UPDATE 11/7/10 The winner has been chosen!
As a new photographer in the Twin Cities I am constantly looking for unique, beautiful and interesting places to hold photo sessions. So I thought it might be fun to make this into a little contest/giveaway of sorts. So I am hereby announcing...
The Twin Cities Photo Session Giveaway!
All you need to do is tell me about your favorite spots, here in the Twin Cities! Specifically, the ones that you think would make for an awesome, memorable photograph. If you can't think of any (after all, maybe you are new-ish to the cities, like me!), just tell me about your "dream photography session." Where would you go, and what would you do?? What elements of your own personality, family or relationships would you like to capture and hold onto for years to come? Leave a comment below - I'd like to hear all about it!!
After the first 75 entries, a winner will be randomly chosen. The winner will receive a "one-hour" photo session with Elizabeth Dahl Photography, specifically catered and customized to the winner's needs and desires (family, baby, engagement, senior, portfolio, maternity session, etc.). PLUS they will also receive a disk of 20 photos to use and print as they wish! Now really, how awesome is that?? :-)
There is no catch, no purchase necessary AND if you win the session is fully transferable (you can gift it to a friend or family member!).
As soon as we reach 75 unique entries (no double posts accepted) the drawing will be held, so be sure to tell your friends and family about this!
By entering this contest you agree to receive future email correspondence from Elizabeth Dahl Photography.
Obviously mine is the millennium garden in plymouth minnesota. It is special to me because i had my pregnancy photos done there and i think it is simply beautiful. Plus some day i want to get married there. : )
ReplyDeleteI have no idea where would be a cool place....even though I have lived here in Minnesota for a little over 18 years I am just now starting to explore as a wife an mother. I would love a family photo done with different angels and colors (black and white is a fav of mine but the Moms in the family like color). I love reality...I saw a family photo once where the mom and dad were kissing, the dad was holding the littlest one upside down (kind of held out from is body) and the other children were playing on the ground near their feet and it was all shot in front of this cool old building. That shot spoke to me and made me smile because that is the reality of our life; a little crazy but filled with an amazing overflowing love.
ReplyDeletePS you photos that I have seen are very beautiful, good job!
Some of my top choices:
ReplyDelete1. Taking a stroll around the lakes.
2. Biking with the family on the Greenway.
3. At the Minnehaha dog park with the family and dog.
4. At the May Day Parade.
5. Having a bbq at Powderhorn Park.
6. Working with my husband in our community garden.
Our favorite places to have a photoshoot are places that in the future will evoke memories for us of this stage of life with our two preschoolers such as...our backyard, parks we play at (like French Park or West Medicine Lake Park), lakes we swim at, maybe Excelsior Commons area would be fun, the downtown beach in Wayzata, or Lake Independence at Baker Park. We tend to favor photos that are more like captured moments rather than staged shots.
ReplyDeleteComo Park/Zoo
ReplyDeleteSculpture Garden
a playground
coffee house with couches and a "living room"
I love Minnehaha Falls and the Como Conservatory as photo settings. :)
ReplyDeleteOur family loves strolling around Como Lake in St. Paul in all but the coldest weather. There are several picturesque spots along the walking path, but in particular there is an area with large rocks (the kids love climbing on them!), birch trees and native grass that looks lovely. Also there is a waterfall/pond up near the pavilion - I always see people getting engagement/wedding photos there! :)
ReplyDeleteFavorite Twin Cities spot- Rose Garden on Lyndale! Beautiful walking paths, amazing variety of roses. Warm sun, lush green grass, thick summer air and the amazing scent of roses on the breeze. Beauty all around. A rose is a rose is a rose!
ReplyDeleteMy dream photography session would be pictures of my son Ian playing outside. I would use them in a scrap book capturing his little toddler self before he turns 3.
ReplyDeleteI guess i really like to be near Minnehaha Falls. The light, the air, the depth of feeling there. Also, Lake Nikomis. The space and landscape on the north east side of the lake.... gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, I love your composition and ability to transfer the joy and love of your subject with a click of your shutter.
