Frozen Music Studios Photography

Thank you Easter bunny for the sugar high.

 Anyone else on a candy overload this week?  :)

My New Etsy Shop: Aspen Valley

 
This past weekend I had a little extra time on my hands, so I finally got around to doing something that I have been wanting to do for a while now... open an Etsy shop!  I often have people interested in my non-portrait photography, so I thought this would be the best way to share some of my favorites with everyone. 

Over the years, Minnesota's north shore has been a constant inspiration in my art... you can see it in a rare watercolor, my acrylic paintings, and of course in my photography.  Most of my photographs shared in my shop have some northwoods influence, but I will add some travel photographs along the way as well.  Currently photographic prints and fine art canvases are listed in the shop.  Select sizes are posted, but all photographs can be ordered in custom sizes as well.  Whatever suits your fancy!

My shop's name is Aspen Valley.  It comes from my maiden name, Espedal.  In Norwegian, espe = aspen, dal = valley.  Love it!  If you have a chance, go ahead and check it out.  The direct link to my shop is: http://www.etsy.com/shop/fmslaura 

 

Wanna Trade?

All you lovelies out there that read this blog... you are a talented bunch.  And I would love for you to share your talents with me!  If you've been checking out my photos for a while but haven't had a session with me... what's the hold up?  Maybe photography doesn't seem to fit into the budget right now in this wacky economy.  Well, I want you to know that I'm always up for an old school trade! :)

Maybe you are a master with crochet needles, or love to paint or are a talented writer, let me know!  Maybe you are a dog walker, or clean houses or rock at accounting... give me a call!  You all have some mad skills in some area and I want to know what they are.

Email me with your trade ideas!  Can't wait to hear them!

In the backyard... more talk on inspiration

Winter is starting to feel like it's just dragging on and on.  The outside world has just turned to a white, grey and brown blah.  The snow is no longer sparkly and magical, it's drab, monotone and uninteresting.  My backyard in the winter is especially lackluster.  But, I was drawn to our scraggly juniper trees out back on Saturday.  I grabbed my camera and took a few shots.  The little berries were bright against the white sky and looked quite beautiful.  I even noticed an interesting pattern on the tree bark.  Woodpeckers maybe?  

These usually unimpressive trees were another reminder to me that inspiration often comes in unlikely places.   Have you ever been inspired by something you typically overlook?

Olympic Inspiration

 
I love watching the Olympics.  I always have.  There is something magical about them.  All the hype, the patriotism, glitzy medals, excitement. 

In 1996, I watched the Atlanta Summer Olympics and fell in love with diving.  I thought it would be really awesome to be a diver.  So, I signed up with a friend to be on the high school dive team.  For one season, I was a diver and it was exciting and fun, but I decided it wasn't worth the early mornings in a cold pool, the hundreds of crunches and the bruises up and down my body from hitting the water wrong.  (Oh, and maybe also because I wasn't very good.)

The winter games have always been my favorite.  I skiied for the first time when I was just 5 years old.  My dad was a racer in high school, and I grew up watching Picabo Street skiing in the Olympics.  So in 1997, I was ready to try out for the high school ski team.   I spent my high school career as a skiier, and watching the skiiers in the Olympics makes me miss racing (and skiing in general since I now live on the plains)!

The Olympics are inspirational... I think they encourage us to be our best and be proud of who we are and where we came from.  It's exciting to watch athletes achieve the goals that they've worked their whole lives for... whether it's winning a gold medal, or just participating in the games and giving it all they've got.

What's inspiring you right now?

(Image: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times / February 17, 2010)

Modern Photographers: Resource for Brides

Happy Wednesday everyone!  This week is already going by so fast... soon it will be the weekend again.  Yay!

I just wanted to share a cool resource with all of you couples out there in the process of looking for a wedding photographer.   It's very sad to say, but I've heard many horror stories about photographers not showing up to weddings, cancelling at the last minute and going totally MIA.  (Yes, really!)  Unfortunately, there are lots of people that are posing as professional photographers out there, who really don't know what they're doing.  (I really hate hearing these stories!)

One place to find awesome wedding photographers is Modern Photographers.  All of the photographers listed are recommended by other professional photographers. You can click through their list, or just fill out a form and they'll do the legwork for you and respond with recommendations of qualified photographers available on your date in your area.  Simple!

P.S. In case you were wondering, yes, Frozen Music Studios Photography is a listed member!  Woohoo!

Fargo Green Event Recap

 
This past Saturday, we were proud to be a sponsor of the Fargo Green Event at the brand new Hilton Garden Inn in Fargo.  The seminar on Going Green in Your Home was hosted by the Fargo Shaklee Team, and guest speakers were Sloane Barnett,Roger Barnett, and Cindy Latham.  There was a great turn out... it's cool to see so many people interested in how they can live a greener and healthier lifestyle!

The first 200 people in the door got a lovely reusable bag filled with goodies from the sponsors.  Two lucky people won an Oprah-style "Get Clean" basket, and a few people won door prizes from sponsors, including Jacky Biel who won our giveaway for a free Kids & Family Session!

It was a great event and I look forward to more events like this in the future.  Thanks for inviting me to be a part of it, Maria!

Vision

Sometimes it's the small triumphs in life that keep us going.  When things get a little hectic and crazy, I need reminders of small successes to inspire me to keep creating and pursuing my goals.  This photo goes back to 2008.  It's still one of my favorites.  I saw these trees and had a vision of what I wanted my image to look like and it came out just like I wanted.  Success!

So today as I'm still reeling from two wedding fairs in the past month and planning for the green event coming up this Saturday, I am trying to focus on all these little successes to keep my energy up an my creativity flowing (although part of me really just wants to take a nap!)

What are some of your small successes that inspire you to keep working towards your goals?

Purple skates on my door

Aren't these cute?  My mom made a few pairs of these for Christmas gifts this year and I just got mine last weekend and had to share them with you all.  I love the purple!  They're even more special because they used to by MY skates.  (Confession:  When I do ice skate, I use hockey skates now!)  

Want some pretty skates for your home?  I'm trying to get my mom to open up an Etsy shop. :)

Tricky 2010

Wow!  Only a few days in and 2010 has played lots of tricks on Josh and me!   Friday night, the fire alarms at our hotel went off at 2:30am... most ear-piercing noise I could imagine!  Just as we got back to sleep, the tornado sirens were going off outside.  (MN does not have tornado problems in January!)  Then as I was finally getting to sleep after those, it sounded like an ambulance was driving loops around the parking lot.  Needless to say, it was not a restful night! 

Saturday morning, as we got to the car to pack our things, we found that a pop can had exploded overnight all over the inside of our car.  Frozen pop foam was everywhere!  We had to scrape it all off before it melted and got everything totally sticky.  Lesson learned... don't leave liquids in the car when it's 20 below.  (Duh!)

Today we were doing some cleaning downstairs and I noticed a leak coming from the floor above.  (About 10 minutes after I was telling Josh how glad I was that we got our leak fixed before Christmas).  Jinxed!  Josh tore open the wall behind our dishwasher and kitchen sink and found 4 new holes in a drain pipe... which were the culprits of the waterfall problems in the basement.  Luckily Josh is super handy, and he was able to get it all fixed up with a new pipe.  He is seriously tired of me finding leaks though!

Happily, there were no tricks to be had at Ben & Julie's winter wedding on Saturday.  Above is a teaser photo of the blog post that will be coming up soon.  Can't wait to share them with you!