Sunday, October 31, 2021

High School Graduate{SE MN Senior Photographer}

I love getting to meet local graduates, talk to them about their future, and incorporate their passions and hobbies into their senior portrait session! This fall we had the pleasure of working with the Class of 2022, high school graduate, Bret, for his senior portrait session. I have also taken senior portraits for his sister and brother and have taken family photos of Bret’s family and sports banner photos of Bret through the years.

Bret was so easy to work with, a lot of fun, and came with a few ideas in mind already. We were able to get photos of him in the studio, photos with his dogs, photos with his truck, photos with his gun doing some clay shooting, and some football photos at the football field at Kingsland High School, this winter we will still need to get some basketball photos.

Joining him on his photoshoot was his lovely mom Brenda. She was great company, helped hold our reflector to block some sunlight for us, the session flew by, and we got some great shots that I think showcase who Bret is in this time of his life. Here is a little sneak peek from Bret’s senior photo session!

Still, looking to have your senior portraits taken? Click here to contact me for more info!

Tags: Kari McGill, MN Senior Photographer, NE Iowa Senior Photographer, Photography by Kari, Rochester Minnesota Senior Photos, Senior 2022, Senior Photography, Senior Photos, Senior Portraits, Southeast MN senior portraits, Southeastern Minnesota Senior Photographer, Spring Valley MN Portrait Photographer, Stewartville MN Senior Portrait Photographer

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Thursday, October 28, 2021

Pawsitively Adorable {SE MN Dog Photographer}

When the Pawsitively Adorable Contest came around, I was excited and thought about doing minis just for everyone’s fur babies. But we were too busy with regular sessions so it never happened. We ended up just taking photos of Andrea and Rylee’s dogs and of course Maverick, too. And then my cousin Court had gotten a puppy, so she did a session, and then we had one client come in with their dogs, too. I wanted to get to all the dogs in our family ( We have 14 dogs in the McGill family, there’s rarely a family event without a few dogs coming, too), but it didn’t happen. We ended up sending in 9 photos and had 5 winners in the National Contest.

1st place- Me & My Human (Courtney and Berkley) Winning them a $100 Visa Gift Card and a 16×20 print of the winner

2nd place- Dogs (Rylee’s dog Junior) Winning them a $75 Visa Gift Card and a 16×20 print of the winner

3rd Place- Dogs (Rylee’s dog Cruiser )Winning them a $50 Visa Gift Card and a 16×20 print of the winner

2nd Place- Newborns (Courtney’s dog Berkley) Winning them a $75 Visa Gift Card and a 16×20 print of the winner

Honorable Mention- Buddies (Walter and Hank from a client’s session) Winning them a $25 Visa Gift Card and an 11×14 print of the winner

Here are the other photos we entered into the contest…

Dog with toddler in MN field taken by Photography by Kari

Can’t wait until next year’s contest. We will be sure to leave a day in our schedule for some Pawsitive Adorable Minis. Thanks to everyone who let me take photos of their fur babies and enter them into the contest.

Here are all the winners in the National Contest

If you are looking for a Southeast MN Dog Photographer be sure to reach out and let me know. We would love to photograph your fur baby or babies.

Tags: Dog, Dog Portrait Photographer, MN Dog Photographer, Pawsitively Adorable Contest, Rochester MN Dog Photographer, Rochester MN Dog Portrait Photographer, SE MN Dog Portrait Photographer, Southeastern Minnesota Dog Photographer, Spring Valley MN Dog Photographer

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Wednesday, October 27, 2021

2021 Adorable Children Contest Winners {SE MN Children Portrait Photographer}

The results are in for the Local Contest after 4,172 votes! The results for the National Contest are also in. Please check the end of the post for those results. =)

Thanks to everyone who participated and took time to vote in the Adorable Child Contest!

And here are the local winners….

Our grand prize winner will receive a standard session with a 5×7 Press Printed Brag Book (value of $405) and a 16×20 print from the session used in the contest (value of $105).

Our grand prize winner is Sadie with 329 votes…

And our winners of a 16×20 print (value of $105) from the session used in the contest.