Wow, so many great spots to choose from! French Regional Park, the MN Landscape Arboretum, the Cedar Lake bike trail, Target Field, and Wolfe Park in St. Louis Park all come to mind.
ReplyDeleteMy dream photography session would be my kids at Disney ;-)
ReplyDeleteBut since we are talking Twin Cities I might have to say the Sculpture Gardens or Maybe at the new Twins Ballpark (yes my family is into baseball). Another "dream" photogaphy session would be all 5 of my kids holding hands walking along a beach, bearfoot ... that just sounds like a sweet picture, dosn't it?
My dream photography session would be birth photos. I love the examples you have on your site! I also love photography sessions at the family's home and their own yard. They are so personal, intimate, and real.
ReplyDeleteI'd like a photo shoot at Sandy Point Park (Shady Trail Beach) in Prior Lake. I grew up on the coast in Spain so I love the water and the sand. I think it would be so cool to capture the splashing and rippling of the water around us. Plus, I would love to have some family pictures that include our new little baby Noah. :)
ReplyDeleteI would so love some great shots with the tulips at the MN landscape arboretum. Since the birth of my daughter, I have a new affinity for tulips -- thanks to the essay "Welcome to Holland" by Emily Perl Kingsley.
ReplyDeleteTheodore Wirth Park
ReplyDeleteEloise Butler Wildflower and Bird Sanctuary http://www.minneapolisparks.org/default.asp?PageID=4&parkid=340
Como Park Conservatory: http://www.comozooconservatory.org/cons/index.shtml
My favorite pictures would be outdoor setting in nature.
Thinking of places near where I live in downtown Minneapolis, the Stone Arch Bridge and Mill Ruins Park is definitely a top choice for a photo opp! Picturesque arches form the bridge itself... the rushing Mississippi creates an impressive backdrop... the stony ruins of the old mill elicit curiousity about what used to be. Definitely recommend checking it out!
ReplyDeleteI love Minnehaha Falls and Fort Snelling - anyplace with history. But, if I were to win it would be for a dear friend who would like senior photos taken but can't afford them.
ReplyDeleteI think Irvine Park in St. Paul would be wonderful for a photo shoot! There is an amazing fountain, TONS of mature, older trees, steps, park benches, etc... it's great!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=1456
http://sas.guidespot.com/bundles/guides_x2/assets/widget_b2qe-TlyfmViA9gSTu7T_x.jpg
Centennial Lakes Park in Edina would be make a good location... especially in the winter with the ice skating.
ReplyDeleteI think that you could get some cool shots at The Depot downtown--the building is cool and in the winter some ice skating shots would be super fun!
ReplyDeleteAfton State Park - Woot woot, Fort Snelling, Local Farmers markets, and the Seward Coop, The Guthrie Theater, Rose Garden near Lake Calhoun/Harriett, The grounds of the University of Saint Catherine in Saint Paul, Stillwater - Red Wing...
ReplyDeleteThe rose garden at lake harriett, for sure!
ReplyDeleteI love Minnehaha Falls, Centennial Lakes, Theo Wirth Park, Long Lake Park (the walking trails are beautiful with tall grasses), Como Conservatory. There's also a park in Excelsior that has an art show every summer...the beach there is rocky and beautiful. I think my dream shoot would be in our back yard, though, sitting on our deck or by our huge maple tree and enjoying family time.
ReplyDeleteMy dream photography seesion would not be in the Twin Cities. I would like to have one shot of me doing the Lambeau Leap at Lambeau field.
ReplyDeleteWe've had family pictures taken at Minnehaha Falls and the Dodge Nature Center (in South St Paul), both of which have been wonderful. I also think the Stone Arch Bridge would be nice for a shoot.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say that my dream session would be in my very own yard.....all four of our children have learned to walk on that grass and fallen on those sidewalks and sat in front of fires by the hill. That would be my dream photog session. But for ideas sake I would say stillwater/hastings are great.
