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One thing that has bugged me for years is when photography trends in image processing just take over the internet. Don’t get me wrong, I love trends as much as the next person, but when all you start to see is the same thing over and over, it eventually gets old. Image processing can have such an overall effect on the look and feel of your wedding images. Right now a very popular trend in image processing is a dark, warm, moody look. I’m so in love with this look right now, but I also remember that just 5 years ago the trendy look was overlays, about 5 years before that was overly color saturated images. This is why I’m hesitant to add that look to all of the images, because very soon that look will be out dated and something else will become popular. That’s why it’s very important to me to make sure my client’s feedback is included in the processing of their images. I want my clients to love their images for many years to come. Your Facebook post can always be changed, but your wedding images cannot be brought back to the original color that actually existed on your wedding day once that faded desaturated or black and white effect has been added. This is why I always keep and include the natural color versions with all of your high resolution images. If you decide you really love the trendy color effect that’s popular right now, you have those as well, but 10-20 years from now when you look at your wedding images, you’ll always have that option to go back to the original color version. This is also why all of my images in my galleries don’t have the exact same processing filter or action applied to them. Everyone likes different things, every wedding is unique, and trends change. If you want all of your wedding images to have a matte look, then they will, BUT you will also have all of the original color versions as well.

This look is very popular right now:IMG_7390-2

Natural is always a good option:IMG_7390-film

Black and white is pretty too sometimes:IMG_7390-matte-BW

The Matte or Film look is popular too right now:IMG_7390-matte-look

And some people like more color saturation:IMG_7390-pop

What’s your favorite look?

by Posted in Photography Planning Advice,products,Weddings
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It’s always such an honor when my work gets published, especially when the editors ask me to submit.  Congratulations to Kristina & Augie!  Your wedding was definitely magazine worthy!  But your friendship has been even more valuable to me!  I can’t wait to see what adventures you find for the years to come!  Much love to you both!

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Click here for a free copy!
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by Posted in Weddings
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We were so blessed to have this opportunity! Ashley’s friend just had me as her wedding photographer recently and had lots of good things to say so she contacted me to find out if I was available on her date for a Mexico destination wedding…it was fate! Trent and I had such an amazing time! The wedding took place at the Riu Playa Del Carmen and it was awesome! Ashley & Stuart are such a fun couple, so easy going and wonderful, and the resort did an excellent job. I can’t share too much, as they are planning the big reveal at the reception party they are having in a few months, but I do have a couple of images I can share, as well as some personal images that we captured on the second half of our trip. After the three days in Playa Del Carmen, we took the ferry over the the beautiful island of Cozumel where we spent our days snorkeling in the bath tub like clear Caribbean waters, and our nights in town with the locals just chillin with some amazing food and enjoying the laid back quiet lifestyle.
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IMG_6778-copyThis is us, our “we’re hiking around the beach and jungle” look. Don’t worry we clean up nice for weddings!

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We were amazed to find drum fish when we were out snorkeling one day! We went back to that spot each day, they were still there, three of them.

IMG_5420Howler monkeys-they had them all over the surrounding jungle in Playa Del Carmen at the resort. Really amazing creatures! They sound like a loud lion sometimes just as the sun is coming up, you could usually only hear it if you were outside, but we had some just outside our window one morning and it was amazing!!! This is what they sounded like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XvYjTipTNU

IMG_5918-copyAshley & Stuart, one of my favorites of them in the jungle. I can’t wait to share more of the wedding! Such an amazing setting!

