minneapolis photographer | jennifer witt photography

I joined this family while they painted their plates (and dogs, and cups, and dog dishes) at Paint Your Plate in Edina. After getting artsy, they headed over to Edina Creamery. I have to admit, it was a little disheartening to walk in to the smell of fresh waffle cones and know I couldn’t have one. However, seeing the pictures that I took during that time made it totally worth it. The light, the interaction, all if it….it was perfection. These three have such an amazing dynamic about them. Sisters, mom, daughter, auntie, and niece all rolled in to a sarcastic, hilarious, intelligent ball of love. I hope you enjoy the photos. I, for one, could not stop swooning over them.

I was kind of sad to do my last photo session of the season. It’s been good to look back through the posts of the families that I’ve been lucky enough to do sessions with. You all made my first “real” photo season awesome. I was thrilled that my last session was with a dear friend. She was hearing about jennifer witt photography before it even was. She (along with the awesome momma from this post) is part of my Friday retreat. Well, kind of. I mean as much as having a playdate with four children – two and under – running/screaming can be a retreat. Hey, every momma knows time with other mommas is pretty sacred, even if the soundtrack to the playdate is two year olds arguing over a toy broom. But, I digress…

This family was so fun and laid back. Laura left her purse just about everywhere you can imagine and it’s a miracle it didn’t get lost at some point. Here are my favorite shots from the day. Enjoy B family and thanks for letting me end on a fabulous note!

I had to include this last photo. I cracked up as I was editing. It’s as if Chase is saying, “You have got to be kidding me. We are sitting on old wood, what is there to smile about?”

I had never been to Bandana Square before but this family heads there often. Their boys love the train museum. It was an awesome location with loads of character. We ended up getting shots in and around the outside of the building. Grayson wasn’t so sure of me at first, but my super duper preschool teacher powers won him over and he told me all about his ball themed birthday party. Xander was down for anything and pretty much stayed put wherever we decided to put him. Thanks for a fun morning D Family! It was great to work with you.

This is one of my dearest friends. One of my dearest friends who is also beautiful, inside and out, and uber-creative. I can’t forget to give a shout out to Mike, who was totally a trooper. One of Amy’s friends said to her “How did you get Mike to wear that hat?” Her response? “Constant nagging.” If he was reluctant, he didn’t show it. I think now that he has seen the photos he realizes they wouldn’t be the same without that hat. I love when clients get creative. Does it mean you have to? Of course not, but it makes for some pretty stellar photos. We headed to the Mill District in Minneapolis and had a fun, albeit cold, session. They are such a gorgeous family and the love they have for each other is so evident. Their daughter Natalie has curls just like I had when I was little and I’m so jealous that my boys did not inherit them. Look at those tight little ringlets! Thanks for choosing me to capture your vision and your love for each other J family!

I got a little carried away with this sneak peek but once you see all the images you’ll see why it was so hard to choose.

Remember that uber-creative thing I was talking about?:

Amy rocked her heels:

Most of the time anyway!:

Mike and Amy were changing their outfits and I was hanging with Natalie who had yet to put on her fancy clothes. I loved this photo so much, I couldn’t resist including it:

More love:

This is my FAVORITE photo. I love it. Amy was laughing (and pointing even!) at Mike’s pose. I thought he looked quite distinguished. Amy had other ideas:

Thanks for choosing me to capture your vision and your love for each other J family!

I love this family. The girls and I are intertwined through the friendship that our parents share. I started off with the plan of just doing one of the family’s photos and then I got an e-mail that they wanted pictures of all the kids and grandkids. I was so excited to be able to get images of ALL of them! A family tree session typically consists of mini sessions (10-15 photos instead of the usual 20-30) for all the families plus a mini session for the large group shots. In the middle of the shoot John and Julie let me know that we were at the same location that they got married! They then went on to say that their photographer didn’t get any photos of just the two of them on that day. I felt honored to go back to the spot where the wedding family photos were taken and to give them some photos of just the two of them. I found out later they both cried as they looked through the slideshow. I know it is not always fun to get photos taken but what an amazing gift to give your family! It was an awesome experience and it was a beautiful day so the kids had a blast. Thanks for letting me capture your connections R family!