ReplyDeleteWe've had the blessing of working with a handful of fabulous Twin Cities photographers in a variety of creative settings--our home, Ellison Park in Monticello (on the Mississippi), Sweet P's Ice Cream Shop in Elk River. All were just wonderful! I'm not sure where my "dream" spot would be--just somewhere fun for us and the photographer and somewhere we haven't had photos taken yet. ;)
ReplyDeleteI loved having our family photos done with Elizabeth. I would love to have another one.
ReplyDeleteLake Independence in Baker Park Reserve.
ReplyDeleteComo Zoo & Conservatory and Minnehaha Falls. I know it's a repeat but those two locations are gold. Light at the bottom of the falls can be an enormous photographic challenge. Tackle it!
ReplyDeleteMinnehaha Falls- down by the creek. It's sooo green right now.
ReplyDeleteHaving just moved to the Northeast, we're spending time getting to know it better. One of my favorite places has always been St. Anthony Main and the Stone Arch Bridge. Its very urban but also very open and peaceful. I love so many of the parks in the city but I'd like to find one with LOTS of wooded area.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite spot is at Living Word Christian Center Church in Brooklyn Park, they have this great long hallway that takes cool pictures and a really nice garden area with fountains inside, and at Christmas, they have great decorations throughout the church!
ReplyDeletePurgatory Creek Recreational Park/Path (Technology Drive and Prairie Center Drive)
ReplyDeleteEden Prairie, MN
This is a local gem! Beautiful fountains, exquisite landscaping, wide open space to get great background shots, water, gardens, interesting structures. We often walk around the "lake" there, and always enjoy it! There are some beautiful spots around Staring Lake as well, if you take the path from Purgatory Creek.
Vermillion Falls (Hwy. 61 South, just inside Hastings)
Hastings, MN
The other place I would recommend is Vermillion Falls in Hastings. Not quite as local to you and I as Eden Prairie, but still pretty much in the Metro Area. Vermillion Falls is beautiful, surprisingly large and detailed, with an old mill next to it. There is a bridge that crosses over the river just downstream from the falls that makes a great place for taking pictures. The old Main Street district of Hastings is fun as well, and pretty well preserved.
I love pictures out in nature... on the beach or in a field. Pick me, I've never had professional pictures taken before and my husband and I would love the opportunity!
ReplyDeleteI would go to the Burwell House and the surrounding park in Minnetonka. There's this gorgeous old mansion and a river nearby. Wouldn't that be fun! Or else Taylor's falls. Beautiful in the fall.
ReplyDeleteOur dream location is the general MN north shore area/Duluth. There are so many beautiful vistas, waterfalls, trails, and rock formations. A short drive over to WI Superior point and it looks like you are on the ocean shore. We also love the Taylor's Falls area, again for the water and rock formations and small town/country charm.
ReplyDeleteWithin the Twin Cities area, Three Rivers Park district has many opportunities for great settings. Crow Hassan Park features Prairie vistas and sits along the Crow River. Gale Woods Farm will be fun when we have family photos when our daughter is older. They have a full array of farm animals to go along with the beautiful setting.
A Beautiful place that i belive would make a good spot to take pictures is i would say Down Town St.Paul. There are many areas that are so beautiful there that im pretty sure even people who lived here all there lives did not even recognize how beatiful our down town really is. And that its not just all buisnesses, buildings,and just a busy way, its also the most beautiful of St.Paul. I think this would be a good photoshoot to remember because as the twin cities is changing so much having new things built and old things torn down, i would be able to look back at those pictures someday and say "St.Paul really is Beautiful".
ReplyDeleteI think the walkways around Rice Lake in Lino Lakes would make some beautiful images, especially in the fall for the 'fall color' aspect.
ReplyDeletemy favorite spot in the twin cities-hands down-is the Gale Woods Farm in Minnetrista. A fully functioning educational farm complete with barn, animals, lake, farm store, handwork classes, breakfasts on the farm, wagon rides and more, this location gives a photographer and a family a multitude of great shot opps!
