This past weekend I had the pleasure of working at the Wisconsin State Ballroom Dance Championships. This was the 25th year celebration and it was quite a wonderful weekend. A special thanks to Dan and Becky Messenger who put together an amazing event and congratulations on 25 YEARS!!

Some of you may or may not know that I’ve been teaching a course at the University of Minnesota this semester. It’s my first time tackling this kind of work, and it has been invigorating and inspiring and… exhausting. I was pretty naive going into the semester about how much work would be required to put together my lectures. But anyway, summer break is almost here and that portion of my workload is finally lightening up. So why am I telling you all of this?

Because I finally (finally!) had time this weekend to shoot some photos for myself. April 21 is Record Store Day (every single year), and it’s one of my favorite “holidays.” Labels release special editions and all kinds of rare music on vinyl, and in general I love how the community comes out to celebrate these small, struggling local businesses. I make a point of visiting one or two of my favorite shops each year, but this time around I wanted to visit five. I chose the Electric Fetus, Treehouse Records, Hymie’s Vintage Records, Fifth Element and Yeti Records.

These shops span a variety of “genres” of customer, but they all have the same details that I love: hand-drawn signage and a good sense of humor about them. Below are a few of my favorite shots of the day.

So next year, you guys should join the party. There’s lots of great music, some good food and even live performances around the city — and it’s always fantastic people watching as well!

A few days ago I had the pleasure of working with the City House. The City House is a group  that connects those on the margins of society, who might be homeless, in prison, or in recovery, with those in the mainstream of our society, for mutual listening, learning, and transformation. I was able to document the days of mentors and leaders in this group and talk with them about the lives they have lead and the lives they currently lead, an experience I won’t soon forget.

In a couple of weeks I’m going to be doing an awesome test shoot with these two talented makeup artists, Romeny and Alice. If you are a bride looking for gorgeous, flawless makeup on your wedding day, look no further. These two have amazing skills and delightful personalities. Here are some shots from a 10 minute portrait session we shot last week. Keep your eyes open in early May for our upcoming test shoot!

I had the pleasure of attending the latest MINNe-SHOP taught by the fabulous Eliesa Johnson. We practiced up on on studio lighting techniques.  It’s such a different world from shooting an outdoor engagement or a wedding, but I’m finding it so much fun to do both!  I just wanted to share a few of my shots with ya’ll.