Pare Family | Minneapolis Family Photographer

I am so lucky to have Annette as a fellow photographer and friend. At least once a year, we swap photography services. She did my family photos a couple months ago and recently returned the favor.

She always does such a wonderful job working with my family and creating beautiful images. I currently have her work in four rooms in our house, two of which are large print clusters. In fact, having those images on my walls is what has convinced me of the importance of printing/displaying images. I absolutely adore seeing them on the walls, reminding me constantly of all the things I love about my family (even when they are sitting in the same room and driving me nuts!)

To be honest, I get a little nervous when it is my turn to photograph her family. I just want her to love her images as much as I love mine. But, the nervousness fades when we start shooting. They are such open, relaxed, REAL people and I genuinely enjoy the time I get to spend with them. Thanks Annette and Dan. I hope you love your images.

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How does your garden grow?

I have wanted to have a big garden to grow my own fruits and vegetables as long as I can remember. Everything smells, feels, and tastes better when it is fresh from the garden. When we moved into our new house we finally had backyard room enough for a nice sized plot and my father offered to get one set up for us. "Okay", I said, "but don't go crazy with planting because I'm not going to be able to take care of it this year (with 2.5 year old twins, a newborn, and a small business to take care of)."

Well... he went crazy. He can't help himself. He's a farm boy at heart. He loves digging in the dirt and planting seeds (not too keen on weeding though...). Anyway, he vowed to take care of everything he planted and he has, so far, made good on his promise. We have zucchini and cucumbers coming out of our ears, radishes and green onions in abundance, potatoes and tomatoes well on their way, and squash and melons coming soon.

I love this season, food-wise. Everything is so fresh and beautiful that I decided food photography would be a perfect Inspiration session for July. I really don't have a lot of experience photographing food (outside of shooting photos of tea for TeaSource) and I've been wanting some nice images of food for the walls in my kitchen, so I went for it. It was a fun, refreshing, and delicious change of pace. :)

Enjoy the season of abundance!
Gretchen

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