I love photography because of all the great people I meet along the way, people who start out as potential clients but become friends within the course of the session. A close second to the relationships is the places that I get to see. It’s so awesome when the two can come together to make some photographic magic.

 

Last Monday, then, was a particular treat, as I got to meet one of the cutest couples in one of the cooler state parks I had not yet been.

 

Valeria and David joined me at Schoolcraft State Park for a maternity session to celebrate their soon-to-arrive little lady, Elsie. All three of us are northern Minnesotans, but yet none of us (nor her sister, Paola, who also joined us for the evening) had been to this little corner of our country. The park’s namesake, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, charted the headwaters with of the legendary Mississippi with the Anishinabe guide Ozawindib; the banks of that mighty river merge beautifully with the 222 acres of timbered escape. It was a picture-perfect backdrop for an mid-September maternity session.

 

The location was only rivaled by the amazing couple that walked and talked with me as we navigated this wooded wonderland. With their #BabyElsie just weeks away, Valeria and David took this session as a great opportunity to honor not only her arrival, but each other as well. If there were any sense of nervousness, it was not found between these two—they were light-hearted and lovely, dedicated to their little one as well as to each other. They had fun, they laughed they enjoyed each other’s company, and I feel so incredibly luck that I could be there to be a part of it!

 

Look thought the photos below to be a part of the joy…