Social Status // MSP Magazine

Social Media is a part of all our daily lives right now. Chances are, you found this blog post thru a link on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter! The August issue of MSP Magazine, featured a story on 10 Minnesotans who's presence on social media is helping them grow their passions. I personally knew a few of the subjects, before they stepped into the studio to be photographed, but I also met new people who are doing such cool things! From illustrators to poets, lifestyle bloggers to foodies - and even fitness - all of the people in this article have one mission: to inspire their viewers. We photographed the portraits for this article at 514 Studios in Minneapolis and it's so fun to see how this came together! A special thank you to Liz Hardt and her post-production skills for this article and to Julie Lam for styling. (I swear, it takes a village to make images look good for the final product sometimes! There are a lot of moving pieces!) Truth be told, I am SO proud of all of the people in this article and am honored to have had the pleasure of getting to know them a bit and being able to take their portrait. They are all doing amazing things and following their dreams - and this is the greatest success of all! You can read the entire article, written by Ali Kaplan here, and also make sure to check out all of the wonderful people featured in the article:

David Schwen of Dschwen

Kate Arends Peters of Wit & Delight

Ali Holman of Core Camper

Monique Volz of Ambitious Kitchen

Elizabeth Dehn of Beauty Bets

Wing Ta of Canary Grey

Amanda Rettke of I am Baker

Abraham Piper of Twenty Two Words

Nick Massahos

The Product Poet

Red Wing Shoe Company //

This past winter, I had a dream-photo-assignment come thru my inbox. The story was all about Red Wing Shoe Company and my job was to document the process. So, on one cold, polar vortex morning, I loaded up my Volvo with the rest of the crew on this project - Steve Marsh, the writer, Drew Wood, the Digital Editor from MSP Magazine, and my intern, Liam. We all trekked on the icy roads down to Red Wing, Minnesota and began the fascinating tour, guided by Japanese designer, Akinobu Iwasaki. Hell, we even brought along the Capture Film Co. dudes to create a video for this project that you should most definitely check out! I was interested in this assignment for many reasons, but being able to see the actual process of how these boots are made, blew me out of the water.  From the tannery to the factory, well over 100 hands touch each boot before they are ready to be shipped. Now, I know that the Heritage brand has been pretty trendy these past few years among the hipsters, but Red Wing really is so much more than that. What I took away the most was the sense of pride that each worker has, working for the Red Wing Shoe Company. It was quite inspiring. Below are some of my favorite environmental portraits from our time at the company and you can read the full story here! As a body of work, these are images that I am really proud of, and I hope you enjoy!

                                

Woodchuck Case //

You have probably seen the products of Woodchuck Case around or admired them on other people's devices and thought "Whoa, this is cool!" I was definitely one of those people and when I got the call to go and photograph this team for Minneapolis / St Paul Magazine, I had no idea how inspired I would be. First, these dudes are young and they are killing it. It's pretty impressive to see the business Ben and his team have built in such a short amount of time, but what is most inspiring is their genuine excitement and passion for the business and products that they are creating. It's clear that these U of M graduates are growing as individuals and a team, just as well as their business is expanding. They are smart and have a great sense of entrepreneurship. They are kind, they are happy and they totally appreciate the hustle. Woodchuck case just launched a new website, where you can get everything from tech accessories to custom products to pocket squares (yep - pocket squares). Here are some of my favorite photos from our shoot! You can also read Ben's interview and learn more about the company here!

Urban Bean Coffee //

I have really enjoyed the continued work of creating imagery for Urban Bean Coffee. The content spreads across their website, blog, facebook, tumblr, pinterest, instagram and twitter accounts! Here are some of my favorite shots from the past few months.

Client // Urban Bean Coffee

Art Direction // Liz Gardner

Photographer // Eliesa Johnson

Talent // Lily Harris

Bodega ltd.

