When we pay attention, truly pay attention to life as it is presented to us, our hearts can be answered and desire born.

I live in the middle of nowhere.  The county I live in has ONE stoplight, that’s right, ONE stoplight in the entire county, and I live 20 miles from that ONE stoplight.  At night, when it gets dark, it gets really dark.  If it is cloudy and I turn off the lights in our house and the couple across the lake isn’t up at their cabin, I can be in total darkness.  But when it is not cloudy, I see stars.  More stars than you can imagine.

Have you ever seen the stars like that?  If not, go tonight, into the countryside where there are no other lights and look with an open heart.  It is truly astonishing, truly beautiful.  When I see beauty like that a longing wells up in my heart, the kind of longing that almost makes me cry until I can barely swallow the tears that are welling up.  What am I longing for?  More stars?  To be closer to the stars?  There must be something more, some ultimate Beauty.  

I see that in people too.  When people truly love each other their love radiates that Something else.  Their love points me to some ultimate Beauty that my heart longs for…

I met Kate and Travis at my studio.  I’d never met them before, so I didn’t know what to expect, which is always the best way to meet somebody, without expectations.  Then you can begin to truly see the person, when you look without expectations.  

We made an audio recording of their relationship story, went out and shot around downtown Brainerd then headed out to play in the snow.  It was pretty uneventful really, pretty much like every engagement session I shoot.  

This morning I am editing their images and remembering my encounter with this couple and when I pay attention, every single couple I meet is special, their relationship is a gift and I am privileged to be able to meet them.  Look through these images, but don’t see pictures, see people, two real people who love each other.  That’s my goal, to show you two real people in love.

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And we have to end with…

Travis and Kate, thanks.

Tim

Mike and Andrea are getting married in the Virgin Islands and asked me to shoot their engagement session. What a contrast the weather on their wedding day will be to their engagement session’s weather, which was COLD, REALLY COLD. We still were able to have a great time wandering the building that houses my studio and ice skating. Then to top it off who doesn’t like a cup of hot cocoa on a cold, really cold day?

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We started our session indoors, just wandering around the Franklin Art Center, which houses my studio.

After wandering around the Franklin Art Center, we headed outdoors in the bitter cold.

After a while outside, there’s nothing like a little hot coffee to warm up.

Stay tuned as I will be posting Mike and Andrea’s engagement multimedia presentation sometime next week.

Mike and Andrea, thank you.

Tim

Well, let’s just say the 3 times is a charm.  Gina, Justin and I scheduled their engagement session for a Friday, the leaves were stunning and perfect, but it was rained out before I arrived.  So we rescheduled for that Sunday, again the leaves were stunning and perfect, this time we were rained out 10 minutes after I arrived.  Finally, on that next Sunday we were able to shoot, the leaves were still good and rained loomed overhead, but out we went despite our past luck.

This is try number two on the multimedia engagement session and I’m very happy with how both Gina and Justin’s turned out as well as how Casey and Jenni’s turned out a couple of weeks ago.  My goal with my photography is and always has been to bring my couples closer together by reminding them of each other and of the milestones in their relationship.  

I know it sounds crazy that I think couples need to be reminded of each other when they see each other every day, but the world is busy, stressful and sometimes overwhelming place that can fog over and dull our ability to see the sharp, bright spirit of our loved ones.  Especially those that we see every day.  I am now convinced, after two attempts, that adding personalized audio to a slideshow of images helps cut even further through that dullness and haziness to remind us of how these special people correspond to our hearts and are therefore so vital to our lives.

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Click here or the image below to see Gina and Justin’s engagement story.

The fall colors were completely gone everywhere except the road where Gina’s parent’s cabin sits on Trout Lake, part of the Whitefish Chain of Lakes in Northern, MN.  We started with a leisurely walk with their dog.

We ditched the dog and hiked through some trees to find a nice glow and some great flare.  If you look at my photography at all, you know how much I love flare.

I love Minnesota’s season’s, and kisses from my wife (something for you to look forward to Justin).

After our stroll, the weather turned cold fast, so we ran to the lake (actually we took the tram down from the cabin, as it about 500 steps) because it was going to rain!
 

Gina and Justin, thank you for being guinea pigs, good sports and patient with the weather.  Not to mention driving up here twice.

Tim