Big News!!

If you aren’t following me on facebook or you haven’t been to see me in a few months, you might not be aware that I have recently moved into a studio space!

I can’t tell you how excited I am about it;  Shooting out of my house was fine;  I mean, it worked great for years…but it is no fair comparison to this place!

It’s in a lovely building in Burnsville called the River Ridge Arts Building.  It’s a family friendly building, and among it’s tenants are painters, dancers, musicians, counselors, and therapists, to name a few.  The building itself has great amenities:  adequate parking, a comfortable foyer/lounge area, and beautiful garden features with a pretty fence and a pond out back; However, the main selling point for me was the crazy natural light in the room I’m working out of.  It faces directly north, and one whole wall is comprised of windows/skylights.  The room has harnessed perfect diffused light from dawn till dusk!   I absolutely love everything about it, and I can’t wait for everyone to see it.

(I would encourage everyone to book early for photo shoots from now on…It’s that time of year and I’m already booking into June!

This past weekend was my first time shooting there;  and my sister Nicci was happy to bring Sophie in to be my guinea pig!  Nicci actually designed this dress all by herself (inspired by Matilda Jane!)  and the headband is by Miss Ruby Sue on Etsy.  (Also pictured is the great new sofa that was recently added to my prop collection!)

Stephanie Dehler Photography 2010  -  (A Half of) A Year in Pictures

I’ve decided that blogging (for me) is just like getting in touch with a good friend that you haven’t talked to in awhile.   You think about them all the time and have good intentions of just making the call; but you get busy and time starts to slip away from you.  After awhile you start to feel guilty because you’ve waited too long, and then basically it becomes a case of overwhelm.  All of a sudden you are feeling bad, hoping your friend knows how much you really do care, but also anxious about how you’re going to fit all that lost time into one conversation!

I’ve always found that it’s so liberating to just bite the bullet and do it…because you just seem to pick up where you left off like no time ever passed;  And unfortunately, this just may be where the parallels end…

I have a LOT of catching up to do here, and now that I’m at the end of my summer/fall/holiday rush, I intend to post at least a few images from several sessions that I missed!   Before I post any pictures; however, I do feel like I owe people some sort of an explanation.  I was lucky to meet and photograph a LOT of great new people this past year, but I also had some existing clients ask me if I was still doing photography because I hadn’t updated my blog posts and facebook business page with as much frequency as I had in the past!

I haven’t stopped; I’ve still been here; my work still growing and evolving.  In fact, this has been my biggest year yet!  (Last year at this time I wouldn’t have thought that was possible!)

Truth be told, it just seemed I had a lot going on in 2010…A large part of it was personal. I don’t know if it’s because 2011 marks the last year of my 30’s (despite the fact that I’ve been trying to tell myself for awhile now that I’m not really all that concerned about it!) or if it’s because of a bunch of other outside forces.  I DO know that it’s been a very introspective several months for me, sometimes difficult, but in the end, incredibly enlightening.  I had always thought that “coming of age” period was for tween-agers, but I think I just went through it again!  At 39 I figured out a lot about what I want out of life and that’s really all I want to say about that.  (I know, I know;  It reeks of midlife crisis…UGH!)

The other thing I’ve been struggling with is that it’s my son’s last year home with me before he goes to kindergarten, and when I realized that at the beginning of the summer I made a conscious decision that I was going to enjoy my time with him as much as I could before it was over.  I just made a huge effort to use my time at my computer wisely, putting what I could on the back burner.  To put it simply; my blog fell into that category!

All that being said, I’m so optimistic about the future.  Thank you for understanding and sticking with me.  I know 2011 will be an exciting year of change for me and my family.  I will definitely be keeping you posted!

I think the best way to organize all these sessions is to place them in categories.  I’ll start with a few of my senior sessions, since I’ve already posted some of those from earlier in the summer!

Olivia

(Olivia is a fan of old movies, and one of her favorites is “Funny Face” starring Audrey Hepburn.  It was the inspiration behind our “balloon shots!”)

Alexa

I know RR tracks have gotten to be so cliche, but I don’t care…they just never seem to disappoint!

Ashlee

Heartbroken

Yesterday we experienced a very painful loss in the Dehler family and I’m sure we’ll continue to have many days of tears.  We were forced to make the hard decision to euthanize Riley;  Beloved friend,  family member, and sweetest dog that ever lived.

Riley was 13 and had just had a cancerous tumor removed from his leg in February, so when we saw the cancer returned almost immediately after, we knew the prognosis wasn’t good.  We tried to enjoy our last months with him, optimistic about the fact that, for the most part, he seemed fairly comfortable and happy.  When he quit eating and started to take a turn for the worse a couple of weeks ago, we tried to wrap our heads around the idea that soon we would be making a tough choice.  The truth is, nothing ever prepares you for the grief that comes when you have to say goodbye for the last time.

