This is the final edit for the Century Girl’s Volleyball team.

I am coming to a close of my busy 2009 senior season. Jeremy called me to shoot his senior images after seeing his friend, Zach’s portraits.

Jeremy was super easy to be around. He was relaxed and upbeat and I think he had been looking forward to his shoot. We started at the abandoned former Wedge’s nursery. It offers a lot of interesting possibilities for shots. I had Isaac with me to help with lighting, and within about 30 minutes of beginning Jeremy’s shoot, Isaac decided he was starving. Jeremy agreed that he could definitely break to eat and we headed to The Taco King, one of my favorite Albert Lea places to have lunch.

After we ate, we went to the beach, where the daring kids go to attempt to do crazy things on skateboards and bikes. There is a bike park there with ramps and such. It honestly made me nervous to see what they did, but they have absolutely no fear. I don’t remember having that feeling, ever.

We ended up at Edgewater Park. It is kind of cliche’ to go to a park for pictures, but there are a ton of gorgeous colored leaves on the ground and the park is where they are found in large quantities. I think Jeremy looks like a model in some of these images. He was one of the most easy shoots I had this season.

Max made it to the big “1″ on Friday the 10th. He has got to be my favorite blonde haired blue eyed little guy! Ashley went all out for this party. The food, favors, decorations, just incredible for a young mom who is working and going to school to boot! There were tons of little and big guests invited and the weather was glorious! I can’t see that any little boy is more loved than Max

Sunday I was introduced to a family who was referred to me by another amazing photographer who was booked and unable to do the shoot himself. Thank you Andrew! The Jones’ family were very warm and friendly and easy to photograph. Terry was a super dedicated farmer who came in and showered, jumped in a couple of shots and back to work! This is harvest season in Minnesota!

I have been working with the Century High School girls volleyball team on creating a poster for their 2008 – 2009 season. This is what I have to date. I plan to tint the background to better coordinate with their uniforms and size the dimensions for their poster. Let me know your thoughts on this so far

On Friday, I drove over to hang out with Isaac and his 6th grade class at the Big Island Rendezvous. The Rendezvous is in it’s 20+ year of running. I have been attending this event held in Albert Lea since its inception when it was first held at Helmer Myre State Park. It is a fun event in which you can step back in time to see how things were done in the fur trading era. Kids got to experience what medical people did during times of injury and sickness, they threw axes, got to see how iron tools were created and much more. There were shops to purchase furs, animal skulls, jewelry, pottery and candy. The weather was beautiful for the kids and I think they had a ton of fun escaping the normal day in the classroom.

One word to describe Leigha… “delightful”! We were able to catch a great day to photograph her senior pics last Friday. A lot of the images were shot at her home and then we took off to tour Albert Lea. Her bff accompanied us and filled in as my lighting assistant as well. We made a stop at the Taco King (oh my gosh, yummy yummy yummy) and continued on into gang ridden territory…. “We were afraid…. very afraid”! bahahahaha….

She had this great simple dress with a hat!!! I love hats with senior pics!!! You can tell I really liked it as we did a lot with it. We ended up at her house and shot her with her sweet new ride (lucky duck)!

Extreme Home Makeover and Ty Pennington, are in Albert Lea this weekend building a 4000 square foot home for the DeVries family. Their story is compelling and the community support is overwhelming. I have been following this from afar via Albert Lea Tribune The Tribune provides a link to the local story and images of the progress of this home.

Yesterday I went to Albert Lea to catch up with Isaac and his class as they went to the Big Island Rendezvous. Then I photographed Leigha’s senior portraits, stopped at my parent’s, filled up with gas and headed back to Rochester. I knew approximately where the home was being built and thought I might catch a glance of it on my way home on I-90.

It was more than a glance. It was like the star of Bethlehem lighting up the night! This home is in the middle of the country and getting there was not difficult. You just followed the stream of cars there. We drove through a field, parked in a field and exited through the field. The traffic reminded me of Field of Dreams. “Build it and the will come”. When the cars followed each other down a lonely gravel road. Well, they are building it and they came. 9:00 pm at night and there were hundreds of people gathered in support and more on the other side of the barricade building the home.

The feeling was beyond words. I want to be there right now.