The world is your canvas-paint it!

Some memories were made in the Sorensen household this morning. I would just like to say once again how incredibly blessed I feel to be able to work from home and not miss these moments! Although on the very busy days it can be quite stressful juggling parenthood and running our business(es)...it's all worth it.

Moving on, Miss Indie completed her first artwork masterpiece today! While Ray and I were both getting ready for the day, I realized Indie was quiet...like super quiet. While I think most parents would agree when you catch yourself hearing complete silence, you think ahh that's nice a moment to think, but then your brain quickly snaps into "oh my gosh!" mode. Quiet doesn't usually equal good things...we all know this.

I came around the corner to find Indie drawing on the wall. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all about boundaries but how do you discipline a child for doing something she literally sees her father doing every day? You don't, well at least we don't. I grabbed the camera, yelled for Ray and I think he was pretty proud. I guess you could say that considering he drew "Indie's Art" next to her scribbling.

She seemed to really enjoy herself and stay at it for a good amount of time-which never really happens either. Not sure if she is going to be into art, bowling, swimming, softball or whatever, but I do know I'll try to capture her life in photographs.

Luckily the crayon she found was her washable one from the bathtub. But Ray did suggest we make that wall her canvas and invest in some more washable markers, even frame it in. I think it's inspiring to see her little creations on the wall (just this one wall of course). It's far better than anything I could buy at the store.

I hope you're all capturing these precious moments of your little ones as well. Isn't that what life is all about-the little things? :) Here are a few pictures from today's event:

Hello 2013

 

Indie, Maria & Ray Sorensen at the St. Ansgar Rock.

Hi All-

It's been awhile since we last wrote (sorry we do that a lot through our Twitter & Facebook pages). Seems to be the quicker alternative! But in case you missed those updates...we'll catch you up to speed.

2012 brought a lot of changes with our business (Sorensen Studios). Maria decided to specialize in wedding/engagement and high school senior photography. She is home full time with the little one and the scheduling for those sessions are the easiest fit for a mommy job! We're also proud to say we have reached our full wedding quota for the 2013 season already. It's going to be a very busy year-but we're up for the challenge!

Bubba decided to specialize in mural paintings. Again, the same for him-large scale murals are what works best with our new parent schedule. He still does some canvas painting/drawings but they're usually personal and not for commission. He completed about four large scale murals in 2012 so it was a busy time!

One of our biggest projects we are looking forward to this year (and the reason for a fully booked wedding season already) is the 99 County Freedom Rock Tour. In the spring, we will be setting out to tour our beautiful state of Iowa while Ray aims to paint a rock in every county. If you visit the site, you will see we have already booked seven counties and we have just started promoting the tour! We're so excited to say the least and are really grateful for our home state's support.

We've already met some amazing people through this project and we feel very lucky to get to know so many fine individuals. We're also so thankful to our sponsors who are helping get this off the ground. We're hoping this [tour] can be a unique and beautiful gift to our military men and women, all the while benefiting our state with national tourism.

This will be our fifth year of business for Sorensen Studios and they say if you make it past year three, then you're good to go and that year five is when you're really "get started"...here's to hoping!

Thank you all so much for your continued love and support. We will try to stay updated more often but will most likely be doing the majority of it via Facebook/Twitter. You can follow us here:

Sorensen Studios Twitter: https://twitter.com/sorensenstudios
The Freedom Rock Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheFreedomRock
The Freedom Rock Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheFreedomRock

We wish you all a very blessed and prosperous new year.
Please feel free to call or email us with any questions (please leave a message): 641.343.7110 | sorensenstudios@yahoo.com

Shelby Venteicher

Here's a recent senior shoot with Shelby-what a beaut!

Click the link below which says "Shelby Venteicher" to view her video.

The below image features all of Shelby's products she received with her Senior Package via Sorensen Studios-lots and lots of good stuff! :)

Enjoy!

Shelby Venteicher

Her first photo shoot

I said I would share a picture of Indie's first photo shoot (not including all the times she was along in my belly last summer of course). So here it is...her shooting an engagement session in Missouri with us! It was a ton of fun.

So now she has helped paint The Freedom Rock and assisted in some picture taking. Even if she doesn't hold any interest in photography or painting in the future, she certainly can always say she started at a young age!

A little poison ivy means a lot of really good pictures!

So yes I will remember this photo shoot for the rest of my life for a couple of reasons: a.) Erin and Travis are our really good friends and I'm lucky enough to be a part of their wedding in October! b.) It was Indie's first photo shoot with mommy and daddy (out of my belly) and c.) I apparently got into some poison ivy and have got the lovely rash to prove it...

Let me just say Erin and Travis's shoot was simply amazing. They basically showed me around to a few of their favorite hang outs, what they do as a couple and how they spend their time together which equals = The Perfect Engagement Session! By doing what you normally do together it creates a perfect and comfortable setting for everyone. 

We visited everything from a little old train station, a place where they go to fish and share a bottle of wine (oh and Erin caught a fish at the very end of the shoot by the way!) They also took me to this legendary tree that was turned upside down by a tornado...eh em insert where I contracted poison ivy here. I guess that's how it goes though; if you're a photographer you know what I'm saying. You see the view of your photograph but it requires you lying on the ground, upside down or looking like a complete fool-anything for that perfect shot!

Anyways, it was a great day and I just wanted to share a couple of my favorite photos from it. If you're thinking about engagement pictures, again I would suggest creating your "perfect setting".