by Posted in destination weddings,Personal,Weddings
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It’s Tuesday morning, February 13th. I just emailed the slideshow preview to my bride from Saturday’s wedding and now I’m getting ready for our next wedding in just a few days in sunny warm Playa Del Carmen, Mexico YAY! But first I wanted to share some of my favorite images from Saturday’s wedding and also talk about what made the day so perfect. The number one thing that made the day so absolutely perfect was good communication and trust. I can’t stress enough how trusting the professionals you have hired to do their job and listening to the recommendations they provide will make your wedding day seamless. When I am helping my couples plan the wedding day, I send out a form that outlines a typical wedding schedule, along with information to help you plan your perfect dream wedding. Every wedding is different, so individualized attention needs to be given. Liz had some ideas of what she wanted her day to be like, lots of different ideas for things she wanted to do, but she wasn’t sure how much time it could end up taking, and which things would actually work the way she had imagined. She also knew that she wanted to capture some fun wedding party and bridal portraits with a scene that captured the essence of a Minnesota winter since she was having a Minnesota winter wedding. I took all of these things into account and scouted out a few locations that were close enough proximity to her venue that we could make it work with her schedule. She also wanted to make a pit stop at a fun bar that had fond memories from (The Gasthaus Bavarian Hunter) Looking at her timeline I determined that the sun would be at the perfect location that it would be just peeking behind some very tall mature pine trees very near the bar that she wanted to go to right at the time of day that they would be going there following the ceremony. That was going to be the perfect spot for photos. I took a photo and texted it to Liz, she agreed. We had our Minnesota winter wedding all planned. O.K., there was a little more to it then that but that was one of my favorite parts of the planning. Here’s just a small handful of my favorites from the whole day (below), and this is what Liz had to say when she saw her slideshow this morning (it made my day)

Good morning Michelle!!!

I could not have thought of a more PERFECT way to wake-up this morning in Maui than watching your video. HOLY MOLY THOSE PICTURES ARE ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I sent the link to our parents, I think they’ll enjoy it (almost) as much as we are because I can’t stop watching it.

I have no doubt that our wedding would have not been the same at all, and not in a good way, with anyone else. You and Trent were so kind and wonderful and SO incredibly talaneted! Our entire bridal party loved working with you and all of our family and friends commented on how at ease you made everyone. You were the main reason Saturday was so perfect, thank you!!!!

You can do whatever you want with the pictures, they are your and Trent’s work of art 😊

Again, I can’t say enough how appreciative Tom and I are for everything you’ve done and we have absolutely nothing but amazing things to say about you (and Trent of course) and I hope we’ll get to work together soon 👶🏻❤️

XOXO
Liz

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by Posted in Personal,Photography Planning Advice,Weddings
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Yes, you CAN make these at home! It’s perfectly safe, I promise! Trent calls me a recipe wizard. I prefer a food biologist-hahaha!…as I can remember how different ingredients react with one another and create recipes pretty successfully. I must say, I’m pretty proud of this one, and after a little trial and error, I came up with a fool proof method for these and they are SOOOO good! They have a delicious vanilla-egg-custard flavor, soft center with a crispy crunchy texture on the outside. It’s amazing when you think about how many of my recipes have the same ingredients: egg, flour, vanilla, water and yet they are all so different.

Here are the ingredients:
2 cups water
2 T. butter
2 T. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
2 eggs

You will also need some oil for deep frying and a pastry bag with a large star tip for piping the dough. I recommend reading through the recipe in it’s entirety before you start so you can be prepared.

Directions:
line a couple of baking sheets with foil, spray the foil generously with cooking spray. I use coconut oil spray. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, add the water, butter, sugar, vanilla, salt. Bring just to a boil. Remove from heat, add the flour all at once, stir rapidly until well blended. transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl. Beat (or mix) the dough on medium speed for one minute to further glutenize the dough and cool it slightly. Add the eggs, beat until well blended. Place 1/2 of the dough into your piping bag. I used 1/2 at a time because it made it easier to squeeze the dough through having a smaller amount in the bag. You’ll want to try to squeeze hard to achieve a nice fat churro. Squeeze each churro onto the oiled foil lined pans. Once the pan is full, place in the freezer. Freeze until firm-about 30 minutes. Continue until all of your dough has been squeezed out into your churro shapes and placed into the freezer.

Prepare for frying:
Select a pot large enough to fit your churros into, you’ll be frying them about 3-5 at a time, fill pot about two inches with oil. I used peanut oil, but you could use vegetable oil. Heat oil to about 350 degrees. If you do not have a thermometer, just put one of the churros in the oil to try it out. I used a thin pancake flipper to gently remove the frozen churros dough from the foil lined pan. Remove them one at a time, gently placing them into the oil. They should puff up a little and cook until golden (as shown) and still a little soft in the center. Remove from oil with tongs, Set them on a paper towel. Once they are cool enough to handle, roll them in some cinnamon sugar and eat! They are really best fresh, but you can keep the leftovers in an air tight container and warm them in the oven the next day.

Enjoy!

by Posted in Recipes
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