Helsinki, Finland

God, one of the things I’ve missed most in the past few years is the ability to travel. I don’t need to drone on about COVID, we all are tired of it. So you and I both know why I’ve been aching to get my ass on the road. Staying put too long starts to feel very much like Groundhog Day. As a free-spirited woman, I have an itch to get out into the world and see things I’ve never seen before - up close and personal. I photograph what moves me. I have thousands of photos that I never do anything with and yet, I can’t help but continue to click. Photography provides a dopamine hit, that’s why I’ll never stop - I can’t.

Clearly, based on the title of this posting, I finally got out of Wisconsin! I’ll just answer the question you may be asking - why Finland? My husband’s amazing nephew married an amazing Finnish woman and we got to attend their wedding. (Best party/wedding ever, period.)

One of the things I loved most about Finland was the midnight sun! It never got dark while we were there. The sun dipped below the horizon around 11:30 pm and then rose again around 3:00-3:30 am. It was phenomenal.

There are several gallery collections below. If I’ve added a description it will pop up when you hover over the image with your mouse. The first image in every gallery will have a description. You can see additional images from Finland by visiting my Insta Feed.

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Temppeliaukion Church - Rock Church

Lutheran church in the Töölö neighborhood of Helsinki. Designed by architects and brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen - opened in 1969. Built directly into solid rock. https://temppeliaukionkirkko.fi/

View from top of Rock Church

Vallisaari Island, Finland

Island served military purposes - the grass covered roofs are a result of buildup over time. Initially they were covered in soil to help camouflage the buildings from enemies out at sea.

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Pasila Street Art District

I love street art. There was some beautiful work on Pasila Street. I feel like every side of a building, underpass, stairwell - should be filled with artists’ work. The world would be a more beautiful place…

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Old Porvoo

Charming little town outside of Helsinki

Need a Private Photo Sharing App? Check this out!

As a professional photographer I love gorgeous pictures and love to create, share and consume beautiful imagery! So something I’ve struggled with in terms of social media is finding a balance with what I do and don’t post. I’ve decided that I don’t want to post lots of pictures of my kids because they want their privacy as much as the next person. (I suppose it’s about protecting them as well!) I’ve been tempted to get rid of my private Facebook page because I’m sort of over social media in many ways, however it’s a great way to keep in touch with family and share those moments I want to include them on. 

Happily, I may have stumbled upon the answer to my dilemma! I discovered a really cool app today and feel like shouting about it to the world, but since I can’t, I’ll shout about it on my blog instead. :-) (No I’m not being paid to talk about it or promote it, they have no idea so this isn’t a sales pitch of any kind!)

According to the specs this is what the app Tinybeans offers:

It claims to be built by parents, for parents. It offers the ability to share pregnancy/childhood pictures with family members and you can even record your baby’s milestones! Those who you select can receive daily email updates and they don’t need a smartphone! How cool is that?! You can invite an unlimited amount of people to receive your updates. Additionally, and this may be one of the most attractive features for us photo happy parents, there’s unlimited free storage for photos, videos, milestones, and your notes! Below I’ve included a screenshot of the remaining specs from the App Store.

So I don’t know about you, but free storage and protection for my photos is fantastic! And the fact that I can make a quick photo book with memories  from the year is very attractive. I will start using this app for sure, and I hope the quality of photo book is good enough for the everyday pics! 

Happy Clicking and Keep Smiling! Share this blog post if you want to spread the word!

Mini on the Kinni for Friends of the Kinni

Help put the falls back into River Falls by purchasing a Mini on the Kinni session now through the end of August. This is a fundraiser for Friends of the Kinni (their website is here: http://friendsofthekinni.org).

This session is $220, $20 of which will be donated to Friends of the Kinni to help restore the beautiful falls back to our beautiful city of River Falls. This mini is meant to be light-hearted and fun! What do you love to do at the Kinni? I can photograph fun activities such as kayaking, fishing, playing, frolicking, whatever! It can be used as a family session, high school senior session, headshots or a simple lifestyle shoot.

