What a great way to end the week.  Earlier this year while we were in Florida, we got an e-mail from Stephanie with the Savvy Chic Weddings blog.  Her blog is focused on providing brides with advice and inspiration for their wedding.  She had come across our name and work via Twitter and was interested in interviewing us and featuring a wedding for the Savvy Chic Weddings readers.  Considering we are Minneapolis wedding photographers and she lives in Boston, we were more than happy to hold a phone interview and think she did a fantastic job capturing our thoughts.  If you get a chance, we encourage you to go check out the feature which includes Jess and Bobby's wedding!

Wedding:  Maui, Hawaii
Reception:  Brackett's Crossing Golf Club
Event Planning:  Event Lab
Brides Gown:  Maggie Sottero, as seen at The Wedding Shoppe
Floral Design:  Flora etc.
Cake:  Buttercream


Julie and Mike kicked off our 2010 wedding season and did it in style.  The two of them and their families went to Hawaii for the nuptials and decided to have a reception for everyone upon their return.  Julie opted for a bright and sunny orange and yellow color palette, which was gorgeous and of course, matched her personality perfectly.  She was stunning in her Maggie Sottero gown, while Mike opted for a laid-back Maui  beach look.  The guests were "lei-ed" at the door with fresh and beautifully hand-strung leis provided by Flora Etc.

We had such a great time with these two lovebirds and are so happy to have been part of their awesome party!

P.S.  If you would like to be alerted when all of the pictures are available to view and order, you can get to Julie and Mike's online gallery by using this LINK.  If you register before the event is released (ie. now), you are eligible for a $5 gift certificate!

Wow, what a fun day I had in the Las Vegas area before all the chaos of WPPI started.  After getting back from my experience in Tanzania, Africa, I made a conscience decision to try and stay involved with Thirst Relief International.  When the chance to help out with a new fundraiser came up, I jumped at the opportunity.  Plus who could pass up working with three people that I not only have the utmost respect for, but also consider mentors and friends!  When I knew Mike Colon along with David and Luke Edmonson had committed to instructing the shoot, I knew it would be a success. 

For anyone who has had the opportunity to shoot with any of these guys, you know why.  Not only are they are all committed to the craft of photography, they have also helped a great deal of photographers along in their careers.  What I liked most about the concept of this shoot is that the participants would see the different approaches they take and get their own chance to direct the shoot for a while.  Mike has a more lifestyle approach to his photography, while the Edmonsons were brought on because of how well they utilize non-ambient light sources.  It was a total win/win for the participants and Thirst Relief.

In addition, even though I am primarily a Minneapolis wedding photographer, I always look for opportunities to shoot outside of home.  I find it very inspiring to work in new places, different light, and with other people.  It is so easy to become stuck in your approach and way of doing things that sometimes you just need to shake things up.  I always learn something new and come back more inspired!

I would like to thank everyone involved for their participation.  A lot of people gave of their time, skills, and money in an effort to save lives.  Despite the economic climate, I encourage anyone reading this to find a way to help others in need.  Even if you don't have available money, we all have some sort of skill that can be used to help others!   

In closing, here are a few of the images I particularly enjoyed from the day!

Sitting in front of my computer, I officially feel like I am home.  What a whirlwind trip Jason and I had for WPPI 2010.  Despite all of the fun we had, there isn't anything quite like walking in the door and giving our kids a big hug and kiss!  It's amazing how much they seem to change in a few days. 

I will save all the details of our trip for a later post, but wanted to follow up Jason's post with an image of my own.  Our good friend and local photographer Laura Ivanova set up a fun shoot just outside of Vegas and I was more than game to go!  It was in a little town called Nelson.  While Jason's image demonstrated the drama of the scene, I opted for mine to showcase a little more signature Staja!  I hope you enjoy and look forward to showing some more images and details of the trip in the upcoming days.

As I'm sitting here typing this at 6:45 PM, Stacey is desperately trying to grab a couple more winks of shut-eye.  WPPI is the annual wedding and portrait photography extravaganza.  It is a place to come and learn, be inspired, develop new skills, and meet a lot of great people.  This year has probably been like no other for Stacey and I.  We have finally started coming to a place where we are comfortable with who we are and what we envision.  with that said, as Minneapolis wedding photographers, we sometimes don't see out of our backyard.  One of our objectives this year was to gauge where we are with our craft and how far we have come.  We constantly want to learn new things and push ourselves to find useful applications.  With that in mind we both participated in a "shoot out" of sorts. 

The first shoot was a benefit for Thirst Relief that I helped organize and came along to hopefully help with the flow and be of assistance.  I had the great opportunity to help out a couple of my mentors and people who I respect immensely in this business.  Mike Colon along with the father/son team of David and Luke Edmonson were the instructors for this shoot and came with different teaching styles and ways they see things.  It was so great on many levels because it allowed all of the students to see things in two different lights (no pun attended).  With that said, here is one of the shots I envisioned as the day was coming to the end.  I wanted the couple to stay nicely lit while keeping the drama of the background.  I love how the use of off camera light resulted in aiding the scene in the background.  I hope you enjoy.  Stay tuned tomorrow for a shot of Stacey's!