I had the pleasure of photographing 3 sweet girls and their parents this past weekend. I traveled to my hometown of Algona, IA to do this shoot as well as a large “family tree” type session (stay tuned for that blog!). These girls were fantastic. They were totally diva-licious. Not in an I-only-want-red-m&m’s-in-my-dressing-room way but in an I’m-gonna-rock-this-shoot sorta way! I had to QUICK take shots of anything that could even be considered a posed shot because one or two shots in the arms would start flaring out and the hands went on the hips and these girls totally rocked the camera. It made for a fabulously fun session. I LOVE the first photo below, B was snuggling her sisters. ADORABLE! Even though Baby P wasn’t so thrilled about her sisters holding her today (diva in-training?), she held her own when she saw the camera coming. Thanks R Family for letting me photograph your beautiful and vivacious family!

Wow, I can’t believe fall is upon us already! Around here the weather got so fall-ish last week and then this weekend it was back into the 80′s. I am not complaining, but it did make the N family have to tough it out in sweaters for a bit while we took the pictures. Nevermind that, however, because this family knows how to get their pictures taken. The girls were so natural in front of the camera and they all just fell in to place for each picture. They made my part of the afternoon super easy! Here are a few pictures from the afternoon:

The rest of my fall is completely booked. Thank you to my wonderful clients! Keep checking back to see what else jennifer witt photography is up to in this crazy pre-holiday season!

I hope you had a fantastic Independence Day. We took in parades and fireworks, grilled up some delicious ribs and I made apple-blackberry pie. It was our first 4th of July that we celebrated in our hometown. We have been living here for 4 years, but have always traveled to visit family members. This year I decided we needed to check out our hometown celebration and it was fantastic. Most importantly, I got to spend the long weekend with my husband and my boys. It felt so nice not to be running around on someone else’s schedule. I used this time, of course, to take lots of pictures. As promised, weeks that I don’t have an official booking (like this one) you will get a glimpse of my life. I debated over and over in my mind which one of these to post, but decided I’d do both. It’s the same picture with different processing. I think my weakness as a photographer is that I love several different types of processing. Lots of photographers really find their niche within one type of processing but I just can’t choose! I love full color images (like in the ice cream picture below). I also love black and whites, and the sun-kissed, vintage-y look of the picture on the right. I love the feel of the vintage one, and I love the drama of the black and white. I appreciate that the black and white brings your eye to the faces of my precious boys and husband and makes the clutter that comes with having two little ones, seamlessly fade to the background.

When I do your session, I will ask you how you feel about black and whites, or the vintage wash. Some people have real affinities towards one processing style and I will take that into consideration when I edit your images. Don’t be surprised if you see a few images with two processing styles because while you asked for one thing, I thought it looked amazing another way. You would be amazed at how many people say they don’t like a certain style but find they love it when it’s just the right image.

I  have been playing around with photography my whole life. Like many photographers, when my children were born, I realized how precious every moment had become and wanted to capture every little thing. For the past year, I have been experimenting on friends, family, and strangers at public events. I enjoy capturing moments and emotions. After all, when I look at photos of myself and my family, I want them to tell a story and show the connections between people and the world around them. I want to remember my husband’s horrible college haircut, the craziness of our engagement, the way I dropped the dove at our wedding, and my children’s sleepy newborn smiles and toddler antics.

I was so lucky to attend Cheryl Muhr’s The Secret Workshop when she came to Minneapolis in May.  Photos from the workshop are  shown below. It was the push I needed to start sharing my gift of capturing moments with others. When I show up, camera in tow, and ready to start snapping, I want you to answer me this question: What do you want to remember about these moments?