Book your session now! Click here to contact Reverie (fill out the form and mention this mini) or call 715.245.0239. See you on the Kinni!

Traveling the UK: Northern Ireland

My family and I went to Northern Ireland during our semester abroad in Scotland. I hope these images can show what we experienced there.

The Dark Hedges, N Ireland

View from a hillside, N Ireland

Dunluce Castle

Dunluce Castle

Town of Derry, N Ireland

this is the area of the massacre, Bloody Sunday

Derry Walls, N Ireland

400 year-old still intact walls surrounding the old merchant city. The walls are up to 26 feet high, and up to 30 feet wide.

Peace Bridge

The Peace Bridge extends across the River Foyle in Derry, N Ireland

Pets and their Humans

I’ve come to love and appreciate the dynamic of pet ownership. In my family we have a beautiful little Balinese cat named Lucy. She is curious, mischievous, and loves to be around people. I love that she’s not a super vocal cat for the most part. My kids love her far more than she sometimes can tolerate, but for a cat, I think she is incredibly patient with them. There is a dynamic she’s brought to our family that I’ve come to appreciate very much. Lucy has brought joy to our lives in unexpected ways, and has become part of our family. We are planning on adding a dog once conditions are right and necessary arrangements have been made, and we are really excited! 

I was touched this past year through the experience of photographing a particular “last” family session with their ill golden retriever. Hearing the history of how this sweet darling had been around before the kids had “arrived”, gave me perspective. How important it is to capture these fleeting relationships in life! Our companions give so much comfort and friendship and their lives seem to come and go so quickly. This sparked a desire in me to incorporate pets (or companions)!  I’m super excited about a new session now available to clients who have the specific need of pet portraiture. I chose to call these sessions “Pets and their Humans” because I wanted to put the companion(s) in the forefront or center of focus, a celebration of their life combined with their human(s)!

My vision is to capture connection, personalities, and spirit. My goal is to give those scheduling a session imagery to remind them of what they had once their companion is gone.  

These sessions ought to be held on location where you and your companion feel safe, and comfortable. Preferably it’s a familiar environment you enjoy being in together. Each session will be customized! 

 Session Information:

 Deluxe 

- up to 2 hours session time

- travel within 1 hour of River Falls, WI included

- editing prior to post session review included

- watermarked, low-res images for sharing online if desired

- $450: hi-res digital files on CD; (2) 8x10, (2) 5x7 professional prints

Mini 

- up to 1 hour session time

- travel within 30 min of River Falls, WI included

- editing prior to post session review included

- watermarked, low-res images for sharing online if desired

- $375: hi-res digital files on CD

To schedule a session, contact Rachel @ 715-245-0239 or feel free to send a message through this website’s contact page.

Living in Scotland

This past four months have been an amazing experience for myself and my family. My husband works at UWRF and applied to teach in the Experience Scotland program. Once accepted it took a lot of planning and saving to prepare for our temporary move to the Dalkeith House!

This manor is a centuries old "palace" with an amazing amount of history, and played host to an array of royal political figures such as Mary Queen of Scots. The grounds of the house is referred to as Dalkeith Country Park which is 800 or so acres. There is a beautiful arched bridge and a small chapel on the grounds as well. It's a stunning place which became a home away from home to our family, along with the working staff, students, etc. I hope very much to return someday!

Dalkeith itself isn't a huge town, but the main downtown area has a handful of charity shops, a yummy little bakery, and other interesting shopping options. Most places in town were closed by 5:30 pm, which I found both frustrating at times, and amazing. In the U.S. businesses are scrambling for our every penny, but there I felt an incredible sense of balance. It's possible!? 

We didn't have a car on a regular basis so we used the bus transit as our connection to Edinburgh and surrounding areas. Living this way really made me slow down and plan my time carefully. A trip into Edinburgh was a guaranteed bus time of at least 45 minutes one way, and with kids that can be tricky! We did love the double decker buses and usually made a point to sit on the second level so we could see more! The slideshow directly below shows Dalkeith House, St. Mary's Church, the bridge, and a little view of the part of Dalkeith we saw so very often! 

