We enjoyed every moment of Jason and Kelly’s South Dakota Engagement Photo Shoot.  This couple has a genuine love of life and their joy and happy are contagious!    They breathe life into every image!

We are through the roof about their upcoming June Wedding!   We’ll post for you all to enjoy!

We were looking for a new way to tell the story of how a new born changes the family dynamic. Through the eyes of Mya (3 Years) and the thoughts of her parents, we found a beautiful story. As Mya prepares to become a big sister, Nate and Krista Welch prepare to love + 1.

Excitement is in the air!

As much fun as Oslo has been, I’m ready to head home and see my beautiful wife. I hope to have the opportunity in the future to come back during a time that there are more day light hours and I can bring her with. Traveling is wonderful, but even better when you can share it with someone you love  (oober brownie points just now  ).

After lunch, we stopped by a custom jewelry shop owned by our client’s wife. She is very artistic and makes really pretty custom pieces. She has recently taken up painting and does a fantastic job. She is also a local pop star known for some albums/music videos that she and her husband produced in the 80s.

We ended the day at “Noah’s Ark” again.  We enjoyed some more food, drink, and a cigar. I think it was apparent to everyone how worn out we were from the week. We called it a night around 9:30 which was oddly okay with the group. We told him how much we appreciated his hospitality and said our goodbyes.

Tonight I hope to get a full night’s rest and in the morning we are going to try to walk down to the Parliament building before we hop on the train for the airport. We have a flight toAmsterdamat 1PM local time. We will land inAmsterdamaround 3PM local time, check into our hotel, and then explore around a bit. I hear the Rembrandt and Vincent Van gogh museum are very nearby. I will be inAmsterdamuntil my flight out at 10:45AM on Sunday. That will put me intoMinneapolisand then home around 5 PM.  I can’t wait to eat an American cheeseburger and catch up on my sleep in a full size bed. I may even take a shower in our Large shower just to feel American again.

Our goal is make our friends, aka clients, as comfortable in front of the lens as possible.

We usually spend as much time laughing as we do shooting and leave each session knowing we have caught a glimpse of who a couple really is.  We hope you enjoy these engagement session “out takes” as much as we do.  After all, we are still chuckling.

Seriously, love this!

Let’s be honest here … it’s almost impossible to get Shannon to stop smiling. 

The couple’s humor and laughter is contagious.

Life is imperfect and this couple has got it figured out … laughter is the best medicine.

Yeah, we definitely had too much fun during this shoot!

AND they are cool enough to say, “Yes, post them”!  Eric & Shannon, you guys rock!

We had such an amazing time with Eric & Shannon. We love hanging out and getting to know our couples and this was no exception.

Their love is easy to capture as is their passion for life!  

Seriously, her smile and laugh are contagious!  Make sure you check back for part two of their blog!

We can NOT wait for their wedding!

We had so much fun hanging out with Shannon & Eric…we just had to share a few images.
We cannot wait for their wedding day!

We woke up today around 7:30AM Oslo time. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but the shower here is TINY. It’s right next to the stool. It may be a great idea to have the ability to sit down while showering but… I’m not really into the idea of sitting on a public toilet while showering …. So I’ve just been recognizing the fact that everything is small here and we totally don’t appreciate how much personal space we have back in theU.S.

We spent the day training on new and awesome products.  They really have some innovative products that are going to change the way the broadcast industry thinks about normal everyday business.

We went to a place called “The Blacksmith Shop” (only they said it in Norwegian) and we had the best meal of my life…. No kidding. It started with some Halibut soaked in lime juice on a unique cracker made from flower root. It was followed by some mint sorbet soaked in sparkling wine, that was then followed by seared sea urchin over an apple slice- soaked in an apple butter moose, we were then served the main course of roasted duck bathed in some wonderful sauce. Once we had finished the roasted duck, they brought out individual cheese trays which contained a unique “vanilla tomato slice” (very sugary), and to complete it all, we were brought a thin pancake wrapped around coffee ice (coffee ice-cream) and chocolate mousse… all of the meal was completely breathtaking… did I mention that each dish was also paired with a different wonderfully matching wine? The final desert wine was a blend of Pinot and Cognac.

After we finished the meal, we went outside to meet “the real blacksmith” in the building next door (they own the restaurant). When we walked into this 25’x15’ shop, there was a pretty older woman, grinding away at some steel. It was great to see this type of local culture. 

We left there and headed back to their favorite location “Noah’s Ark”… We proceeded to talk politics for the remainder of the evening. What has shocked me the most about these conversations is that the people of Europe (Norwaymore specifically) really appreciate what theU.S.has done in their past.