Thousand Hills Cattle Company //

This past fall, I was commissioned to photograph a story for Minneapolis / St Paul Magazine, about the Minnesota company, Thousand Hills Cattle Company. Like many of you, it's important for me to choose my food wisely and I've always been a fan of grass fed beef, but I also never really thought about it. It was a fascinating project for me to work on and I really enjoyed my time on the Thousand Hills farm. Todd Churchill, the owner of Thousand Hills is a family man, an incredibly knowledgeable farmer and above all, a respected business man. Beyond how refreshing it was for me to spend a day on a farm, I also learned so much from our small talk together. Churchill's business is one of the fastest growing beef companies in the country. Some of these portraits are amongst my favorite that were taken last year. You can still read the entire story, cleverly entitled, "What Would Jesus Grill?" online at mspmag.com.

Best of Restaurants 2014 // MPLS St. Paul Magazine!

The current issue of MPLS St Paul Magazine is on newsstands for just a couple more weeks and it is the Best of Restaurants 2014. I photographed many different locations for this feature and I am SO proud of the way it turned out. At each restaurant, we photographed various dishes, behind-the-scene moments in the kitchen and some fantastic looking cocktails that didn't make it in print. I wanted to take a moment to share some of these images with you! If you haven't checked out the full issue yet, it is absolutely gorgeous and there is still time to pick it up! In the meantime, here are some of my favorite unpublished photographs from this assignment!  

Forrest Wozniak

Forrest Wozniak is the shit. He's a sign painter, he is an artist and he also listens to mixed tapes. He's a badass dude who grew up in South Minneapolis and still lives and works out of his original neighborhood. In a way, Forrest is a bit of a Minneapolis institution. He's a hard worker and a true artist who has created more work around town than one might realize. I didn't know how much I would appreciate Forrest before I walked into his shop to photograph him for MPLS / St Paul Magazine's Best of Issue, where he was named Best Sign Painter in the city. I loved his space, I loved his energy and his message. I also really love these images and wanted to share more with you all!

Milkweed Editions //

The people of Milkweed Editions might just be some of the coolest people you have never known about. I was able to photograph them for the "Best of Twin Cities" issue for MPLS / St Paul Magazine. The company was voted 'Best Bookmaker' and their entire staff was pretty impressive. The more I researched this organization, I discovered that they are a little powerhouse in the literary world. As the writers described. " In a world overrun by teen-vampire books and marginally literate detective novels, Milkweed has flourished by, gasp!, catering to the tastes of people who like to read, who appreciate quality writing, and who have come to trust the press’s carefully curated sensibility of accessible intelligence." If you like to read, most definitely check out this amazing non-profit! Here are a few more of my favorites from our shoot, in addition to the images that ran in the article!

Mpls / St Paul Magazine // Best of the Twin Cities!

For the December issue of MPLS / St Paul Magazine, the feature story was 'Best of the Twin Cities'. I photographed some people, some places and some very special things for this article and in the coming days I will be sharing a breakdown of these shoots and some of the images that didn't make it in print. In the meantime, I wanted to share the complete layout with you all. Can we take a moment to recognize how awesome this layout is? Those letters? I have SO enjoyed collaborating with the team at MPLS / St Paul Magazine in the past few month, but more specifically, I have been incredibly inspired by the art and design director, Liz Gardner. With each coming issue that comes out, the design and layouts get even more visually interesting. I think it's simply the best to work with people who are forward thinking and push the limits. Liz and her team make me look good on these pages and for that, I thank you!

          

MPLS / St Paul Magazine // Holiday Entertaining

So, I'm a little late on this blog post, but the good news is that we're in the prime season for holiday entertaining, so this article is still relevant! For the November issue of MPLS / St Paul Magazine, I photographed the main feature, which is all about dining and entertaining for the holidays! For this shoot, we created four different tablescapes to inspire our readers! We were on location at Parlour, Butcher and the Boar, and some private homes to photograph these sets and it was a blast! Even though the issue is off of newsstands, check out the article online!