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Edinburgh is a city that I will forever think of with great fondness. The architecture is so amazing, and there is so very much to see and do. All the museums are free (you only pay to see special exhibitions) for the public! I loved that because since I was homeschooling my kids while there, they were an amazing resource! I took an afternoon and photographed some of my favorite parts of Edinburgh. The images were taken on and around the Royal Mile. I know, very touristy of me! :-) I just had to capture the things I loved about the architecture. You'll notice in the gallery below that there are pictures of "closes". A close is a Scottish word for an alley way of sorts. It gives people access to areas that are generally for residents and not thoroughfare. 

Victoria Street

Thought to be inspiration for Diagon Alley. That being said, there are other places that claim that as well such as The Shambles in York, England. We did go there and I have to admit it was far more incredible than Victoria Street!

Bagpiper

There is ALWAYS someone playing the pipes on the Royal Mile. This particular musician plays while someone pays a pound to have their picture taken with him while he plays. He doesn’t stop to interact, it’s all business!

A city of layers

This part of Edinburgh is sort of stacked/built on top of itself. I loved all the hidden layers and stairs to get to places.

Grey Friar's Bobby

A small memorial to a very famous dog whom stood by it’s owner’s grave in Grey Friar’s Kirkyard for 14-15 years. It’s a reminder for all of us to be a friend such as that. :-)

St. Giles Cathedral

Unicorn

It’s hard to see, but sitting atop the monument is a unicorn, which is Scotland’s official animal. Magical? Most definitely!

I grew to love the Scottish people and their culture as well, but that was harder to photograph. I'm sure there are exceptions as with anywhere, but I found the Scots to be incredibly kind-hearted and very accepting. I found myself in situations where raw honesty was both surprising and amazingly refreshing. I found that those I interacted with were very direct and open, but not in a rude manner. As with the country, I equally love the people I came to know. 

I'll be honest, it was really hard for me to leave. It was a strange feeling being pulled in opposite directions. Part of me wanted to stay forever, and the other half longed to be back home. It's hard to adequately put into words "how our visit was", because there are things that simply can't be put into words. It's a time in my life I'll never forget, and I'll hold onto. I spent so much meaningful time with my family, and came to know my kids and to love them more than when we left. I feel like it brought our family closer together. If Dan and I do return again someday to do the program again, I'm certain the memories will be overwhelming.

I'll do a follow-up blog post featuring our adventures throughout the UK soon so keep your eye out for it. 

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What did I use in Photoshop for my image editing?

I want to give a shout out to MCP Actions! I used their amazing Photoshop Actions Set called MCP Summer Solstice for my images. My absolute favorite action was Pop Star which helped me get the crisp clean edit and a little extra pop of color that I wanted! For those pesky cloudydays, a little bit of color was needed to mute that grey so I used the Summer Skies action to give a little life. If you use Photoshop and love to use actions to make your editing easier, MCP offers actions that help speed up that workflow! Here is the link to the set I used for my editing: https://mcpactions.com/product/summer-photoshop

Summer Vacations and Life Changes

Oh summer, you come and go so quickly. It seems as though last week summer vacation began and the summer heat slowly made it's way in, prompting impromptu outings to ice cream shops and Perch Lake. I love long days and the freedom of comfy t-shirts and shorts. I love the feeling of being free of coats, boots, and cold hands. I heard that winter will be pretty cold this year... you know it's bad when you live up north and they say it's going to be "cold". Hmmm... enough said.

At this moment I prefer to reminisce about summer experiences. My husband and I took our three kids on a lengthy road trip across the west to the coast. We saw some beautiful sites and spent far more time in the car then I have in my entire life! Our first leg was to Colorado, 14 hours. We got to see and spend time with a close friend from college and reconnect. She showed us some beautiful places such as Garden of the Gods and Cave of the Winds (this was at such a high elevation that I kept getting light headed)!

