We actually met in High School while we worked at Hardees. He came in for an interview and was told that he could have a free pop so he approached me while I was working the counter and asked for a root beer-no ice. I wasn't about to give him a free pop because I didn't want to get in trouble so he went and grabbed the Manager that he interviewed with and she gave me the ok.

It is funny how things work out. If I hadn't worked at Hardees, I wouldn't have met him. Who knew that fast food could be so good?!

Our ceremony was held at Central Lutheran Church in Elk River and our reception was at Silver Springs Golf Course in the Monticello area. This is by far my favorite picture from the whole night. I love Jon's facial expression!

Jon- Thanks for 8 wonderful years of marriage plus 6 years and 15 days of dating. There are hardly any memories of my life that don't include you. I cannot wait to see what other memories are made over the next 75 years. I love you!

For all of my clients out there who are wondering....'Did Katie bring a camera to her own wedding?' The answer is, YES. I only used a black point and shoot camera and I had it around my neck for most of the evening until my Mom begged me to take it off. I got some great candid shots of my guests with it though.

Arizona

Last week I ventured to Arizona to attend Imaging USA. It was my first time attending this conference so I wasn't sure what to expect. I did know that I was going to be taking in quite a bit of information so I loaded up on my paper notebooks and brought my PC with me too.

There are 2 classes that really grabbed my attention. The first one was about using my flashes for a dramatic fashion photography look. The class was taught by TriCoast Photography. They demonstrated how they use their external flash mounted on a monopod with a regular diffuser to create dramatic light. They even do this at high noon. For those of you how are not photographers, high noon sun is really hard to shoot in because it creates shadows directly downward. I.e. shadows underneath eyes (not so flattering).

The second class that really stood out was another lighting and technique class. This one was held by Bob Davis (photographed Eva Longoria's wedding). He also demonstrated off flash lighting techniques and talked about how he practices and practices before each wedding to make sure that he is prepared to photograph anything that might happen that day. I thought to myself... I am not the only one who does that.

I also attending a photoshop retouching class that was held my a mater retoucher. She actually processed a photo of an 84 year old woman and made her look like she was in her forties. The kicker is that it didn't look retouched at all. The end image looked natural.

I could honestly go on and on about the different skills and techniques that I learned about, but I don't want to overwhelm anyone. :)

Keep checking the blog because I am going to post some images that I took of Arizona while I was there.

Out of Office

Hi! I am currently in Arizona attending a Imaging USA. I will return on Thursday, January 16, 2009.

Have a great day!


Katie Raivala
Photographer
612-481-7342
www.raivala.com