Minneapolis Editorial Photographer

Zoe Francois | Bake from Scratch Magazine

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Right before Covid-19 really hit here in the United States, I was just coming back from maternity leave. I was eager to get behind the camera again (I still am) and the first photo shoot I had scheduled was with the one-and-only Zoe Francois. I am lucky enough to also call Zoe a friend, but this was the first time she was officially in front of my camera and it was a joy!

Here’s the thing about Zoe Francois. She is wildly talented, incredibly driven and also just as fun as she seems to be from her follow-worthy Instagram feed and blog, Zoe Bakes! Bake from Scratch Magazine featured Zoe in their current issue for their Bakers Profile article and we spent the day in her home kitchen…ahem, amazing office. Zoe’s smile is contagious, which made my job extra easy and of course her food is absolutely gorgeous! A big thank you to Editor in Chief, Brian Hart Hoffman, for being a part of this shoot, all the way from Birmingham! We had a blast!

Client: Bake from Scratch Magazine

Editor in Chief: Brian Hart Hoffman

Photographer: Eliesa Johnson

Talent: Zoe Francois

Assistant: Melissa Hesse

BEHIND THE SCENES

Mpls / St Paul Weddings Magazine | Spring / Summer 2020

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A lot has changed in the last six months, let along a single day right now in our world! On the bright side, I have some new work to share that is rolling out on newsstands. Last fall I photographed the fashion editorial for the Spring / Summer 2020 issue of Mpls / St Paul Weddings Magazine and I love the energy that these image have!

Our goal was to create images that focused on movement and motion with the dresses. We photographed this shoot at the new Backspace Mpls studio and had a dream-team of talent on set! Besides our crew, talented photographer Michael Spear joined our team to assist for the day and he took some stellar behind-the-scene photographs with his film camera. They are so cool, make sure to check them out below!

Photographer: Eliesa Johnson

Editor: Emily Howald Sefton

Style Editor: Madeline Nachbar

Creative Director: Michael Norseng

Deputy Creative Director: Kim Jackson

Talent: Katherine Preston, Arquette Agency

Hair & Makeup: Fatima Olive

Assistant: Melissa Hesse and Michael Spear

Post Production: Hunny Digital

BEHIND THE SCENES//

Images by Michael J Spear

Brightwater | Fall + Winter 2019 / 2020 Look Book

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This last spring, I had the true pleasure of photographing another look book for Brightwater Clothing! Many of you might remember last year’s spectacular photo shoot and this year’s roundup was just as fantastic! Shop owner Bill Damberg and his team brought together an amazing group of people to be a part of this project and I am, once again, thrilled at how this turned out. We even had some super idyllic snow fall JUST as we were about to wrap - it was the perfect moment for sure.

Below are some of my favorite spreads from the look book, which is designed by Bethany at Grayscale. A big thank you to everyone who was a part of this shoot!

BEHIND THE SCENES//

Mpls / St Paul Magazine | 2019 Best of Restaurants

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I am SO excited and SO proud of the March issue of Minneapolis / St. Paul Magazine! This month features the 2019 Best Restaurants and as always, we were thrilled to be a part of this story. Fifty restaurants are mentioned in this package, but we photographed six for the feature. This included The Lynhall, Café Alma, Union Kitchen, The Grand Cafe, Lat 14 and In Bloom. We are personally big fans of all these restaurants, so it was a pleasure to create these images that the magazine used in such a big way!

Diana Scanlon worked along side us to style the food in many of these images and her pink gloves were a theme in our behind the scene photos! She’s also the genius behind how we got that gold fork to look so perfect on the cover! Of course, the MSP Art team of Kim Jackson and Mike Norseng also played an incredible role in the design and ideas of the feature! I love how these images turned out and hope you do, too!

BEHIND THE SCENES//

Liam //

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I love taking a portrait of someone. It’s a moment and time in their life. I also love the challenge of making a picture that truly shows who that person is. Liam James Doyle has been an assistant on our team for a good few years now, but even more than that, he is an incredible photojournalist. Mark my words - this man is going to do incredibly big things in the world and I can’t wait to see what that is! When he asked me to photograph him to update his portrait, of course I said yes. I absolutely love the energy of how these turned out and to me, they are perfect!

LOVEe

Mpls / St. Paul Magazine | North Awards Feature

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This past January, I photographed some portraits for Mpls / St. Paul Magazine's Made in the North story. It featured stories and profiles on the makers behind some of our favorite handcrafted food and products! 

What I love about photographing stories like this is learning so much about the people behind the goods. There is so much thought, time and intention behind each of these businesses - it's inspiring. For this article we meet Tim Shore of Shoreboards, Jim Sannerud of J. Sannerud Studios, Mike Phillips of Red Table Meat Co. and Danielle Sakry of Danielle Sakry handbags. 

Below are some of my favorite images from this feature - and you can read all about it here. 

Tim Shore | Shore Boards

Tim Shore | Shore Boards

Jim Sannerud | J. Sannerud Studios

Jim Sannerud | J. Sannerud Studios

Mike Phillips | Red Table Meat Co. 

Mike Phillips | Red Table Meat Co. 

Danielle Sakry | daniellesakry.com

Danielle Sakry | daniellesakry.com

PLATE Magazine x SURLY

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A recent feature we collaborated on with PLATE Magazine is out! It incorporates some of our favorite people behind the magic at Surly - both the Brewer's Table and the Brewery! Photographing food is obviously a big part of what I do, but I more enjoy the people behind it. For this shoot, we were able to focus on Jerrod, Ben and Jorge for this article and it was an absolute blast - and they let me put them in some rad light! 

Mpls / St. Paul Magazine // Citizen Style

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For the September issue of Mpls / St. Paul magazine, I was asked to photograph a set of portraits for their fall fashion story. It turns out that I had a connection to all of the people, which made photographing this all the more special. 

When it comes to photographing real people in a 'fashion' sense - I love to still make it feel real. I wanted the portraits to be authentic to who our subjects were and why they had been chosen to highlight their personal style. 

I wanted to share some of my favorite outtakes and behind the scenes from this shoot, because the energy with all of our subjects was absolutely amazing! A big thank you to Betsey Kershaw, Kimberly Ferguson, Linda Kaysen and Paul Buttenhoff for all the great moments! You can check out the full story here. 

Behind the Scenes//