Sam + Chris | Historic and Charming Engagement Session | Cedarburg, Wisconsin

Over the years I have really come to define and know my style of photography, and I can say without a doubt that my favorite thing to do is just to wander or go on an adventure and document two people that are in love. Couples that like to explore, laugh, cuddle, be silly, share a quiet moment together all while letting me document those moments and preserve those memories is really something special. I am so grateful to all of my clients for letting me do this for them!!

So, when I got to hang out with Sam and Chris a few weeks ago and do exactly that as we wandered around Cedarburg, I was super excited! The love that they have for each other is seen in the ease and comfort that they share and the way they smile and laugh with each other :)

Travel Diaries | Lagos, Sintra, Lisbon | Portugal

Last year I got to explore some pretty gorgeous places around the United States with my wonderful friend, April, and while sitting in a coffee shop this past winter we started to dream of more places to explore and visit! Since we did so much traveling within the country, we figured it was about time to grab our passports and explore somewhere new. After an overwhelming amount of ideas, we finally decided to spend our time exploring Portugal!!

With only a week, we had to try and narrow down our list of places we wanted to see so we decided to focus on southern and central Portugal. After flying in to Lisbon, we got our adorable and tiny rental car (Chip, because what else would you name a tiny mint green Fiat) and headed south to the coast! Our first couple days were spent leisurely wandering around Lagos and Luz! These charming coastal towns were so laid back and easy to explore.

Then after a quick trip out to Sagres to see the Fortaleza de Sagres and Cabo de Sao Vicente, we loaded up Chip and headed back up north to central Portugal and my favorite of our trip, Sintra!!

I thought driving around on the super narrow roads was fun in southern Portugal, but in Sintra and neighboring towns like Cascais took that to a whole new level! You'll see below how the houses open up right to the one lane cobblestone streets and having them built on giant hills just added a little extra challenge to driving and parking :)

After exploring the coast, palaces, and oodles of character and charm of Sintra we headed to our last city, Lisbon!! Being in the bigger city was a fun change of pace for our last couple of days and the hills of Lisbon gave us plenty of a workout as we walked around the different neighborhoods.

If you get the chance I would highly recommend taking a trip to Portugal!! As you can see, the bright colorful buildings with the never ending variety of tiles, patterns, colors, character, and charm are so fun to wander around. And having beautiful beaches and relaxing breezes through the palm trees doesn't hurt either ;) I really thought that Portugal was the perfect combination of a tropical vacation and old European charm and character. While there are SO many places I want to see yet, I hope to get back to Portugal again someday!

Explore North Workshop 2017 | Two Bear Lake, Wisconsin

I wanted to take a minute this week and share a little bit of our Explore North Workshop that we did a couple weeks ago!! This was the second year April and I hosted a workshop for photographers and this year we had the wonderful Emily join us as well to teach!

First, I have to just give a huge THANK YOU to those ladies and to all of the attendees, models, and creatives that helped to make this workshop a reality. I can't fully express what an incredible experience it is to host a workshop to not only learn and grow your business, but to just get away to relax, be inspired, and meet new friends!! We all drove to the middle of nowhere in northern Wisconsin and had a super fun and cozy week in our modern cabin!!

This year we did a styled elopement and an in-home couples portrait session! I've included some highlights below, but the highlight of the week for me was just getting to see everyone get excited and be inspired by their new surroundings and opportunities to shoot. I truly am humbled by this whole experience and can't wait to see what the future holds for more teaching opportunities :)

Elopement Shoot: Hair & Makeup - Lady Vamp Artistry  |  Flowers - Blooms by Brandi  | Models - Hunter and Nicole  |  In-Home Session: Models -  Ben and Kelly 

Modern, Clean, Industrial Engagement Session | Madison, Wisconsin

I love that even though Madison is a small town there are still lots of cool places and variety of backgrounds and places for portraits! When Gregg and Paul told me they wanted more clean and modern locations I got super excited because it's a chance for me to use some places I might not get to as often!

We met and started super early in the morning, but it was totally worth it to get some beautiful morning light. And I was extra excited to finally get to use a location that I've been wanting to for years, the Humanities building on the UW campus! I love it that my clients trust me to try new things and new places and it was our last stop and definitely some of my favorite images :)

Pisgah National Forest Elopement | Asheville, North Carolina

Last week I took a little trip to visit my dear friend Lisa in North Carolina! Lisa and I met in photography school (check her out on Instagram) and we've been lucky enough to visit each other around the country. Recently Lisa and her family decided to set down some roots in Asheville, North Carolina and I can see why! Although it was still brown and winter while I was there, the rolling green mountains, hip vibe, and friendly people make it an ideal place to live.

Lisa was also kind enough to set up a little styled shoot for me while I was visiting! She found a super sweet couple, wardrobe, and drove me around to find a great location (although the Blue Ridge Parkway being closed most of the time didn't help). Our adorable couple, Allie and Tim, never had professional wedding photos so it was super fun to recreate some wedding day feelings and portraits for them!