ReplyDeleteMy "Minneapolis Photo Spot" would be American Classic Ballroom in Chanhassen. It is a beautiful room, with sparkling chandeliers and tasteful art. But it's what happens there that captures my heart. My dream photo shoot would be me and my partner/boyfriend dancing in that ballroom. I would be wearing my ballgown, a gorgeous sparkly dress that makes me feel like Cinderella in all my childhood fantasies. He would be wearing his tux, looking like the gallant gentleman of my dreams. A beautiful waltz would have us gliding across the floor, my dress swirling out in billows, our bodies creating that unique art that is dance. Dance is such a fluid motion, and constantly changing, that a mere second can hold many different movements. I would love to see what the camera could capture--and I know the result would be more than the sum of its parts.
ReplyDeletePumpkin patch in the fall, Minnehaha Falls, our home to capture our life (assuming it was clean enough to be photo worthy!), lakes, the zoo . . .
ReplyDeleteThere is a place in West St Paul right off of Anapolis and HWY 13.
ReplyDeleteI have gone down in the bluff area where you are among the beautiful foliage and the roots of trees are exposed. It can make for some awsome pictures. You can walk down further and take shots in old abandone sewer openings. Different and interesting at the same time.
On the banks of the beautiful Mississippi :)
ReplyDeleteI suppose it would depend on the photo session I was doing, but if it is a family shot (for me that would mean, me and my husband and our two very energetic dogs!) it would need to be outdoors, I would love it to be in the fall when the leaves are turning... Nine Mile Creek would be a great place, or the Isaac Walton or where Cullen and I took our wedding pictures - Normandale Park (on Hwy 100 and 77) that is a very beautiful park with lots of great backdrops for different looking pictures.
ReplyDeleteI imagine Elm Creek Park -- one of the Three Rivers Parks -- might have several varied locations to choose from. I'm spent a number of years regularly walking the park with binoculars, and its got a lot of different geography to it. There are wetlands whose cattails and so on would make nice nature-y backgrounds, and paths amid them that would let you frame things in different ways. I'd mostly choose those in the fall for the texture. (They're better for pure nature photography in the spring.) The park has lots of streams curving in various settings, a few semi-picturesque bridges one could frame right, an occasional old windmill with trees growing up through it, a hidden beaver pond.... There's lots to choose from. In dry years I've dropped down into stream beds near Eastman Nature Center and walked along in the shade of the banks. That'd be some good photo terrain. Even in the winter, there's a rather surreal tubing hill with a lift and so on... That could be photogenic in the right light and so on, for a snowy portrait.
ReplyDeleteComo park/Minneahaha Falls
ReplyDeleteHave beautiful setting. This time of year since leaves are turning it'd be nice to take the kids out for a fun jumping in the leaves session :)
A few favorites of our over the years have been
ReplyDeleteWebber Park off of 42nd(Webber Pkwy) and Lyndale -
It doesn't look like much from the street, but if you walk down towards the woods and the waterfall a bit, there is an adorable little bridge and several other nice spots all along the walking path by the creek and the pond as well.
Theo Wirth Park on Theo Wirth Parkway -
We actually used the green space, benches, and wide wooden bridge right in front of the golf course area right off of the parking lot. There are also some adorable metal statues of maybe '20s looking children there that we took a pic of our children mixed in with. Very cute.
And our most recent choice was the Mississippi riverfront on West River Road between Broadway and Plymouth -
This choice has an interesting feel of urban mixed with nature. Many shots with a short stone wall, river, grass, iron benches, a couple of large rocks, trees, and long grasses. All with a little bit of city, whether bits of skyline or a modern looking bridge in the background.
We have fun looking for fun new ideas every year, and honestly, if our yard were nicer, I would love to use the more intimate settings of our front or back yards or front porch.
My favorite spot in Minneapolis is North Dinky Town. I love the old houses with the wide sidewalks and beautiful trees. And there is this cute little park on 6th Street SE with a beautiful mosaic turtle statue. It is the most beautiful neighborhood in October!
ReplyDeleteAmanda Oman
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ReplyDeleteKatie Dahl
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