Post by Leslie

Yesterday was a snow day in Minneapolis, which was weird. Why, you ask? Because it didn't start snowing until 3 pm, but they declared it a snow day at 9 pm the night before. They might have been jumping the gun a bit, eh?But by 4 pm, this is what it looked like in our front yard. Ezra's buddy Elliot came over to play, and the boys had a blast "shoveling" the front yard. Shortly after snapping this image, I talked them into coming inside and warming up by the fire (or rather, ME warming up by the fire while they played with toys in the basement).It continued to snow last night, but thankfully we got less than 6 inches and everyone is back at school today.For your internet shares of the day:+ Do I need another dog? Probably not.  But YOU might! And isn't he adorable??+ This book review is amazing.+ Crap. Now it looks like I want to go to New Zealand.

Post by Leslie

This weekend, I got to spend an hour photographing that lovely Dalmatian up there. I have so many wonderful photos of him, but not the time to fully edit/process them all right now. So this is your sneak peek, and I'll post a fuller set later this week. But those flowers around his neck are exactly what I need on this cold, icy, snowy day when school has been cancelled.My adorable and wonderful husband took the morning off so I could escape to the coffee shop and get some things done. I'm now closing up shop and heading out to relieve him so he can head into the office and I can spend the afternoon parenting (and hopefully building snowmen). The irony of all of this is that... it's not snowing. It hasn't started. It's supposed to hit any minute now, so I'm out. But first? A few internet shares.+ I didn't know much about Tiffany Haddish before last night, but I fell for her immediately and found this amazing clip this morning.+ Since it's cold and icy here, I'm gonna dream that I can afford to stay here.+ This homeless project is wonderful. People are people. They are kind and funny and sometimes scary, but really we are all people and deserve to be treated as such.

Post by Lucy

Hello and happy Friday!! It has been a busy, busy week here at Shuttersmack. We've had a couple of big days with our newish client Creative Memories - both in our studio and out on location at a *gorgeous* house, you'll see a bit of the kitchen in photos below. I've had a whole lot of fun styling and propping the sets. Maybe this lovely spring weather influenced my shopping, but both sets ended up incorporating LOTS of beautiful flowers - it just felt like the perfect springtime vibe. And, while Leslie has the photographer role on these shoots, I can't help but bring my camera along and capture a couple details whenever we have a bit of downtime - these flowers are just too stunning.I hope everyone is able to get out and enjoy a bit of sunshine this weekend.Fingers crossed we have some, but I've not been checking the weather -- too afraid we'll get snow again and I just can’t handle that.

Post by Leslie

This morning, my buddy Carl stopped by the studio for some photos. And he brought me coffee! Friends are the best, yeah?Because he is my friend, I wanted to do some darker portraits because a) it's not exactly my style but it's the kind of portrait that I am drawn to  b) who better to practice on than friends?!? and c) he's a great model.It was a blast, and here is an outtake.For your internet shares of the day:+ This is real and it makes me love Minnesota EVEN MORE.+ Five things parents need to stop saying to non-parents. This kind of stuff made me INSANE before I had spawn of my own, and I try really hard not to do this for so many reasons, but mostly because I am A-OK with people who don't want kids. It's exhausting and not for everyone and you do you.+ Our government is making me super angry these days. If they want to get rid of something, how about daylight saving time? Why are we still changing our clocks? Please go after that instead of our health. Thanks.