What I have really learned here is… we don’t appreciate our opportunity to control our own fate. Based on this experience, I urge each of you to become educated (even more) about our government and those we choose to run it. Everyone would be embarrassed to know how much more the world knows than we do about our own country. It’s time we all take responsibility for our future and vote with passion. I can’t tell you how much this has opened my eyes.

For getting little sleep, I’ve actually accomplished a ton today!

 Last night I woke up about 4AM Oslotime with CRAZY heartburn. Still without my luggage, I had no access to my supply of Tums . I was out of options when I decided to get innovative… I moved the bed into the corner of the room, packed 2 pillows into the corner, and sat up against the corner. This tamed the heartburn and allowed me to achieve another hour of sleep over the next 4 hours of night.

8AM came quickly… we went down to the continental breakfast and boy was that different… I had no idea how to eat breakfast inEurope! They had a large supply of different types of bread, then they had fish (canned… youch), eggs, and some unique tasting sausage (nothing like U.S. Sausage. I assembled the things that I felt were eatable like corn flakes and granola. I then lifted up the milk carton and poured the milk onto my flakes only to find out that the milk carton was actually yogurt. Which was a surprise and actually turned out to be a nice breakfast.

We then set out on a walk to our Partner Company… about 1.5 KM from our hotel. The addressing system is a little weird here so we walked around like really large idiots (by that I mean we are fairly large compared to the Europeans) for about 30 minutes and finally found the office around 9:30AM. It’s a really cool place that use to be a blacksmith shop. The coolest part is, they are right on the river and the shop had generated its own hydro power at one point. The basement contains generators from what was a power shop back in the late 1800s. Some great history right in their office!

We spent the day talking about the future of the product and what we intended to do in the states. They declared “end of work” around 4PM. While most of us go home at the end of the day, they had something else in mind. A 12 year old Glenleivet Scotch bottle had already been purchased. The gentlemen was not satisfied with just the scotch… they have a 5’ tall Humidor for some incredible cigars (in the office).  To set the scene, we were on the back patio of their building overlooking a snow covered river, listening to a waterfall. We were being warmed by some radiant heaters and sitting on chairs draped by reindeer hides… by far, unlike any office in the U.S.

Us 2 American boys were feeling about “right” so we decided to all set out for some supper. We went back to Noah’s Arkand spent the remainder of the evening talking about U.S.politics.  It’s crazy to me how much they know about the politics in theU.S.and they have very strong opinions about the current & future political administration. It was great conversation and lead me to believe that most people in Europe know more about U.S.politics than 95% of the U.S.Population… It’s time to get our act together and push our youth

When I arrived, my baggage had finally made it. Tonight I sleep like a King… Clean clothes!

Evening from Oslo!

We arrived in Oslo around 5PM. The flight was good with no major events to speak of and a sheer lack of interesting conversation. Once we landed, we proceeded to baggage claim, where I found that my bag had decided to take a trip of its own and remain inAmsterdam… I’m sure my bag is hanging out in the “red light district” for the night… just kidding, I hope to receive it about midnight or 5 AM here. Customs is more of an “on your honor system” you can either “declare” or “not declare”. We didn’t have anything to declare so we walked right out of the airport intoOslo. It was so refreshing just experiencing travel without the thought of all the crazy processes to go through.

We decided to trade in our American currency for some Kroner. It’s about 6:1 trade in favor of the user dollar. Although I think it’s awesome giving someone $150 and receiving $600 in return, I lost some in the trade L

We proceeded to the train station where we rode a high speed train from the airport into central Oslo(about 30 minutes). From there, we walked about 1 KM to our hotel: http://www.anker-hotel.no/

It’s a quaint little place but has everything we need to get some sleep. When we were deciding on a place to eat, one of the guys from our Partner Company asked us to go out and promised a steak dinner. Before he said Steak, I was off to the races… we walked over to “Noah’s Ark” http://www.cafenoahsark.no/  (the hang out for the partner company boys for the last 20 years). I knew I was in for a bit of trouble.

They bought us dinner which consisted of beef steak, lamb steak, chicken kabob, and the “not rice”/ rice. (whatever they called the “not rice”… it was amazing!). We sat and talked for a few hours about the future of our relationship (which I’m really excited about). They told us that they rented out the 2^nd floor of their building for us to use as an office for the week… I’m not sure what that means but if the nature of Oslo is any indication, we’re in for a treat.

We walked back to our hotel chatting about our night, stopped to breathe the Oslo air and call it a night. I have yet to receive my luggage but decided to shower anyway. I think people fromEuropemust be really small… or just don’t care about personal space… the shower was small!!! And not just describing how the shower curtain was invading my personal space but also the fact that the shower head was only 5’ off the ground! I feel like a Giant here! Oh… by the way… hot does not mean hot… it means you’re about to burn off all of your good looks!!!!!!!!!!! Haha

Well, it’s gotten rather late here and I’ll need some sleep so I’m off for the night.