Brynlee with 307 votes….

Jennah with 296 votes….

Otto with 291 votes….

Ember with 287 votes….

Madison with 281 votes….

Josh with 277 votes….

And we also had 1 National Winner…

The national contest is judged by a panel of judges based on quality, appearance, charm, expression , and personality.

Severide with 3rd Place in the 0 to 6-month category, winning a 16×20 of winning photo (a value of $105) and a $50 Visa Gift Card.

You can see the other winners in the National Contest here:

Congratulations, everyone! Thanks for participating and voting! =)

Tags: 2021, Adorable Child Portrait Contest, Grand Meadow MN Childrens Portrait Photography, Rochester MN Area Children's Photographer, se mn children's photographer, Southeast MN Children's Photographer, Spring Valley MN Children's Portrait Photographer

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Monday, October 25, 2021

MN Black Labrador Dog Portrait {SE MN Dog Photographer}

2 years ago, my Dad and I went on a little road trip to pick up our new Black Labrador puppy, Maverick, from Whispering Pines Labradors (we highly recommend them if you’re looking for a Labrador Retriever). We had lost our lab of 12.5 years, Jackson, not even a month before, but being home without a dog did not feel like home, so we jumped into welcoming a new puppy into our life right away.

A dog brings such love and happiness to one’s life, providing companionship and friendship to everyone they meet and I cannot imagine my life without Maverick. He’s a character who is full of energy, very much focused on his treats, and doing what he needs to for a treat or to get you to run his belly or throw his frisbee.

When we brought Maverick home, Andrea took some photos of me with him. That day he ended up biting my nose and I ended up bleeding as his paw scraped my face. Andrea redid the photo last year and it went super smoothly. I thought it would be the same this year as he still sits on my lap often. He has even been known to climb up by himself using the foot pedals of my wheelchair. This year Rylee and I tried to recreate the photo again and it went about the same as when he was a puppy. As we were trying to help him climb up on me, I ended up with a canine tooth up my nose somehow which caused my nose to bleed some. Then when we would get positioned, Maverick would jump off my lap just as Rylee was about to take a photo. Lol So we decided that we had to have Andrea come help so Rylee could help with Maverick while Andrea snapped the photo. It was still a little crazy, but we got the photo. =)

SE MN Black Labrador dog portrait with Kari McGill

Also, last week I needed an editing break, so I went outside with Maverick to roam the farm some since it was so nice out. We came across some low-hanging leaves so I had to go back to the house to grab my camera to take some photos. I had to laugh at Maverick as I was trying to put him between the branches to get some depth. But Maverick had to be sure I could still see his face, so he stretched his neck out to get above the branch. He did this a couple of times. He apparently wants to be sure his entire face is in the photo. Lol

Black Labrador dog portrait peeking through leaves

And a big thanks to Andrea and Rylee for getting the photos of me with Maverick…..

If you are looking for a Southeast MN Dog Photographer be sure to reach out and let me know. We would love to photograph your fur baby or babies.

Tags: Dog Portrait Photographer, MN Dog Photographer, Rochester MN Dog Photographer, Rochester MN Dog Portrait Photographer, SE MN Dog Portrait Photographer, Southeastern Minnesota Dog Photographer, Spring Valley MN Dog Photographer

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Sunday, October 24, 2021

Extended Farm Family {MN Portrait Photographer}

I absolutely loved this extended farm family photo session from last month before the beans started turning to be harvested here in Southeast Minnesota. Everything about this SE MN family photo session was perfect. From the amazing glowy sunlight to the perfectly coordinated outfits, I couldn’t have asked for a better setting, props, or smiling faces.

It was also fun as I got to work with a former assistant and friend, Katie. This was a great session for her to work on as she has grown up around farm equipment her entire life as her Dad has sold John Deere tractors for many years with his business Isenberg Equipment and now for SEMA Equipment. So Katie and Jim were razing each other about which equipment is better. So much fun to listen to the banter.

Thank you, again, Hartson Family for having us take your family photos! Here are a few of my personal faves!