Garden of the Gods, CO

View from up by Cave of the Winds

We spent several days and then moved on. We stopped in Utah to sleep and then did another 14 hour stretch of driving to the Redwood National Forest on the northern California coast. On the way through Utah I saw the Bonneville Salt Flats for the first time. It was at sunrise and absolutely beautiful.

Bonneville Salt Flats, UT. 

Salt.

Once we arrived to the Redwoods I was absolutely awestruck by the beauty. I love trees, but I can being to convey the majesty of these ancient giants. I think everyone should go there at least once. Here are a few of my favorite images:

Circle of Redwoods growing out of one stump.

Fallen Redwood

Fallen Redwood.

You couldn't see the top from the bottom!

It was such a peaceful beautiful place and I hope to go back and see more of the forest some day. 

After several days we drove north up the Oregon Coast. It was gorgeous! We had the opportunity to see whales for the first time. They were magnificent and beautiful!

Scenic Oregon Coast

We beach combed for agates at Gold's Beach and explored other areas looking for what ever jewels nature had to offer. 

Panorama. Loved all the driftwood!

Stranded Jellyfish

We stayed in Cape Meares, OR right on the border of Tillamook. It was a quiet and peaceful area, very little traffic and not many tourists. The ocean is such a magical place! We did go to some tourist spots naturally. The Tillamook Cheese Factory is the antithesis to any healthy diet, but I enjoyed my giant waffle cup and ice cream (wasn't hungry for a while after that)!

After completing our stay on the coast we stayed with family in Canby, OR. We spent a day exploring Portland by hiking the 4T trail. I won't go too much into it but it involves both hiking some beautiful trails and seeing Portland on foot and via public transportation. I loved seeing it on foot versus driving through. My kids were exhausted by the end, but they got to see and experience something they wouldn't have otherwise.

Portion of the 4T trail: Portland, OR

Portion of the 4T trail: Highest point in Portland

4T trail, headed to down town Portland

Waiting for food truck goodness before continuing on...

Waiting for the light rail. Starting to get hot and a bit tired.

He probably won't remember this, I'm glad I have proof!

Voodoo Donuts... our destination, the thing that kept our kids going. Lol

Perhaps he'll remember this carousel of goodness?

We loved Oregon.

We arrived back in Utah after our Oregon visit and stayed a while. We celebrated my son's 5th birthday with family. It was a fun way to spend his birthday amongst the people we love the most. 

5 years

We completed our visit and drove back to Utah, without stopping for sleep. It was a 22 hour drive and my husband and I took turns. After having driven so much already, we just thought, "Why not?!" Our kids were amazing travelers and I'm pretty sure additional road trips will be in our future!

Now that we are back it's been tricky trying to get back into a schedule of any kind. I've started to refocus on my photography business and wanting to be sure everything is in order before the fall season hits with all it's force!  

I have some big life changes coming my way, my youngest will now be in school which opens my schedule up for the first time in 13 years (I have three kids)! I have so much I want to do and am so excited to have some time to put towards things I have put off! If you took the time to read this whole post let me know what your favorite summer activity was in the comments below and I'll give you a $25 gift certificate to go towards print product purchases for your next session!

Mothers

Are you guilty of always being the one behind the camera instead of in front of the camera at special family occasions? When going through your photo books does it ever appear the children in the book are *motherless*? It's been a goal of mine in the past few years to try and be in family event pictures simply because I want my kids to be reminded that I did in fact spend time with them, and to remind myself that I spent time with them! ;-)

This spring (now through May 31st) I am offering the Mother-Child session. This entails me coming to your home or other favorite location to photograph you and your child(ren) doing some of your favorite things together. Reading, bike rides, hiking, cooking, etc. These images would not be formally posed, but gently directed. We will plan beforehand what you would like to do with the images, whether it be a keepsake album, a framed collage piece, or a fun image cube to put on display in your kid's room. The goal is for you to have a tangible keepsake for your children. A visual reminder of the special relationship they have with you, their mother. Click HERE for details.

Mother child relationships are so important. Why not get it documented this spring?