HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

to the love of my life.

an oldie, but a goodie.



and one of my faves of him in the band days.

Various Things I Happen to Love: 1 (Introduction)

So I've decided that instead of just writing about photography and posting my photos all the time, I'd like to expand this blog and talk a little bit more about me and other things I enjoy. Yes, photography is one of the things I love most in the world, but there are also a few other things I love equally as much. For example, I love books. I'm an English major, it goes hand-in-hand. However, I have met some English majors who don't like to read or don't really like books, but that's pretty rare...and strange, in my opinion. Another thing I like to do, big surprise, is write. Sadly, I haven't been doing very much of that in my free time, I used to be an obsessive journaler, but I'm hoping this blog will help get me out of that slump. Here's a list of some of the other things I love (in no particular order):

Movies (old, new, foreign, just plain weird...if it has an engaging plot and the screenplay was written by someone with a BRAIN, i like it)
MUSIC (in any form, cassette tape, records, live, iPod, CDs, 8-track, etc.)
TV Shows (there are a few I follow religiously, once I get hooked, there's no stopping me)
Museums
TRAVELING (in this category there are also road trips and airports - one of the most heartbreaking and romantic places, period.)
Scrabble
Correcting People's Grammar
Cooking (Paula Deen, while I would rarely eat anything she makes, because it all contains about 2 1/2 lbs. of butter and/or cream cheese, she is my favorite to watch)
Wine
Running/Working Out (Billy Blanks is kicking my a@# into shape)
Doing Crafty Projects
Laying in the Grass on Hot Days
The Ocean
Photo Booths (I guess that counts as part of photography, but oh well...I LOVE them still)
Being Suprised/Surprising People
Playing Cranium and Apples to Apples (these games are the bomb dot com)
Trying to Resurrect Old Slang Like "Bomb Dot Com"
Urban Outfitters
Internet Videos (including, but not limited to...Teen Girl Squad, any episode of SNL where JT hosted or guested and countless other SNL skits, anything Andy Samberg comes up with, Old Greg [yes, Amelia, even him], Shoes, Can I Have UR Number?, Barney Stinson's Video Resume)
A Good Cup of Coffee or Tea, Also: Sharing a Great Conversation Over Said Beverage
Discovering New Things
"Life Moments" (more on this later)
Stationery, Also: Sending and Receiving Mail (a card or note in the mail TRUMPS facebook posts, messages, emails or texts any and EVERY day)

My hope, in telling you all this, is to include blog posts not only about photography projects I'm working on, but about any of the items on this list, perhaps going into greater detail about them, you know, the whys and wherefores, or whatever that saying is.  

Today I want to talk a little about a combination of my love for writing and movies...in the form of movie reviews.  You know how you have about 10 different things that you could see yourself doing for a living?  One of my 10 potential careers is a movie critic.  This is a pretty new development, it's not something I always dreamed of doing or anything like that, but I am a hardcore movie lover, I will watch a movie anywhere at any time, I am always in the mood.  I find myself getting pretty carried away with movies that I like too...when someone asks me if I liked a movie or not, I get so wrapped up in it and start talking about character development and plot devices with the same fervor I used to reserve only for books.  I read Roger Ebert's reviews religiously, every week they come out on Thursday and I always want to know what he has to say.  I can't really explain why this is, but for some reason I started doing it last year and now I don't miss any of them.  Even for movies I probably will never see, I still read the review.  They are so fascinating to me and I think part of that is because Ebert goes into a movie with an open mind....he's not one of those critics who is pre-disposed to hating everything (i.e. Colin Covert from the Star Tribune...that guy sucks).  He gives every movie an honest go and then tells it like it is.  If a movie is bad, it's just bad, there's no way of getting around that and it's particularly funny to hear him rip a movie apart.  I also find that I agree with his opinion 9.5 times out of 10, which is nice.  Well, you're probably asking yourself why I would want to read all those reviews and spoil it all for myself before I see the movie?  Another nice thing about Ebert is that there are next to no SPOILER ALERTS in his reviews, he doesn't reveal any important twists or turns, and he doesn't over-explain any plot details that he knows the audience will enjoy experiencing for themselves for the first time at the theatre.  He also provides a lot of context for a movie, referencing other movies, books, facts, trivia, etc.  My goal, from now on, is to write my own movie reviews...hopefully once a week, of a movie I have seen recently, or an old favorite.  And of course, because it's fun, I'll rip some apart that I absolutely can't stand.  If I offend you, I apologize, but my opinions are just my opinions and you're entitled to your own.  Here are two of my favorite reviews that Ebert has written, coincidentally he's tearing both movies apart, and it's funny as hell.  I laughed out loud through both articles:

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking with me through all of my musings.  Hope your weekend is très magnifique!