To view all of their photos and to see what a typical Engagement Session with Sorensen Studios is like, please visit: www.sorensenstudios.us, click on the "client" tab and type in: 6312

If you're interested in hiring a Sorensen Studios photographer for your wedding/engagement photos please call or email us at: 641.343.7110 | sorensenstudios@yahoo.com

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again. The people we meet via The Freedom Rock project really do become like our family. What an amazing turn out of support we had this weekend. It was so great to see visitors from all over the country come back from last year! But most of all, it's amazing to see the undying support for our Veterans which is what The Freedom Rock project is all about. We get so many people asking how they can help, what they can do, and how they want to help support our service men and women-perfect, this is our goal! To answer those questions...here is our biggest project we have going on right now: The Freedom Rock Tour. I'm happy to say that we feel a bit closer to that goal as we have had several contacts requesting rocks painted in their counties! We're still working out the details and hope to get that big sponsor soon.

Back to this weekend, I'd like to share a few highlights of the event. Ray added four more different Viet Nam Veterans ashes to the North side of the Rock this year, which puts the tally up to around 40. He also added a WWII Veteran's ashes to the Front of the Rock. The way the crowd fell silent and everyone watched as he mixed the ashes with paint and applied them to the Rock gave me goosebumps! It was very emotional watching the widows/friends of these Veterans ashes kiss their little medicine bottle which they brought them in and hand them off to Bubba. Wow-what a way to experience Memorial Day! Before I forget, we'd like to thank Valspar paint for donating all of the paint to The Freedom Rock this year!

Memorial Day 2012

Adding Viet Nam Vet ashes to the green helicopters. 

Another amazing moment I was able to capture was Clarence Pfundheller, a Pearl Harbor survivor, signing autographs in The 2013 Freedom Rock Calendar. Clarence is featured in the month of December. Clarence and other featured Veterans at The Rock that day were asked for autographs and thanked for their service. Again-we're so happy this is taking place and the Rock is doing its job of recognizing these Veterans and their service! These are the real celebrities of our country who should be getting asked for their autograph and honored all the time.

That's Clarence in the top right hand corner of the calendar just 18 days before the attack on Pearl Harbor-what a stud!

On a bit more of a personal note, I have to share pictures of Independence's first year at The Freedom Rock. She made a few appearances but boy was it a hot one-so she wasn't at the Rock too long! I would just like to say thank you to all of you who are a part of our lives through this project. Indie, Bubba and I feel truly blessed to have so many of you who support us and our family. We definitely feel the love and are very appreciative. Miss Indie was diggin' the attention I think! :)

Special thanks to Bubba's family, Mike, Dixie, Heidi, Mandi, Brian, Tucker, Isabelle & Taylor for all that you do every year! Also John & Joni & the rest of the Galanakis family for all of you do as well, including the amazing food you're constantly providing-even past closing time! And to everyone else-you know who you are-THANK YOU!

Daddy & Independence at The Freedom Rock, Memorial Day 2012

Dixie, Bubba, Mike & Indie at The Freedom Rock, Memorial Day 2012

We're still here!

Wow-have I been bad at keeping up. It's been so long that Blogger's set up has even changed-I'm a little lost! I'm sorry for the delayed update...but I've been so busy with motherhood (and rightfully so)...so maybe I'm not that sorry. I don't want to miss any moments!

I'm writing as I work, which is usually always at night when everyone else is asleep. I find that's when I work best. Indie's naps are more reserved for house work and other personal duties. But when she's up-it's on...she is one active baby-and we love it!

Since being at the Rock lately, I've had lots of visitors tell me how they loved staying updated via the blog-so tonight I thought I'd jump back in the swing of things!

What we've been up to: Well The Freedom Rock of course! "Rock season" is in full effect and Memorial Day is just around the corner. Bubba has spent lots of days and nights out at the Rock, trying to finish up for the big day. And me, well let's just say during this month the emails, phone calls and mail is enough to keep anyone busy-let alone a new mommy! We also just finished up dance/first communion/SWCC graduation pictures which are always a challenge to get done before Memorial Day. I definitely didn't book any weddings or big shoots this month (besides those three...^). I promised Bubba I would never book another wedding during May again...unlike our first year in business when I booked two!

A few changes: I've also had visitors asking about the studio and yes I know it's a big change for us too! But since becoming new parents, we weren't ready to do the day care thing just yet. So I work from home and run the studio by appointment. This, of course led me into specializing in wedding/engagement/event photography. You'll have to check out the website and take a look around, we've made some changes and it should give you a pretty good idea of our services. Bubba of course is still specializing in mural painting, however his big change is only mural painting. He no longer is booking small canvas paintings or other artwork. And eh em, may I add has already booked three large murals for this summer! He has also taken a part time position at our local Fitness Center; he enjoys the change of work and probably a break from painting all day in the sun!

So there you have it-a little update. This "Rock Season" has been especially fun introducing Indie into. Today was her first big day of Freedom Rock events like Iowa Thunder, The National Veterans Awareness Ride and media interviews. I'd say overall she did pretty well-but boy was she tired! Lots of visitors wanted her picture today-move over daddy! :)

I would also just like to mention how honored I was to once again write the veteran stories in the new 2013 Freedom Rock calendar. I don't know if it was my new mommy hormones but there were definitely some late teary eyed nights as I read the letters from our nominators! Thank you all again who participated-I can't wait for you to see the new calendar and our featured veterans.

Tomorrow we've got a big day... American Profile is stopping by to do a piece on The Freedom Rock and Bubba. We couldn't be more excited to have them! They are a weekly national magazine that is delivered to more than 10 million readers each week. We hope their story will inspire others to remember what Memorial Day is all about and to honor our fallen heroes.

Maria on dance photography shoot.

Bubba being interviewed at The Freedom Rock.

Well, I sure will try my hardest to stick to it! To stay updated on The Freedom Rock, feel free to visit the Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/TheFreedomRock

Don't be shy-call or email me at the studio with any questions/inquiries: 641.343.7110 | sorensenstudios@yahoo.com