The latest issue of Metro Magazine is fresh on the news stands and I am SUPER excited about this issue!

This month's issue includes the 2010 Keeper Awards, which is an award given out by Metro to 7 amazing artists in our city! I've photographed this article for the past 3 years and we have always done in-studio portraits for this. When I was invited to shoot it again, I wanted to switch it up! Sometimes I think that we are bombarded by fancy, over produced shoots, whenever we look in a magazine. I wanted to give the readers a break from all of that and offer them some amazing, honest imagery! All of these portraits were photographed on location and using the existing natural light that we had! I am beyond excited to share this with all of you, because I am super proud of this year's spread! I also wanted to give the readers a stronger sense of exactly who these people are!

Make sure to pick up your copy, which also features some yummy breakfast on the cover (breakfast is my personal favorite food!) Check out all of the amazing artists who are the current Keepers of Minneapolis!

Congratulations to all of the wonderful people who I met while shooting this! You made this an AMAZING feature!

AHHHH!!!!! I am SO freaking excited to launch the new commercial brand, ELIESA!

This brand has been in the works for almost 2 years and I am just thrilled to finally be launching it!

For those of you who don't know, I've been taking photographs for 11 years now and the time has come to take things to the next level! What does the next level mean, exactly? Well, I have some lofty goals and big plans and I don't intend to stop until I get there! I want to shoot fashion and I want to be more of a presence in the editorial world. I absolutely love the collaboration process between Art Directors, Editors, Stylists, and not to mention the production side of things! I love dreaming up an idea and seeing the finished product on glossy paper...or even better, on a cover!

My goal is to break down boundaries, go out of my comfort zone and push for bigger a better clients. I want to work with clients who are also willing to take risks with me. From my experience so far, the bigger the risk, the more fabulous the reward!

Having said all of this, I'm beginning from step one, all over again! It's time to go back to banging on doors, pounding the pavement and (GASP) get rejected...a lot! I'm totally ready for this phase and I'm really excited to see how much stronger this makes me as a photographer and also how much stronger this makes our studio and team! It's a big transition period for us. I want to play with the big boys, and I won't settle for anything less! I think it's also going to be a very fascinating journey for other photographers looking to 'break into' the commercial world, so I'll be blogging, every step of the way about the process. That means the highs and the lows! With this launch, I feel like I've taken the first step towards this dream and I couldn't have done it without the fabulous design mind of Aurora from Red Organic!

When Aurora and I sat down to start branding this, I wanted to create a brand that was simple, but still ME (and for all of you who know me, I'm not exactly a 'simple' girl.) I'm strong, sometimes outspoken, LOUD, I like to use lots of !!!!!!, I swear like a sailor, and I laugh often. I love to love, I love my crew and I absolutely love being a photographer. I'm passionate about what I do and not in a quiet way, so HOW do you make that look simple? The beautiful thing about Aurora and I is that we are one in the same. She gets me as a person, which translates into the design of everything she brought together for me. We challenge each other to come up with the BEST brand possible! (Word of advice for anyone thinking about hiring a designer for re-branding, website building, etc is this: Make sure you are in LOVE with your designer..and I mean LOVE! Don't just use someone, because you know someone who used them. Interview them, spend time with them and make sure that you are on the same page, because this will make a WORLD of difference in your design process!) I am SO in love with the ELIESA brand! It's GLAM, simplified. It's CLEAR and sassy at the same time. And she's got a little attitude! We based much of the brand off of my signature, which I feel is feminine and strong at the same time. It's artsy and strong and it. is. me.

The first 'phase', lets call it, for the ELIESA brand is the launch of the website and business cards! The fabulous people at Into the Darkroom helped us put together this blog + the official website! Personally, I love the design, I think it is a simple, yet bad ass way to view and online portfolio! I've also always been super impressed with ITDR's products for photographers - and their service is unbeatable when it comes to launching a new brand! I'm also in LOVE with my new business cards! This is one of the biggest investments I've made in this entire brand. I'm a big believer that your business card SAYS something about you. Many times, it is also a client's first impression.

Speaking of first impressions, I'm off to Las Vegas this weekend for the NAHA Awards! An editorial spread I photographed this past year is up for an international award in the Editorial Category. I'll be surrounded by the best-of-the-best in the hair industry and I can't WAIT! Make sure to tune in for blog updates!!

Without further adieu, I present to you, ELIESA!