North Dakota Photographer

Cozy, Lifestyle Newborn Photoshoot

Many people want their special moments photographed to look back on. Do I photograph newborns? Yes. However, I decided to offer newborn lifestyle photoshoots vs the traditionally posed newborn photoshoots. Why do I not offer the ‘traditional style?’ Well…I love them, but they’re hard to schedule for and, honestly, I am much more comfortable with at home newborn lifestyle photoshoots.

I have newborn photography experience. Example: My very first newborn photoshoot, many years ago, was just 15 minutes long. That’s it. 900 seconds. Done. The baby slept and barely opened an eye. He may have stretch out his wee little arms once. 95% of my other newborn photoshoots were much longer. I once helped with a newborn photoshoot that took five hours. Most of the newborn photoshoots that I helped with were around one and half to two hours. (Thank you Betsy Bee Photography for the experience. She is such a kind person.)

Back in January of this year, a lovely family allowed me in their home to photograph them and their newborn baby. It was an adorable photoshoot with the family being a family with out a ton of strict poses or worry about whether there was going to be too much fuss. We posed and had an entire photoshoot in the living room, filled with natural light by the balcony doors. We didn’t even move more than five feet in distance from where we began the baby’s solo poses. Easy, familiar, and safe.

When you allow me in your home for a photoshoot, I don’t expect people to have a perfectly clean and tidy home. I just ask for your home to be safe. You can have the photoshoot in one room or multiple rooms. It can be that simple and stress-free. No getting in and out of cars. Stay home, put some clean clothes on everyone and make sure everyone is clean-ish. I’ll bring a prop or two and a few blankets.

Anywho, here is some cuteness for your day. I do offer maternity to first birthday packages. Cake and food smashes are always fun.

Outdoor Maternity Photoshoot

Maternity photoshoots can range from casual, fabulously glamorous to a mixture of both. Each couple or person caring the weight of a future baby has a specific vision in their minds. I try not to just focus on the baby bump for posing and focus on what people want.

For this maternity photoshoot, the mom-to-be wanted to be around nature that was different from her hometown to show her relatives back home. Her hometown is in the Southwest, so the middle of North Dakota is quite different. We also rented a dress to help feel a bit more glamorous. We made the photoshoot as easy and fun as possible.

One Night in Las Vegas

What seems like a dream and a lifetime ago, last March I went to Las Vegas to gain more education and meeting other photographers. While there, I did a few photoshoots. On one of the last nights I was there, there was a ‘beach house’ themed boudoir photoshoot night with models and other photographers. I loved it so much that, even though I forgot some of my lighting equipment, that there will be two blogs about it. This one will feature MJ Stock. MJ is a professional model who also owns a gym. She has such a joyous spirit. Some photographs are a bit more risqué and I cannot post them here.

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!

50 Years of Love and Family

50 years is many days, years, decades on this Earth. We are fortune if we spend most of that time with people we care about. Back in early October, Karisa Gratton messaged me to help celebrate her grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary with a family photoshoot in Grand Forks. Since I love family photoshoots, especially big family photoshoots, I helped plan out where we would meet that would still have colorful fall leaves. Luckily, in mid-October there were some parks with gorgeous leaves clinging to their trees and bushes.

The happy couple, Darryl and Bev Dahl, in the past 50 years have raised a kind family that have raised their own children. Bev loved the leaves, river and bridge at Sertoma Park. It ended up being the perfect location. The photoshoot was full of laughs, and trying not to think about the snow that was trying to accumulate. (I edited out the snowflakes because no one needs to be reminded or see snow in late October.) The letters each represent the last names of the families. Serendipitously enough, the individual families lined up perfectly to spell the word ‘God’ (‘dog’ is a good word too) without any guidance.

Thank you to Karisa for letting me know about your family. A special thanks to Darryl and Bev for raising a family of kind people. We all need more kindness around us.

-Desiree

Always Positive, Always Training

While some people may sulk when something depressing happens in their life, Zachary Hanson learns from it. He works on how to learn and somehow grow from situations. Part of his journey has been personal fitness. Since working out naturally helps improve people’s moods, he is by far, one of more positive people I know. He even became a personal trainer at the Anytime Fitness in Jamestown, ND-you can follow him on Instagram (zacharyhansonfitness).

To help motivate himself, Zachary wanted a fitness photoshoot to show his personal physical health and show how much hard work can pay off. So, on the only Sunday in October that I went to Anytime Fitness (which is also the gym I go to), we had a fun photoshoot. It was one of the few photoshoots I’ve ever done inside, and my client broke a sweat posing. And yes, not smiling while looking serious was hard for him.

Jaime's Boudoir Shoot

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).

Moody Boudoir Shoot with Breanna

Breanna is one Ultimate Image-Model, Talent, and Makeup Management/Natalie Sparrow Management fashion models. This means: She has long legs, tall and is 5'9" (or taller). Breanna has actually walked in NYC Fashion Week-at only 20 (almost 21).

She was wonderful to work with in a short amount of time. We had a time crunch-less than a half hour when makeup was touched up. Somehow, she managed four outfit changes in that amount of time, and many different poses. I say 'somehow' because I can barely decided on an outfit for a night out with friends in 15 minutes.

What I've learned the most from working with models, managers, and makeup artists is: modeling and the beauty part of isn't easy. Like any profession, it takes will, talent, and education. The three models I chose from Ultimate Image showed that. They've taught me more than this, but I'll save that for another blog time.

Here are a few of the many photographs from our shoot. For her boudoir shoot I went for a moody style vs my past boudoir (majority of it) focusing more on 'bright, flirty, and fun' with detail photographs.
Model: Breanna N. - Management: Ultimate Image-Model, Talent, and Makeup Management/Natalie Sparrow Management.  -  Makeup: Natalie Sparrow



 

Boudoir with model Jenna

Since my boudoir portfolio hasn't been public, I have been working with a local modeling agency in Fargo, ND, Ultimate Image-Model, Talent, and Make-Up Management/Natalie Sparrow Management, to work with their talented models.

I am very excited to show you a few of the photographs from Jenna's boudoir session. Jenna was amazing to work with. Natalie Sparrow, who not only manages many model, artists, and makeup artists, is also a professional makeup artists herself. She wears many hats. She also did 'touch-up' make up for Jenna's session.

There will be two more blogs featuring models from Ultimate Image/Natalie Sparrow Management. Feel free to contact me to see my full boudoir portfolio in person, and to book a great photography shoot that boosts your confidence.

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.

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)

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