Minnesota photographer

Lakeside wedding

What would your way of making your wedding unique to you two? For Jessie and Brody, it was books at tables for people to take home, blue sunglasses with their names, drinking a glass of beer during the ceremony (their version of a ‘sand ceremony’), and spending time with their guests.

The Texas couple decided to have a beautiful lakeside wedding in Minnesota so their Midwest family could come. The couple included all of their family in the wedding, and close friends to have fun with. We easily came up with fun ideas for posing. Sometimes, large wedding parties have a tough time with posing. Every single person easily got understood how to pose with little coaching.

Some other fun aspects of their wedding were the caterer made pizza on-site (Wood Fire Pizza and Catering based out of Detroit Lakes, MN), and there was a resident cat that got plenty of attention from everyone.

I could go on about their wedding, but I’m happy that their day went well and that I got to photograph it. Keep on dancing!

Jaime's Boudoir Shoot

in

Jaime was one of three models I got lucky enough to work with for boudoir shoots through Ultimate Image - Model, Talent & Makeup Artist Management / Natalie Sparrow Management. This shoot was to show you can do your boudoir shoot without having to show a lot of skin. Jaime is a mom, runs, hikes, and is well educated (we follow each other on Instagram). She was fun to work with, brought great ideas, and new poses.

Since Jaime has been with Ultimate Image for six years, she did her own make up before the shoot. If you ever want to book a model for commercial work, I highly recommend Ultimate Image - Model, Talent & Makeup Artist Management / Natalie Sparrow Management. Natalie Sparrow trains her talent well, and wants them to do well. She genuinely cares about those who are in her team. Some of the people I've worked with have seemed like seasoned professionals when they've only been a model for a month or less than a year.

Have you thought about booking a boudoir session for yourself or someone you know? You can reach me in any of the forms here or on my new Facebook page dedicated to boudoir photography at: www.facebook.com/boudoirbydesireemenkphotography. *No one under the age of 21 is allowed on this page, nor is any body shaming (everyone is beautiful).

Red Heads have more fun

I'll admit, I dye my hair red. My name is Desiree, and I'm a natural blonde. However, I love being a red-head. I don't eat souls. I just look better with a dark, fun hue to my hair.

Anywho, I had a photoshoot idea to offer to people involving an element of fun: balloons! Not just one or two cute balloons, but MANY balloons. As you may have seen in 'Cora's 6 Months Young' blog post, was my first photography shoot with more than 10 balloons of the same color. I wanted to use an adult for an example of a fun shoot that wasn't very child-ish. Thankfully, Carley didn't laugh too much at this, and said 'yes' to being my model for this shoot. 

Here are a few of many fun photographs from this shoot. Enjoy! -Desiree

Cora 6 months young

Since time flies pretty fast when you're living it, Cora is now 6 months old, and due for updated photographs. In the over-due session, we also played with using pink balloons as props. This may be a fun idea for a photography marathon later on this year (balloons are fun). Check out the gallery below, and enjoy Cora's cuteness!

 

It's been a while since I posted anything on my official website. If you want to keep up to date with everything, feel free to head over to my Facebook fanpage (www.facebook.com/desireemenkphotography or the facebook button below on every page). This year has hit me with not feeling the best 70% of the time, so I've been slow to post images here.

Model Behavior with Joey 'Razor' Kramer

In late December 2016, a friend from LA came to visit his family and friends. We arranged a model shoot for one of those nights. The year before, in early November 2015, we focused on general poses. December's shoot was more focused on a little bit more model behavior, and fitness.

When you don't have a gym at your home, which acts as my 'home studio,' you come up with creative solutions to show a person's fitness. Joey practices martial arts when he can. To create the intense 'fitness' looks, I simply asked him to show his favorite moves.

In between telling how to pose, Joey, being Joey, was smiling. For this post, I'll only show the more serious photographs though. I'll save the fun photographs for an 'outtakes of 2017' blog post. Any who, enjoy the photographs.

PS-Sorry I haven't posted as often as I wanted. The New Year brings on a ton of goals to start accomplishing, lots of reading, and having a head cold have slowed this blog's post down a bit. I hope everyone is staying safe and warm.

Other 'projects' aka my daily life

I'm a photographer, and I work full time at a non-photography related job. Translation: I work many hours doing many things, and I get to be around people (which is great!). My 'downtime' is split between learning more on photography tips, researching more ways to improve my business, and being social with my friends, family, and pets. Oh, and cleaning. There is watching TV in the mix also. LOL.

As some of you may have noticed on either my website, Instagram, and/or my Facebook fanpage, I, (well, we-my boyfriend and I), have pets. We have a small cat that we adopted from a local humane society, and a dog that is often featured on social media. We also have a lizard that keeps to itself, and sleeps 90% of the time.

One of my goals is to try to get connected to local pet adoption places to give back. Hopefully, this will be achieved in December or early January.

In the meantime, here are some close-ups of my dog playing. I had my gear out, and thought, 'Well, why not get candids of my dog playing?'

November mix

Hello! The fall season hasn't been too hectic for photography sessions. However, I still wanted to write a quick blog with a few November photographs. Since I love animals, I photographed a few of the animals who's home is at Como Zoo in St. Paul, Minn. If you would like to purchase any of the photographs (prints, canvas, etc) for personal home decor or as a gift, please let me know.

Besides animals, one of my frequent clients had a quick family photography session to include her newborn, Cora.

I hope you enjoy. I am available for winter photography sessions.

'GQ' VS Dudeoir (male boudoir)

in

I absolutely LOVE when I get to do a model/glam photography shoot with people. Whether it be for a senior, model or boudoir type of shoot. It's a great way to give people a gift that allows them to see how beautiful they are.

Since 'beautiful' isn't a stereotypical compliment towards the male gender-is 'handsome' out of date or is 'sexy' better/appropriate? Either ways, I believe that guys like to feel attractive also. I've said that I don't give the option of dudeoir to people, but I photograph 'GQ' (In refers to the magazine. They haven't paid me for the advertisement nor have I paid for the right to use them as a reference. Please do not sue me.) male model (any fitness level) style shoots.

So...what does this mean?

For the guys, I will NOT shoot any nudity. Females-I have the same body parts, and worked at Victoria's Secret for a few years in college-so I'm completely fine with nudity. I don't shoot any 'pornographic' type of boudoir, of either sex. It's not comfort level, and doesn't fit my photography style.

Some male boudoir specialty photographers tend to tread that line sometimes. Since I have a certain level of comfort, I say 'GQ' male model style of session. This means: a guy can be down to his underwear without getting too 'happy.' Guys don't have to be in 'male model' shape to book the type of shoot. Guys just have to be okay with seeing the end result being how attractive they are.

If you want to book a boudoir or 'GQ' styled photoshoot, feel free to contact me. I do require with you in person before the scheduled shoot of this type. The gallery shows some photographs from past male 'model' or 'business' type of shoots.

Have a wonderful day! -Desiree