Mattie | Madison, Wisconsin, Senior Portrait Session

I often get asked, "besides weddings, what do you like to shoot?" The answer? Senior portraits!! That's why you'll notice a mix of wedding, engagement, and senior portraits in my portfolio. I should probably create a different website just for seniors, but I'm all about simplifying my life right now ;)

Senior portrait sessions are so much fun for me because it's a time dedicated to bringing out each person's personality and interest through portraits. If I have extra time some day (haha sorry I usually don't have that much free time) I'll scan some of my prints from my senior portraits and share them with you, but for now you'll just have to see some of Mattie's awesome session last summer!

Mattie is a super busy senior this year with basketball and softball, but she also loves the water so of course we just had to go in the lake for a bit! Why not?! I love the variety of locations we used in downtown Madison and just how effortless is was to photograph Mattie!

Destination Elopements + Weddings | Hiking Washington National Parks

For a lot of wedding photographers it is the dream to get to photograph a wedding in some exotic or adventurous location. Haha I know I will raise my hand and yell "pick me!!" any time someone asks to travel somewhere for their wedding. But for me it goes a little further than that. I seem to have this burning desire to see the world and all of the unique and beautiful places in it.

For those of you that don't know, photography is actually my second career! I started my adult life as an accountant, but a semester studying abroad in college taught me that life is just too short and you shouldn't settle for anything. That is why I'm now following my passion as a photographer, and that is why I want to photograph more destination weddings and elopements! I LOVE getting to photograph so many beautiful weddings here in Wisconsin, but I want to push it just a little further than that. There are so many amazing places to see and experience and I want to do that with my camera in hand.

Last summer I spent some time exploring Olympic National Park, Mount Rainier, Puget Sound, and the North Cascades. I will hopefully be going back to the area of the PNW soon, but it's just a little reminder of the gorgeous places even right here in the United States that we should all take advantage of and visit. Haha and of course take advantage of having portraits in these epic locations :)

I've been posting a lot more images like this in my Instagram feed (@jendederich) to hopefully inspire people to not only get out and explore but to try something new and adventurous for their wedding, elopement, or portrait session. Happy traveling!

Winter Engagement Session | Madison, WI Engagement Photographer

It's only spring, it's not too late to post winter images right?! Haha I know, I'm thinking about warm weather too, but these are just too cute not to share! And it shows just how awesome my couples are. It was definitely below zero the day that Theresa, Aaron, and I met for some engagement portraits in downtown Madison. Brrr!! But can you tell? Nope. I had so much fun with them and these images just prove that no matter what the weather is like you can get gorgeous images!

Explore North Workshop | A Wedding Photographer Workshop

Hosting and teaching a workshop has been something I've been talking about and wanting to do for years. I am so SO excited to finally be making it happen and to be working with two other amazing photographers, April Violet and Shaunae Teske! Together we are all hosting the Explore North Workshop on the beautiful shores of Lake Superior.

Our workshop is going to be very unique in that all 3 of us have different styles and ways that we run our business, but we all believe in community over competition and we want to help other photographers grow their businesses and reach their goals. That's why we're going to be giving very detailed information on exactly how we do things. Blogging, client experience, accounting, organization, branding, and design are some of the main topics we will be talking about.

But wait, there's more! Haha I totally feel like an infomercial right now. What other things would be valuable to a wedding photographer? New portfolio images, a new head-shot for your website, networking with other photographers and vendors, and just a few days to have fun. As important as all of that other stuff is, being a wedding photographer is draining. You need to take time for yourself to re-charge and get inspired!! This is why we're doing this, and all of this is why we are so very excited to be making this happen :)

Wedding Inspiration | Pastel + Bright Pink Wedding | Chicago Wedding Photographer

I have been in a spring mood this week (it could be the tease of 50 degree weather we had recently) and really looking forward to spring and summer blooms! Last spring I took part in The Big Fake Wedding in Chicago at the City View Loft. If you haven't checked out what The Big Fake Wedding is all about and you're planning a wedding or know someone that is, you should. You get to see all of the wedding vendors in action as a real vow renewal happens! If you've ever wanted to crash a wedding to help you plan, here's your chance. I'm also really hoping by putting all of these pretty spring images out there will make the snow that we got this week the last time until December... a girl can hope, right?! :)