Anthologie making headlines

In early May we were thrilled to have one of our favorite clients contact us for a very special occasion. Tyler, whose family I have been documenting for the past yer, had planned to propose. I was fortunate enough to capture the moment and sort of become part of the story. See my earlier blog post HERE.

Shortly thereafter, we were contacted by a writer from the Mankato Free Press who had read our blog and was intrigued by the story. John and I, along with Tyler and Ashley, were interviewed in late May for a feature story which highlighted the entire experience and was recently published in the Free Press "Currents" section. Click HERE to read the full story, "Picture perfect proposal" by Sara Gilbert Frederick.

Just a walk in the park

One hour outdoors undoubtedly earns Ryan a father-of-the-year award

When we first announced our "No Foolin'" promotion to coincide with the official launch of theanthologie.com we figured we'd might get some great images, but didn't bank on great stories, too. Our sessions were set for only one hour to introduce prospective clients to the Anthologie concept and photography style - not enough time to tell of any substantive events. Or so we thought.

Our final client to reserve his session decided to take full advantage of our approach -- not overly orchestrated and ready to document on the fly -- and completely surprise his wife. We learned what a caring and dedicated father he is in the process.

Ryan's plan was simple: While his wife went off for a day of shopping, he'd take the boys out for a walk, have us photograph the outing, bring the boys back and have some emotive photographs made in time for Mother's Day. We one-upped him and designed a book highlighting the session. Ryan was thrilled with the design and we worked swiftly to ensure the final product, a personalized hardcover coffetable book, was published and delivered in time for Mother's Day - all the while, his wife had no idea the boys had even been photographed. The book was completed in time for Mom to have quite the surprise Mother's Day morning.

We had a wonderful time hanging out with Ryan and his boys and I'm sure the entire family with cherish this exciting time for years to come (his youngest is only three months old). Congratulations, Ryan! Be sure to let us  know if you'd like to earn another award next year!

Their story, our story - begins now

Christine and Patrick prompt a new chapter in Anthologie's history While John and I have been working together for some time, there are always events that denote significance in the Anthologie timeline. For example, Feb. 5 is an important date to us, because it's the day our company became officially registered. March 11 will also hold weight with Anthologie, because its when we first met up with our then-potential clients Christine and Patrick.

When we traveled to Mankato last weekend to introduce ourselves to Chris and Pat, they had no idea they would become central figures in our own story. They were the first to make a check payable to Anthologie. With all the work on our website and changes to our personal websites we only recently found the time to set up our new bank accounts!

Chris and Pat are an awesome, down-to-earth couple and we can't wait to capture all the meaningful moments on their wedding day. However, we almost never had a chance to meet them. They had originally planned a destination wedding and had another photographer booked, but turbulence between resort representatives and their travel agent had Chris and Pat frustrated to say the least. They decided a wedding closer to home would be easier on everyone.

After some less-than-ideal experiences with area photographers, Chris and Pat were about ready to give up on wedding photos all together. Luckily, some of our remarkable clients dropped our name and a few e-mails later we were meeting face to face. The rest, ahem, is history.

We'll be giving Chris and Pat 110 percent for sticking with it and supporting the entire photography industry. We're excited to get to know them more and will have a lot of fun during their e-session (hopefully, in the next month or so). Of course, we'll share some of their photos and tell you more about them. Stay tuned...

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