bat mitzvah fun. { frost on flower }

A couple of weeks ago I photographed my first Bat Mitzvah. Coincidentally the Mat Mitzvah was for a girl named Emma - that made the night slightly confusing for me as I was constantly turning my head when someone called her!

The party was held at the Hopkins Center for the Arts and her parents did a wonderful job of putting everything together. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food, dancing, games, wax hands, and more.

an adorable family. { frost on flower }

This family was so fun to meet! It turns out they live really close to me in north Minneapolis! We met at a little park in Brooklyn Center tucked behind the Community Center, surrounded by various highways and a rather unsuccessful pocket of strip malls. It's a funny little part of Brooklyn Center that you would never go to if you didn't have a big reason - this is probably why the strips malls are so unsuccessful. But that's part of what makes this park great! It's usually nearly empty! There is a small lake, a lawn for games, trees, paths, and a playground. It was a perfect spot to photograph an adorable 18 month old and his older siblings. Lots of chasing, running, crawling, and getting covered in wood chips were involved in the making of this session. :)

I'm trying to get much better at narrowing down my favorite photos. But again it proved to be quite difficult! This family was so adorable and incredibly photogenic. Without further ado.. here are some of my favorites:



We started with some family photos with all of the siblings so the little guy could ease his way into the session.





He was pretty much ready to go right away. :)







We brought out the bubbles to see what kinds of expressions I could capture but he ran after them too quickly!  His big sister helped out.









This was just before he showed us how well his huge muscles work and he broke the stick right in half!





A little game of peek around a tree got a few great smiles.  :)





Future football star?  He had a great grip and ran for it as soon as he had the ball.  :)





A pro at the slide!













This is moments before I found myself completely covered in mulch.  ;)

















The coordinating shoes was a great idea!









It's amazing how often it happens, and I know I've said it before, but I really enjoy photographing kids who are so similar in age to my Olive. :)

large family adventure. { frost on flower }

A few weeks ago I drove out to Annandale, MN with Tyler and Olive. They dropped me off at a lake home done a long and winding gravel road. There I met a large and extended family. We scoured their property for shady spots and I photographed numerous combinations of people and antsy kids for one and a half hours. I took over 1,000 photos! You can never be careful enough when dealing with such large groups, especially when there is such a large age range - include multiple kids under five.

It was fun and quite the adventure! Here are a few of my favorites of smaller groups.. and a dog!



















Tyler and Olive drove around Annandale and found a beach and playground to enjoy while I was busy working. On the way home we stopped for an early Sunday dinner. :)