Later, 

Meg

A Very Vohssy Family

So last week I had the pleasure of going out to shoot The Vohsses, who hail from Faribault! I took them to Ritter Farm Park here in Lakeville and though we did a bit more walking than any of us anticipated, the weather was perfect and we all remained in good spirits :) They were such troopers, they ventured off into the tall grass for me and sat all over the ground. Unfortunately I got stung when I was in the tall grass shooting Amelia, not paying attention, as usual, to what was going on around me. I still don't know what I was stung by, but it didn't swell up for long. A note about these three fantastic people, they are so much fun and they have fun together! Carl (Dad) sang his way through practically the entire shoot, and of course Ann (Mom) and Amelia rolled their eyes and laughed, but secretly I think they liked it :) They are such a sweet family! I hope they enjoyed themselves as much as I did!

On to the pics!

Peace,
Meg

Inspirations.

So I've become a HUGE photo blog junkie in the past few weeks...if I'm on the internet with nothing particular to do, I shortly find myself on someone's blog, either someone I've heard of or someone I haven't. I LOVE looking at other photographers' work for inspiration and just for the sheer joy of seeing how much a wedding photographer loves what she/he does for a living. It makes me excited and hopeful that one day I might be able to produce the kinds of beautiful images that they do. Here are some of the blogs I find myself going back to over and over again.

Red Photo Co. This company is based out of Winnipeg, Manitoba. I found it on facebook and have been hooked ever since...the picture of the bride in the rubber boots is so great I can't stand it. Scroll down close to the bottom.

Photogen, Inc. This is a Minneapolis-based photography company run by the talented Eliesa Johnson, a girl I went to high school with. Not only is her work fantastic, but we were friends back at OHS and it's cool to see where that talent is taking her!

Josh Solar Photo This is a husband/wife photography team from Kansas City. Their photos are so full of life and I love how they take a lot of pictures of their own kids because I know I'm going to do exactly the same thing when I have some kidlets running around.

Kelley Photo and Design Also based out of Kansas City, she produces stunning images with, what feels to me, like a vintage flair. Very creative. Just plain cool.

Stacy Cross Photography Her photos are beautiful and seem to capture the spirit of her subject, no matter who they are or what the occasion.

Heather Cole Photography Also hails from Kansas City. Friend of Josh Solar. Awesome photographer with a unique eye. Likes to say "MEOW!" a lot about her clients. Also likes working by fantastic old buildings - a woman after my own heart.

Jasmine Star Photography Amazing work. Period.

Angelica Glass Photography She's got a lot of sass and I like it.

Anna Kuperberg Photography If I had even an infinitesimal amount of this woman's talent, I'd feel pretty good about myself. Her work will blow you away.

Jesh de Rox And speaking of being blown away, I was absolutely stunned after I looked at this guy's work, in the best way possible. The pure feeling in his photos is more than I could ever hope to achieve in my own work. There is a true passion and artistry in what he does and it's without a doubt the biggest inspiration I've yet to come across. He has a fun, interactive website...check it out!

Sneak. Peek.

So I have to go to work (uggghhhhh...traffic in the rain), but I'm so excited about this that I just have to share it! Say hello to the Vohs family, you may recognize the young, cute thing - that would be my friend Amelia whose parents graciously asked me to take their family pictures after they saw the ones I took of her. So, here's a sneak peek at the fun we had hiking around Ritter Farm Park. More to come later (as in after work)!

In the works!

So I'm working on a logo...and I'm really excited about it. Business cards, etc. to come very soon! Woot! There may be a new, fancy-looking blog in the near future too. Stay tuned...

On a side note, Mondays are incredibly LAME.

M

"Crazy old jerk!"

That's just one of the many Daria-isms I repeated over and over again with my two great friends Amy and Steve last weekend in La Crosse. Steve lives there and Amy lives in Illinois and I live here of course, so Steve's place was a nice halfway point for us to meet. Amy and I were senior year roommates in college and I wouldn't have had that any other way. I could go on and on about all the things we used to say (and sing) to each other while bored in our room, or bored in class and facebooking when we weren't supposed to...most of which we had just seen on an internet video that day, or months ago and still thought it was funny. In a nutshell, this girl is amazing. Not only could we goof around and talk about Teen Girl Squad, but we could talk about the real stuff too, you know...books, life, that sort of thing. We share a love for some things grammar-related, most things literature related, and ALL things related to The Nightmare Before Christmas. Holla teen girl.

And then there's Steve! I met him my freshman year, in fact, he was my first male friend on campus. If I remember correctly my freshman year roommate (Annie!) and I were wandering around campus because we thought that was a good a way as any to meet people and BAM. We did. Steve and Mike (not to appear in any pictures here, unfortunately) and that was that. Since then Steve and I have shared many a long talk usually related to music in some way...and by that I mean, The Beatles. One of my favorite things to do after class was head over to Steve's and listen (and sing along) to his rad vinyl recordings, of which he has a rather large collection. Steve was gracious enough to put us up for the weekend and many good times were had! Thanks again, Steve!

I love you both.

P.S. Steve's last name is Arenz and the shoe store sign you see below is for the store started by a relative years ago!

Amelia Part Dos!

Told you she'd show up again! Here are some shots from our gallavanting around the cities this past weekend. So fun...naturally. I wouldn't expect anything else from hanging out with this girl!