It’s weddings like Pepper and Brendan’s that make things about as easy as they can get on a wedding photographer: beautiful weather, a church full of character and color, bubble-blowing kids, delicious food, and most of all a ton of very happy people. In fact, I think the image that will stay in my mind from this day is Brendan’s Mom, smiling nonstop with this expression that said, Isn’t this the greatest day ever?

You can see more photos from the day on my Facebook page. While you’re at it, join the party and become a fan!

Thanks again to Pepper and Brendan for having me along for such a warm, personal day. Best of luck to you both and to your families!

I’ve got some forward motion to report on my wedding rebranding efforts. Like I said in my last Big Project post, a couple weeks ago I threw all my favorite wedding images (about 200 of ‘em) together in a big pile for my photo consultant to review. Out of the chaos she pulled about 70 of them that magically crystallized my style in to a coherent body of work. I’m not exaggerating when I say that seeing her edit has changed the way I think about my own work.

Please – take a look at the new portfolio and see what you think. I’d love to get your thoughts in the comments.

What’s been cool about the process is not that Selina chose a lot of images that I hadn’t selected on my own (although she did). What’s cool is that by asking someone with some distance from the work to look with a critical and fresh eye I not only got a fresh edit; I also got an outsider’s perspective on what makes my work unique, and the language to express that uniqueness. I’ve gone from the general idea that I do natural, photojournalistic, fun wedding photography to the specific core of what comes out of that practice: capturing emotions throughout the day in a different, more intimate way than other photographers. Because I’ve talked this all through with a person who has reviewed thousands of photographers’ work over the past 30 years, I now have the language, and I also have the block of images that illustrate the language. Super exciting.

Now that the work is solidified it’s on to the branding. I’ll be working with Andrew Voss, a designer here in Minneapolis. He’ll be working with me freelance, although he also holds down a full time gig at Spunk Design Machine, the agency responsible for all things marketing for the Seward Coop, one of my newest clients. I’ve also started the search for a book binder who will help me with my wedding and commercial portfolios when I get to that point, as well as potentially constructing my wedding albums starting next season.

All of this great stuff. . . it ain’t cheap. At this point I’m six billable hours in to my work with Selina. (Think lawyer rates.) The current plan with Andrew means about 50 hours of his time. (Not lawyer, but still.) Then there’s the actual printing of business cards, price sheets, postcards, the whole ball of proverbial wax.

On the other hand, at the other end of this process I anticipate doubling my wedding rates. (Which is a weird idea that I’ll probably need to devote a whole post to at some point.) When I’m there it hopefully won’t take long to recoup my investment, and be at a point where I feel like I deserve and need to be. At this point it’s a leap of faith.

Josh Hill has been around the Minneapolis food scene for a long time. After starting out in New York, he moved to town and worked at Goodfellow’s. Then he opened Cosmos. Then he opened the Red Stag Supper Club. Now he’s Executive Chef for W Hotels in the Foshay Tower, running Manny’s, Prohibition, and the Living Room.

Josh is one focused dude, like the other chefs I’ve met this year. He’s organized, straightforward, always moving. And man, can he cook. For last night’s Sample Circuit in the Living Room he sent out a huge assortment of dishes, forming a huge spectrum from comfort food (beef tamales, pigs in the blanket with Fisher Farms pork), to gourmet (curried king crab sushi roll, crostini with rare beef, roquefort, and smoked tomato marmalade), and points in between (truffled deviled eggs, scallop and kobe beef sliders).

Aside from actually eating and photographing all this amazing food, my favorite moment from the night illustrates another side to Josh. It was getting to the end of the evening, and the pigs in a blanket had run out. They were, after all, delicious, and made of pig. My friend Val noticed the absence of the pigs, grabbed Josh, and pretty much demanded more. (You’ve got to know Val to understand that this isn’t particularly surprising behavior.) It would have been the easiest thing in the world for Josh to blow her off, say sorry, how about some lamb meatballs instead? But he said he knew where there were ‘a few more,’ ran off, and three minutes later came back with a small plate loaded with pigs in blanket, just for Val.

That, my friends, is how to build a fan club.

Last image from the night: not the best picture I’ve ever taken of my wife Johanna, but we just had to get a shot of these Diva Glass Slippers given to her and Val. Like a coozy, but for your wine glass! Brilliant!

Johanna really wanted an Obama one, too, but all that were left were white Obamas, and that just didn’t seem right.

There’s some old saying about a man’s heart and his stomach, isn’t there? First comes the stomach, then the ‘heart’?

I had the chance to work on a print ad campaign for the Affair, an expo for discerning party hosts looking to kick their entertaining savvy up a notch. It’s happening this November 7 & 8. The ads were designed by Darren Leet, art directed by Corey Nordwall, and will appear in a number of Twin Cities magazines over the next couple months.

A fun shoot, other than the torture of looking at these beautiful appetizers and not being able to eat them.