evelyn, almost 3 {central Minnesota photographer}

Evelyn is such a patient model. She lets me try all sorts of settings and angles and lighting... Every time I want to practice something new, she's the one I turn to. Usually she's cooperative... sometimes I have to bribe her with chocolate. After our mini photo-shoot we watered the garden, played baseball, and painted our toenails. We're pretty much BFFs.

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and don't forget about the free photo session giveaway (5 days left to enter!)

june june june (plus FREE PHOTO SESSION GIVEAWAY!)

I love June. It's the early days of summer, the excitement of getting out the pool, the swimsuits, the suntan lotion...the hot and long-awaited sunshine feels incredible on my skin, and fresh fruit hasn't tasted this sweet all year.

June is also Evelyn's birthday (she'll be 3 in 17 days!), and it marks the one-year anniversary of here&nowphotography! So much has happened in this past year, and I am so grateful for everyone's support and love. If you follow here&nowphotography on Facebook you  may have noted that I'm celebrating my one-year anniversary by giving away a free photo session. If you don't follow here&nowphotography Facebook, you should! Click here.

To enter the contest you must do the following:

1. "Like" here&nowphotography on Facebook
2. Share my page with your friends
3. Write on my wall and tell me your favorite thing about summer

The session will be 1-2 hours long and includes pre-session styling consultation, a Facebook album, blog post, and private online gallery for viewing and ordering images. You are not obligated to purchase images (but why wouldn't you want some gorgeous prints on your walls?!). 

One winner will be randomly selected. You may enter once and you have until June 10. So, move on over to my Facebook page and enter! But first take a look at some photos, of course:

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fields of green & clouds of white... {Zimmerman, MN family photographer}

This past weekend I had the opportunity of meeting Christina, Ryan, Aalyiah, and Adalina for a family photo session in the park. It started out to be a warm and cloudy, windy day, but during our shoot the sun peeked out just a little and we found a patch of yellow wildflowers, which helped give this session the springtime feel I'd hoped for.

Here's a sample of the photos... seeing siblings like this always makes me think about giving my little girl a sibling! So sweet.

hope everyone is having a great week!

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the many faces of holden daniel

It's such an odd feeling when one of your best friends has a child. You love your friend so much that of course you immediately fall in love with her child, and watch, in wonder, as this little person grows up, as your friend grows up. . .

This past week Evelyn and I were invited to spend time with Aubrey, a dear college friend of mine, and her family, including her 16-month-old son, Holden Daniel. This was my third time meeting him (we all live so far away from one another since we graduated!), and I'm just in love with his energy, his bright blue eyes, and his face! He's always on the go, full of unquenchable excitement and curiosity, and his facial expressions are wide-ranging and absolutely wonderful.

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at this point I should just start writing about the majesty of mountains and the clouds that hold them...

My relationship with my mother is indescribable. Trying to tell you how I feel about her is like trying to describe to someone this awesome dream you had, and you start talking and realize you are failing miserably and that there is no way anyone will ever be able to share this experience with you, not exactly how you feel it, anyway. She is beautiful and I am still in awe of her, her humility, her kindness, wisdom, and strength.

Likewise, I am in awe of my own daughter, who will turn 3 this June, my favorite month. Evelyn is bright, creative, funny, sensitive, inquisitive, and so loving. Between her and my mother, I have some incredible role models. I hope I can return to them at least some of what they've given me.

To celebrate Mother's Day, I  thought I'd share some of my favorite mother/child photographs that I've taken over the past year. Enjoy!

Here is me and my girl:

And me and my mom, circa 1990:

may lovely days lie ahead...

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