Riley was our first baby.  Before our kids were born, he came with us everywhere, slept in our bed, and much of our leisure time was spent at the park throwing a tennis ball for him.   He was a cool dog, and we weren’t the only ones who thought so.  All of our friends, and most anyone who met him couldn’t help but love him.  He was just so good natured and happy, and when our kids came along, he willingly stepped aside and accepted his place.  He quickly became close to them, too.

In hindsight I think Riley had been uncomfortable for much longer than he let on.  The vet told me that Golden Retrievers, being the people pleasers that they are, will try to buck it up and hide the pain to spare their owners.  Yesterday morning when Riley looked at me, I knew it had to be the day.

Today Riley will be laid to rest on my parent’s land on the bluffs of the Chippewa River in Wisconsin.   He’ll be right next to his late friend and partner in crime, Jato, my parent’s Golden Retriever, who was buried there five years ago.  He’ll always be in our hearts.

Here are some photos of our goodbyes last night before our trip to the vet, as well as some that I just came across this morning that were taken this winter.  The first ones are really hard for me to look at, because he looks so thin, tired, and sad.   Still, they will always be what I have of our last moments with him.

And here’s how we’ll remember him:

Sweet.

Goofy.

Gentle.

Happy.

Boisterous.

Docile.

Loving.

Goodbye my friend!  You served your purpose well!!

I came across this last year about this time;  I thought anyone in a creative field could totally relate.  I found it so inspiring I had to dig it up again!

Happy Holidays from the Dehler Family!!

I thought I’d post a few of my favorite photos from Thanksgiving…  We really had a great day!  It was so relaxing to get away and hang with my family.  (My husband even let me sneak away for a nap after dinner!)

Aidan with his Auntie Sara:

My sister Nicci with cutie-pie Brock:

My mom (Chef Extraordinaire) with my sister:

My very funny and entertaining niece, Sophie:

The loves of my life!:

Men doing dishes:  (my husband, brother in law, and my dad)

Finally; me with my sisters:  (the two coolest chicks I know!)

I got home Friday night in time to prepare for another busy weekend at home. I’m in the home stretch of holiday card season now;  As usual, I’ll be putting my holiday greetings together at the last minute after I’ve wrapped up everyone else’s!  (I haven’t been late yet — knock on wood!)

In any event, some truly wonderful news came yesterday to my husband:  After being laid off for most of the year, he has finally landed a job!  Of course, we have had our share of struggles this past year; however, as happy as I am that he has found a good job I know I’m really going to miss not having him around during the day.   Not only was it nice to have his company, but I really don’t know how I could have pulled off this tremendously busy season without all of his help.   I know that my children would have had to suffer some parental neglect had he not been here, and the house, well;  it would have been REALLY dirty much of the time!

Anyone who knows Jeff knows that he is a helpful and generous husband; and this year he has done more than his fair share for me.  These past few months he has done all my print ordering, bookwork, packaging, and mailing.  (Add that to nearly all of the laundry, cooking, and cleaning, and you start to get the idea!)

All things considered, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect for him to start his job.  I think he already knows he’s going to love it, and I am sure they are going to love him!

My Labor Day Excursion

Here’s a look at what I was doing this past holiday weekend, when we went to visit my parents just outside of Durand, Wisconsin.  My mom was looking for artwork for their house and their cabin, so I suggested she frame some cool photographs of the town that both my parents grew up in!  When they moved back to the area about 10 years ago, things had changed a LOT.  The town could use a face lift, I admit, but I also love that all these great old buildings have remained untouched for so many years.

I went crazy with effects on these, with some really cool results. I’m going to frame some of them in my house, too!

These following shots are without a doubt my favorite.  This old building was a car repair shop;  They used to bring the cars upstairs to this room on a big elevator to work on them.  When I told the owner of the bar downstairs what I was doing, he suggested I check it out.  I was so happy he did — it was amazing up there!

A couple of weeks ago I met up with an old college/dorm friend of mine, Darcy.  Although we’d run into each other more than a few times since college, we reconnected again through facebook.  (of course!)

Darcy had, in her words, a “fancy camera,” and had just purchased, in her words, “the lens,” and she wanted to meet up for a short lesson about how to shoot in manual.  (I was pretty impressed with how much she already knew!)  She is due to have her second baby soon and wanted to be able to take her own great photographs of her kids.  She also runs her own handmade greeting card company called Pretty Girl Designs and she takes all of her own photographs for her site and blog.

Check her fun site and read about her product here:

www.prettygirldesigns.com

We ended up meeting  halfway at a park in Eagan, and I had a great time! We got pretty sidetracked talking about the college days and what everyone had been up to since.  I was worried when I left that I hadn’t really spent enough time actually teaching her anything valuable!  (She did enjoy having me jump off picnic tables so she could “freeze” me in mid-air during our shutter speed lesson!)  Darcy is still as saucy and hilarious as she always was!  Anyway, I laughed a lot and it was really nice to spend the time with her.  It seemed like hardly any time had passed!

A week later, these very cute note cards came for me in the mail:

Thank you, Darcy!  I’ve already used most of them!