Uffda, what a fall this has been!

I'm coming off of my busiest season yet, and now that I have a little bit of free time, I can tell you all about it. Fall is hectic for all photographers with weddings, engagements, and regular sessions trying to catch as much of the brilliant fall foliage as they can before the leaves fall down and go to sleep for the long, arduous winter ahead. A yearly tradition that I do with my neighbor and pal Marissa at Springhill Heritage Farm are fall mini sessions. For $25 and 20 minutes (even faster if it's cold), families can get a handful of photos to use for the 'gram, Christmas cards, or just to update family pictures that haven't been taken in a while. While I do believe in charging a price that allows me a decent living, I also don't think good family pictures are something that out of reach. I grew up only having family pictures done every six years for our church directory because they were affordable, and between you, me, and the fencepost, I changed a lot between ages 12 and 18. Life moves fast, and photography can make time stand still by preserving it for all posterity.

Here are a few of the shots from the minis at Springhill Heritage Farm! I had a lot of fun getting to know these families. It was unseasonably chilly out, and the snow made the photos look more like Christmas than the weekend before Halloween, but I'm thankful for everybody being troopers about the situation (especially Marissa's mom, Deanna, who had to deal with Glenn the photobombing kitty for a longer session with her quilts).

One week later, it was time to head up to Trego and meet Taylor and Austin for their engagement session! Taylor reached out to me on Facebook about booking her wedding next September at their home in Springbrook. Once everything got everything signed and sealed, it was time for me to deliver. Taylor and Austin have been together for six years after meeting online and have a five-year-old son named Beau together. Taylor was the first bride to sign a contract with me and make a down payment with all of her i's dotted and t's crossed, and I *wipes tear* felt like such a grown-up with my shit together!

We got some glorious shots on Taylor's father's land and then headed to the salvage yard that her dad also owns and operates. With classic cars, trucks, and farm equipment galore, there was a treasure around every corner. Here are some sneaks from the afternoon we shared together! I even brought one of my tiny hands after conspiring with Taylor on shots she liked on Pinterest and wanted to get. Austin and Beau were equally un-thrilled about having their picture taken, but they survived and we had a lot of fun. (By we, I probably just mean me and Taylor.)

I mean, look at how much love she has for Austin. She was absolutely iridescent.

The next day, I made the drive down to Lund, Wisconsin (a suburb of Stockholm, Wisconsin, which is a suburb of Pepin, Wisconsin) to do a few mini sessions at Swede Heir Acres! Paul and Angie Bocksell are longtime dairy farmers, and made the foray into raising beef cattle for farm-to-table production a couple of years ago on a neighboring farm that they just purchased. Angie and I have been friends for a few years now, but it was really special to finally see the places she's told me about! While I do a lot of traveling from one session to the next, one of the most enjoyable parts about being a photographer is being welcomed into my clients' worlds for an hour and getting to see and feel what makes them get out of bed in the morning. It was incredibly cold and windy that Sunday afternoon, and my anxiety was in overdrive from a lot of windshield time, but we got some dandy shots of the families that braved the elements to come on over to Swede Heir! Angie also gifted a mini session to the couple to the previous owners of the farm.

We also did a full session for Paul and Angie and their four kids! Lukas, Weston, Ava, and Dahlia are pure barefoot, free rangin', rock pickin' farm kids if I ever saw some! I also made sure to get some shots of just Paul and Angie because there are a lot of couples with kids that haven't had pictures of just the two of them in a very long time. The Bocksells definitely have a lot to be proud of with their farming endeavors, but a farmer's greatest crop is their family - and they've cultivated a bumper crop together that will go out and make the world a better place with their hearts and talents.

Thank you all for following along with a roving farmtographer! 2020 is shaping up to be an unforgettable year for all the right reasons, and I can't do it without good clients and their encouragement - especially the fellow farmers of mine who invite me to take photos on their farms.

Catch ya on the flip side,

Brittany

PS: I'm not done with mini sessions yet!

My friend Erin Link of EB Ranch LLC is a fabulous goat farmer raising and breeding a rare and endangered breed of goats (San Clemente Island goats, to be precise) on her farm south of Ridgeland, Wisconsin. She markets her own goat meat and goat milk soaps in addition to pastured poultry. We're going to get Bigelow the buck goat all razzle dazzled for holiday goat mini sessions on December 5th and 12th!

Here's the link to the Facebook event and signup sheet.