What on earth?!

Can you guess what on earth we did during a recent senior shoot to cause this beautiful prom dress to end up in the trash?!
I'd love to hear your guesses... stay tuned for the answer, and to see a wildly different end to this senior shoot!

another aspiring model!

So many gorgeous children come through my doors, and little Chloe is certainly no exception! Her mom and dad are planning to try their luck with a little bit of modeling in the twin cities, just for fun. This is just one random shot from her shoot with me last week, both to start Chloe's portfolio as well as document her for her family at this fun, carefree age. Chloe is 18 months old and is already a natural "poser", and clearly a girly-girl already. Even at this age when children can sometimes quickly grow tired of having their picture taken, Chloe loved every minute of it. Of course the giant lollipop I gave her near the end of the session helped stretch her patience with me! :) I had the pleasure of first photographing Chloe when she was just 3 months old, and again with her parents and big brothers for a family portrait last year. One of my favorite returning families - love you guys!

meet Spot...

This is our puppy, Spot. She's an 8 month old Jack Russell Terrier, we got her back in March and she's Q Photography's official mascot :) Oddly enough, she doesn't like having her picture taken; the only time I can get her to sit still enough is when she's sleepy... which is rare because she's a ball of energy 99% of the time.

the nicest thing EVER!!!

I just have to share this, it completely made my YEAR!! A client made me a CAKE!! As if making me a cake wasn't cool enough, it has my COLORS and my LOGO on it!!

A wonderful client of mine, Kim, had ordered a canvas wall collection. Any canvas or artmount wall collections I sell, I always offer the expert hanging services of my husband Jared... he really is great at hanging and measuring and aligning things perfectly, and he is glad to help me hang those luscious, gorgeous canvases. So we were over at Kim's house yesterday, hanging her gallery wraps as she looked on... (this woman is probably one of the bravest I've met; she has three children ages 3 and under, AND she is a stay at home mom, AND she still manages to look great through it all! I just want to hug her or offer to babysit or something whenever I see her... such sweet kids too.) Anyway, when we were finished and ready to leave, she said she had something for me to thank us for coming over to hang her prints, and gives me this CAKE that she made herself... I just about died, seriously. MY LOGO in ICING!!!!! I am still in disbelief. I am so very touched by her gesture, it is honestly one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. I am so lucky to have such awesome clients as I do - cakes or not, I love you all :)

the perfect age for "formal" portraits...

Many of us don't get our older kids' portraits done as often as we should once they reach school age, myself included! These are my girls, Alyssa just turned 8 and Rachel is almost 10. I actually don't get to photograph them as often as I'd like to, I've been meaning to do some outdoor stuff with them but I've been waiting for perfect weather and a clear schedule - both rare things! These were taken in the studio during the rainy week when lots of sessions were getting postponed due to the weather. They were in such a great mood when we did this, and I got more sweet, loving shots of them together than I have in any other shoot I've done with them. These have a very traditional, formal feeling to them I think. I usually prefer more modern, candid, funky stuff, but it's nice to have a mix of both traditional and creative stuff on the walls. (Gotta love their glasses, eh? They unfortunately both inherited my bad vision, but they look adorable in their specs!)

a cute outtake..

1 year olds don't like sitting still. no matter how many dumptruck sounds I can make! This is Zachary, he's adorable!! :)

a sneak peek of Stevie

Check it out, what a smokin babe! ;)