This last weekend was one of my favorite weddings to date! They were a fantastic couple to work with not only because their affection and love for each other was so clear but their willingness to try just about anything I asked. They really gave me some creative freedom that helped produce some stunning images that I am proud to share. I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed creating them. I wish Natalie and Jason all the best in the world. By popular request I will be including many more photos in my blog posts to give people a better idea of what I do. I am now finishing up the finishing touches on a few albums and will post examples when available.

My business has been going through a lot of changes lately, not in the services we provide, changes to our creative vision have helped shape our identity in the photographic community. Years ago most of the photographs I took were poses I had seen used in wedding photos before and ultimately were more traditional and possibly less creative photographs. Or as my friends would call it “Cookie Cutter”. While these clients were still happy with their photos I always strive to provide a better service. As I have progressed as a photographer I found that I really have a passion for capturing more candid and spontaneous portraits and this fact has inspired me to incorporate it in all aspects of my photography. Because of the heightened emotions of a wedding day it was easy to take meaningful and natural candid photos but engagement sessions have proven difficult for me because without direction generally clients would feel uncomfortable creating a much less natural product. I found that by placing clients in a somewhat posed position and then allowing them to interact naturally by sharing a favorite story from their time dating or something funny that happened recently turns out much much more passionate pictures showing a connection between the people involved. That is exactly what engagement photos should be right? Photos that show the dynamic connection between two individuals and their lives.

Ann and Mark were absolutely great to work with. They were open to new ideas and had faith in my direction even though some of the photos were hard to visualize. Here are some more photos and expect more from their wedding next weekend.

I am proud to announce that the candid photos from the Winona Health Birthday Ball are now live online and available for purchase. Please click on the purchase tab at the top of this web page and navigate to the gallery Titled “Birthday Ball 2008″. I am really happy that I had the chance to work with Winona health and people in the community to make this event a success. I have to admit it was certainly the largest most complex event I have ever photographed and it was a great experience for me. We had a total of 5 Photographers working mostly as assistants and I could not have done it without them. All of the candid photos available for purchase were taken by Jordan Ogren. By far the best part of the night was seeing the Photobooth up and running with little or no problems. Hopefully I will be able to work with Winona health again and I plan on using the Photobooth at weddings and Parties in the future.

Sorry it has been so long since an update but my time has been well spent. I decided to invest in some new gear and most of my summer I have been working on honing my skills and mastering what I already know. There are going to be a number of huge updates to this website in the next few weeks. This year I have been working with more and more Seniors in High School to create memorable portraits to capture the spirit of youth in transition. I have to say out of all of the things to photograph it is really interesting to work with other creative individuals who are willing to do just about anything to make a cool photo. Here are some of my favorites from yesterday.

I spent a total of 8+ hours at the local rugby tournament on 3-29-08 of this year. The blistering cold wind masked the suns rays and I ended up with a spectacular cocktail of windburn and sunburn. All in all it was worth it because the photos turned out great! The Winona State University Rugby team initially contacted me to come take photos for their team but during the down time I decided to shoot the other teams just because I enjoyed the game so much. In the past I had never really followed Rugby at all but as it turns out I love the game and the non stop action. A fellow photographer came to the game but wanted to watch the National Championship Basketball game as well so he brought a power inverter and parked his car right next to the field. I like to think that he drew a bigger crowd around his trunk than some of the fields at times. All in all it was an amazing day!