Meet Dana! | Hill Murray Senior Photographer

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Dana is another one of my Senior Socialites! We had a great session, although we had everything working against us! After rescheduling twice due to weather, we finally got a beautiful day. Dana and her mom ended up getting stuck in traffic on the way down so we got a late start. Then Dana’s mom locked the keys in her van but thankfully a New Prague police officer came right out and helped us out. Gotta love small towns! During the shoot we fought with mosquitoes and wood ticks (I had three of them when I got home- EEW!) and a couple of wardrobe malfunctions. We hiked all the way up a hill through some thick brush to get to the sunset light and just a few minutes into shooting Dana’s dress strap and ring broke! Against all odds we still got some amazing shots but we have another shoot scheduled for studio shots and other shots we missed. It was so great to work with you ladies!

More about Dana:

What do you want to be when you grow up?

business woman
What is the very first thing you’d buy if you won the lottery?

A Range Rover
Mac or PC?

Mac
What song gets the most plays on your iPod?

Kissed You Goodnight by Goriana or Chris Brown Should have Kissed You
Favorite store to go on a shopping spree:

Forever 21
What three items would you take with you on a deserted island?

iPhone, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Sunny D
Which movie can you recite every line from?

The Ringer
Celebrity crush?

Liam Hemsworth
What is your favorite place on Earth?

Palm Springs, California
I’ve always wanted to try _________________. (fill in the blank)

Zip-lining
You couldn’t pay me to __________________. (fill in the blank)

sky dive

 

Dana has been playing soccer since she was 4 and is in a traveling soccer league.

Haha, how could I resist?

8×8 custom session album

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

The best thing I love about my top portrait collection is the 8×8 custom session album. Ella’s turned out so beautifully I had to share!

Oliver’s 3 favorite things…

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

These are Oliver’s three favorite things all captured within one shot!

1. Being naked

2. My iPhone (he loves looking through my 3,000 photos and watching videos of himself)

3. Trampoline

Cabin week 2012!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

For the second year, I was asked to participate in a very fun cabin outing planned by my good friend Tasha. A friend of hers allows her to use a cabin in Waterville, MN during the week in early May and it is 3 days of amazing company, good conversation, awesome food, photos, and bar karaoke! Here is a collection of some of my photographs. I adore all of these ladies dearly and each year I get to strengthen friendships and make some new ones!

 

The gang (from L to R):

Jamie, Amy, Sally, Tasha, Erin, me, Shelley, Laura, Noemi, and Kendra

Some great conversations have gone down on these couches!There is always great food! Each person is responsible for a meal or snack during our stay. These were Shelley’s fabulous caprese skewers. We pretty much scarfed this plate down in mere minutes!On our last evening,we go shooting! It is so fun to just play around.Noemi is such a treat to photograph. Not only is she beautiful but so fun and photogenic!Ummm yeah. Jamie can WORK IT. I really enjoyed getting to know Jamie at the cabin and hearing her personal stories.The beautiful Miss Shelley! She is an amazing photographer, a great teacher, and looking fabulous these days!I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Laura this past year. She is so amazing at her craft and I greatly admire the work she does!More Noemi… what can I say, the camera loved her!Sally! Sally is just so cool. Look at her! I have known Sally the longest out of the group and I’m so happy our paths continue to cross.Sadly, I didn’t get to photograph everyone, but I have nothing but nice things to say about them too!That night we ended up at Corner Bar to sing karaoke. These two Instagram photos sum up the establishment. Ha!A great time was had by all! I look forward to next year!

Six seasons of LOST… in 5 weeks.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

If you have been a long time reader of my blog, you know what a big fan I am of LOST, the series. I didn’t get into it when it first aired, but somewhere around season 4 my husband decided to rent it one day. I sat down to give it a try and was instantly hooked. We got through all 4 seasons pretty quickly, then had to suffer with everyone else and watch it on live TV for the last two seasons. I loved it then and recently decided to pick it up again right at tax preparation time.

Being self employed can be lonely. Most people have jobs they go to and can interact with others, but when you’re sitting at a computer in your house for hours upon hours you need some serious entertainment. I love watching series on DVD because I can blow through them and never have to watch a single commercial. Every fall I break out Felicity (another favorite J.J. Abrams show) and can quickly watch all 4 seasons editing all those fall family sessions. I am one of those people that can watch a movie that I love over and over and don’t get sick of it.

I came up with the idea to start watching LOST from the beginning. Now that I know how it ended, I could go through and catch all the clues and things I always wondered about. I started renting discs at my local Coborn’s and 2 discs in someone else had the same idea as me and snatched up the rest of the season. I was so bummed so I ordered my own set of season 1&2 on Amazon and QUICKLY burned through them. I had to order seasons 3&4 next and I could barely keep up with myself. It is such a great show and as I wrapped the final episode tonight (bawling my eyes out) I just had to write about it.

I know some people I’ve talked to have “tried to watch it” but couldn’t get into it. I admit, the first season is the slowest. It is mostly flashbacks and character building but it is so important because you get to know and love these characters. Another frequently asked question is, “Isn’t it just about a plane crash?” Well, yes, it is, but that is literally just the surface story. The mysterious island itself is the story and everything that you learn about it along the way. It is such a deep, thoughtful, and meaningful show and there are so many thought provoking themes that run through it such as faith vs. science… and who doesn’t love some great love stories! And Sawyer. Oh yes, Sawyer!:)

Well now that I realized I’ve rambled for four paragraphs I just wanted to highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it! I managed to watch all six seasons in 5 weeks and I am so sad that my journey is once again over! I could seriously pop in disc 1 of season 1 and start all over again…