Drum roll please.....

And the winner is.....

And yes, I'm totally "green" and reused an old envelope to write all the entrants names on :)  Okay, maybe it had more to do with the fact that I didn't want to get up to get a fresh sheet of paper.  Either way, it got the job done.
Congratulations Maggie Barrow!!!! Your are the winner of the following:  A 30 minute mini-session and a 12x12 or 11x14  float wrap print of your favorite image from your session!

The finalists from our other 1/2 of the giveaway are below.  Get a box of kleenex if you are a cryer!

1. I wanted to nominate a family who I think deserves the Big Giveaway. I have to admit, I don't know the family personally (I went to school with Brenda's sister). But this family has been on for the ride of their life the last month. Mark and Brenda are a strong couple, that have en equally strong faith. Their son Elijah who is about 1 & 1/2 years old got a form on Meningitis last month, and has made remarkable progress. He is still in the hospital, and Brenda is due to give birth in June with another son. This is a strong, beautiful family. They deserve an opportunity such as this, so they can capture their beautiful life and family since they know just how special life is. 
www.caringbridge.org/visit/elijahmorris

2.  Little Caffery and his family deserve a session with your studio.  Caffery was born May 10th, and his parents thought he was healthy and perfect until their world was turned upside down 3 days later.  He began showing signs that he was becoming ill and was rushed to a local Children's hospital. He is still perfect but has a "special heart".  He is currently waiting to have his surgery to fix his heart.  I think his family deserves a session because they did not have the opportunity to capture those precious first days.  I would love for them to have a session waiting for them when they arrive home with their special little boy!  www.caringbridge.org/visit/caffreyfahey

Would you leave a comment with your vote for one of these special families?  And while you are at it...check out their Caringbridge sites and say a little prayer for both of these special little boys and their families!  We will close the voting this Saturday at 10am.  All votes prior to that point will be counted. Can't wait to share one of these special families with you all.
Thanks to everyone for participating!
Have a wonderful day :)
Sonja & Jen

Adorable "A"

When you get this sweet little thing in front of our cameras...it's hard not to have fun.  And at this age, peek-a-boo almost always gets some of the best smiles (if you can't tell by the first picture)!  You have seen this little lady a few times before (and even in her mommy's belly!) so it has been a joy to watch her grow over these last 15-months!  Thanks for letting us capture her sweet personality again...she's a keeper!

-Sonja & Jen

Let us in...

Want in on what's so funny?  Guess you'll have to wonder how we got "C" to perk up at the end of his session.  You might have giggled a little too if you saw the tricks we were trying.  We're willing to make fools of ourselves for the sake a good photo... no extra charge :)

We had such a great time with this darling family. They were so full of energy, fun, laughs and smiles!

This session was in celebration of "C"s first birthday!  What a fun little guy and full of personality.  

Had to sneak a few of just mom and dad too.   Thanks for a great session and we are so happy that you guys had fun with us too!!

Sonja & Jen

The Big Give....

We've been talking about doing a little contest giveaway for sometime now.  What better time than the present.   And with all this cold and wet Minnesota weather we are having, who couldn't use a little pick me up.  The 3 cups of coffee this morning had nothing on day 4 or 5 of dreary weather (apparently I need a cup now...you should see the grammar & spelling errors I've had to correct so far)!

Anyhow, back to the reason for this posting.  We are offering a few goodies this week for you lovely readers and friends.  There will be 2 ways to be declared a "winner".  

The first, we will do a simple drawing among all our  official blog followers. If you aren't a regular "follower" already, you can simply become one by clicking on FOLLOW at the very bottom of this page.  Bata-bing-bata-boom...that's all folks and you're entered! Another way to get your name added multiple times in the drawing is send your family and friends by our blog and  have them (comment on this post ) that it was you that sent them over.  You'll get your name added another time for each follower you send!

The 2nd way to enter for the really big giveaway is a little more fun...at least in our opinion :)

We are looking for a family who is deserving of a free session, the rights to all their images, and perhaps another goodie or two.  What we need from you is to submit a story via our email, studio@photographybyjs.com of a family that you think would be deserving of this gift.  The definition of "deserving" is truly up to you.  We don't want to limit it to any one thing in specific.  We will present finalists to you for voting after the submission period ends.  We want your help picking the lucky family, plus it's fun to share inspiring stories!!  We will collect submissions until next Saturday, the 21st.  This family needs to live in MN, or be traveling here at some point and be available for a session. We'd love to travel but I don't think our "business managers", aka husbands, would approve :(

What's a post without pictures?  Not a very good one in our mind.  So we'll leave you with this sneek peek of a fun farm session from Tuesday (the last recollection of sun that I have).  Luckily we finished up right before the tornado sirens started going off.  Although...thinking about it more, that sky would have been pretty crazy to have as a backdrop!! I digress.

If you've followed our blog for a while, you've likely seen this great pair multiple times before.  "A" was our very first maternity and milestone client so "L" has been well photographed from the womb until now.  Can't wait for little brother to arrive in a few weeks and introduce you to him.  He's bound to be one cute little guy!

the exploring, adorable 1-year old...

It's been about 6 months since we did miss "g's" pictures, and oh how she has changed!  We lucky enough to get to see her every week at church, but taking her pictures again made us realize just how she has changed in such a short amount of time! She went from a toothless grin to a full toothy smile, from scooting to running, and from adorable to even more adorable :)  The joy of 1-year olds is their curiosity of everything around them because they are experiencing so many things for the first time.  And it is our job just to keep up with them!  Miss "g" did not disappoint!  Thanks for letting us chase you and capture your joy!

-Jen & Sonja

 

A lesson in "warm light"...

 Had a great session with soon to be graduated "D".  His friend came along for the session so I promptly put him to work.  I'm pretty sure the 2 of them are probably still making fun of me for what a 30 year old dork I am.  That's okay, I'm completely  mostly comfortable with how out of touch I am these days.  

 Love this buddy picture and "C" in action as my assistant.  He got a lesson on using the reflector and what the different sides were for, creating warm and cool lighting effects.  Keep it "warm" C!  

 Good luck next year "D"!!

Thanks for a fun session. 

~Jen