Brrrr it’s wintertime, cozy up friends. There is beauty among and around us.
Laurie’s studio is in historic downtown Stillwater | 651-503-9904
Summertime is here
Our emotional recollection of summer can come rushing back years later - like today, I will hold the memory of our sweet perfumed yard with a 100 year old Linden tree buzzing a thousand bees. The sweet intoxicating smell takes me away from it all for moments and brings this day back in focus. Photographs can remind us too. I am a big fan of picture albums and prints - I like to hold them in my hand and have them around me ready for a glance, a remembrance.
The Rookery, St. Croix River
Sky above marsh grasses, South Superior
Sullivan Lake, Minnesota
Honey bees on Hyssop, Minnesota Driftless Region
Northern Minnesota
Cosmo the wonder dog at Muskrat Farm
Summer's fading light
the thickest shades are aglow late in summertime, my favorite time for photographs.
A petite visit to southern france
I feel an affinity with the natural scapes and small villages in southern france, biodynamic agriculture, birds, horses, fromage and grandfather trees.
The birds are back
For the last couple of months, lots of greatness came through my studio for professional portraits and headshots. And now spring has arrived and so too have the beautiful birds. Welcome back birdies…it’s great to have you back.
Red Winged Black Bird
bluebird
Mallards
Canadian Goose
Wren
Mourning Dove
Give from the heart
Doing the right thing for its own sake is a calling. Each year, we choose causes close to our hearts to support. For 2018, we honor these four animal rescues. We encourage you to find causes you can get behind too.
HOLIDAY PORTRAIT SESSIONS - BOOKING NOW
It’s true! It’s time for Laurie’s ANNUAL HOLIDAY PORTRAIT SESSIONS.
Take a little time to document those near to your heart.
Choose between a mini-studio portrait -or- an on location session at special prices.
Holiday gift cards are also here!
Book your session before Dec. 15th at 651-503-9904, or laurie@lschneider.com
See details below….
HUG THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE….
Mini In-Studio Sessions $150
-1/2 Hour Session
-Online proofing gallery of your session
-Social media shareable version
-One digital image with release
Holiday Session Outdoors or At Your Home $300
-1 Hour session
-Online proofing gallery of your session
-Social media shareable versions
-Your choice of: Three digital images with release -or- custom card design with 25 holiday cards
Additional digital images, prints and cards can be ordered.
Our full service studio is located downtown historic Stillwater and offers custom prints, cards and handbound albums.
Way up north in Duluth
It’s Autumn. Water, trees, eagles and just married . .
Summer's end at Blue Fruit Farm
Summer’s end in the Wiscoy Valley, driftless region of Southern Minnesota.
Blueberries and currants at Blue Fruit Farm
Red winged blackbird in the prairie at Prairie Moon
Leafcutter bee on Butterfly weed
Monarch in flight among the Echinacea
Currants at Blue Fruit Farm
Down by the River...she could drag me over the rainbow
“And I behold once more
My old familiar haunts; here the blue river,
The same blue wonder that my infant eye..” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Summertime Wedding at Barns of Lost Creek, August 2018
Outdoor locations can offer the best photo opps. and can also present big challenges for photographers with unpredictable weather, bright sunlight, wind, insects, street signs, etc. Experienced photographers will find a way around these obstacles.
Barns of Lost Creek offers many fun farmy environments for pictures, and the owners are super nice and accommodating.
August 3rd Details: Pizza food truck, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream stand, flowers by Martha’s Gardens, Lemonade, popcorn and a snack bar.
Assignment "Fruit"
Editorial photography is intended to tell a story, sometimes in a magazine or to embellish a theme or product. These assignments are varied and always interesting. It's an open door to places and ideas not usually accessible to me otherwise; a way to see the world.
Wiscoy Valley, Minnesota. Here are a few of the pollinators responsible for the fruit.
Leafcutter bee on butterfly weed in the prairie
Coreopsis in the prairie
Monarchs on purple coneflower prairie
Native wildflower prairie
Bumble bee on butterfly weed, the main pollinator of blue berries
Blueberries
Black currants
Berry harvest
Fritillary butterfly on purple coneflower
Hairstreak butterfly on butterfly weed
Summer Love
Finding love by day, by night, by summer love....
Product Photography - All about light
As with all photography, it's all about light. The most important aspect of photography is light. Often people think in terms of photographing objects like a person, a flower, a mountain...but experienced photographers know it is the recording of the light reflecting off these objects much like a masterful painting, or a skillful movie. Soft light is my favorite, which often means natural ambient light at the perfect time of day augmented by a reflector or two. It doesn't hurt to have a subject that you love, like Plantables bee bombs.
The second most important component is the background: texture, pattern, light or dark, and mood are created by the focus and look of the background. Almost always, the least distracting background is best. So there you have it, the two most important parts of a product photo.
Summer Photography Mentorships
Learn from the best. Personalized photography mentorships/classes tailored just for you. Mentorships are available for a day, or through Fall and start at $300/session. Email laurie@lschneider.com
my kind of event photography
Following the Gathering Partners conference at Craguns Resort...wild things, waters, woods and nature. A photo assignment I like.
and that's me off camera.
Looking Good on Camera
FaCeS
I have seen a face with a thousand countenances, and a face that was. -Kahlil Gibran
FaCes photographed by Laurie Schneider
Following the river, like birds
Field notes from North Platte, Nebraska bird migration on central flyway.
A journey with my loved friend along the Platte River, where the birds come up. I've always known the birds migrate, but I had no idea how important these rivers are to their existence. Stay wide river...the birds need you. To experience the migration is something entirely different. My heart stops when the birds lift.
Giving Back
For some people giving back is a natural part of their every day like having that cup of coffee in the morning. My customers can feel good about a healthy portion of session fees going right to rescue efforts for horses and other animals, including those little unseen hero's of our ecosystem, the pollinators. As the Founder of Pollinator Friendly Alliance, I like to share my exuberance about the colorful and intriguing world of pollinators. This week, I asked two of my pollinator protector friends to join me in an exhibition at MOSES Organic Conference in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Here's a little sneak preview of the exhibition by Sarah Foltz Jordan, Heather Holm, and yours truly.
POLLINATORS the unseen farmhands
Long horned bee, morning glory by Laurie Schneider
Tawny mining bee, plum blossom by Laurie Schneider
Red belted bumble bee, chives by Laurie Schneider
Swallowtail butterfly, bee balm by Laurie Schneider
Honey bee, milkweed by Laurie Schneider
Brown belted bumble bee, blueberry by Heather Holm
Sweat bee, virginia mountain mint by Heather Holm
Mining bee, black currant by Heather Holm
Carpenter bee, raspberry by Sarah Foltz Jordan
Silvery blue butterfly, raspberry by Sarah Foltz Jordan