Chad & Sara & Some Thoughts | Minneapolis Family Photography

Sometimes we get asked how we got started in photography. This family is key to the whole story. Wondering how? Oh, we’ll tell you.. (or just skip ahead to the images – we would understand!)

Madie and I both have enjoyed taking pictures since our teens. Madie even considered photography as a career path back in tech collage. I was too busy becoming a rock star (that never happened) and didn’t see it as anything more than a hobby. After we were married we found that one of our favorite things to do together was to take trips and take pictures of those trips. As a result we had a rather well documented marriage already in the works…

Fast forward to my sister’s wedding a few years ago. She was looking for an awesome but free photographer to cover her big day. Madie and I agreed to shoot it and my sister now had half of what she wanted (free that is). We quickly bought our first DSLR and got to work on learning how to use it. We also had to figure out what exactly wedding photography involved – after all we had never ever paid attention to the process in the past. Google became our mentor and we soon found a blog that changed our whole perception of what photography could be (if you’re wondering, it’s Jessica Claire’s blog – she is still one of our favorites). Our eyes were opened up to the whole idea that photography could be more than formal and dry in style. We saw it was possible to use the medium of photography for more than just stating facts, but to preserve memories and emotions. We were hooked.

After lots of study, practice, more study and more practice, we photographed my sister’s wedding. It was nerve-wracking and exciting all at the same time. We’re very proud of how it turned out, especially considering our complete lack of experience. We had beautiful people (sorry Jay) and a beautiful day that made us look good. Now, whenever we visit my sister’s house, my father’s house, or even our own kitchen where the photos hang, we get to enjoy moments from that day all over again. It’s special to us that images from that day are something we created.

The wedding only lasted a day though, and we still had a decent camera in our possession. What to do? The answer? Practice on Chad and Sara’s expanding family. We figured since they were friends they would still love us if we took pictures of their new little guy and they turned out terrible. They seemed to enjoy them enough though. Enough to hang some of the pictures on their wall. Now, when we’d visit them we’d get to see something we created that they were enjoying as well. Even the little guy would smile at the pictures when he saw them. When we realized that 20 years from now, when the little guy shows off his baby pictures (maybe more accurately his mom and dad will show them off for him) he’ll be showing off something we made, we felt really honored. After all, how many ‘things’ do you keep for 10, 20, 30 years or more? And of the things kept, do you ever really take them out and enjoy them?

Soon enough we started thinking if we need to earn money anyway (which we still need to do), why not do something we both have interest in, we enjoy doing together, and we view as meaningful? It just made sense and here we are. We just wrapped up our busiest year yet, have met some wonderful people, made some images we are incredibly proud of, and are just beginning what is turning out to be another ‘busiest year yet’. What better way to kick off another year then with the family that helped get us started? Please, enjoy the images below of these wonderful people that are in both the “closest” and “best” friend categories for us.

We would like to say a sincere thank you to everyone that has supported us so far, whether that’s been our wonderful clients, our blog regulars, the vendors we’ve worked with, and other photographers we’ve gotten to know. We are grateful for everything and are honored you are back here reading this now.