Photography by Kari Blog-- Southeastern Minnesota Senior, Children, Newborn, Maternity, Engagement, Family photographer. Updates and recent photoshoots from Photography by Kari. Photography by Kari is located in Spring Valley, MN.

Friday, November 4, 2022

National Adorable Children and Pawsitively Adorable Contest Winners {SE MN Photographer}

We are proud to announce we had 9 winners in the National portion of the Adorable Children and Pawsitively Adorable contests. The National portion of the contest took place at the lab and was judged by a panel of judges based on quality, appearance, charm, expression, and personality.

In the National Pawsitively Adorable contest…

We had First Place for Me & My Human. They won a $100 Visa gift card.

We had Second Place for Newborns. They won a $75 Visa Gift Card.

We had a Third Place for Dogs. They won a $50 Visa Gift Card.

We had an Honorable Mention for dogs. Super exciting as this is my dog, Maverick. We won a $25 Visa Gift Card.

We had an Honorable Mention in Buddies. They won a $25 Visa Gift Card.

In the National Adorable Children contest…..

We had a Second Place for Bloopers. They won a $75 Visa Gift Card.

We had a Third Place for Bloopers. They won a $50 Visa Gift Card.

We had a Third Place for 13 Months- 2 Years. They won a $50 Visa Gift Card.

We had an Honorable Mention for 9-12 Years. They won a $25 Visa Gift Card.

The lab where these took place is having some website issues, but as soon as we can see the other winners, I will post them here, too. Congratulations, everyone! Thanks for participating and voting! =)

And since we did not do the local portion of the Pawsitively Adorable as it was mostly my assistant’s dogs and family pets, and I had not posted the Pawsitively Adorable images, these are the other images we submitted. So they each received a 16×20 print from their session.

Tags: 2022, Adorable Child Portrait Contest, Dog Portrait Photographer, MN Dog Photographer, NE IA Children's Photographer, Pawsitively Adorable Contest, Rochester MN Area Children's Photographer, Rochester MN Dog Portrait Photographer, SE MN Dog Portrait Photographer, Southeast MN Children's Photographer, Southeastern Minnesota Dog Photographer, Spring Valley MN Children's Portrait Photographer, Spring Valley MN Dog Photographer

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Thursday, February 20, 2020

It’s National Love Your Pet Day {Spring Valley MN Pet Portrait Photographer}

It’s National Love Your Pet Day, a celebration marking the special relationship we have with our pets.

I love our dog, Maverick, and how much a pet can make our lives so fun. He is more than a pet, he is a much-needed member of our family. How in the world could we live without them?!

Pets provide us with so much more than companionship. Every day through our dog, we have a great example of unconditional love. Something we all need a reminder of since we as humans can sometimes forget that we are all human and make mistakes. Our dog never judges us or holds a grudge when we make a mistake, lose our temper, or accidentally step on a tail. They love us no matter what. They show us selflessness, never expecting anything in return except maybe a game of fetch here and there or a few treats in Maverick’s mind. They remind us to cherish the simple things in life, like spending time together by laying at your feet while you work or taking a walk together.

Pets make us better people, I can proudly say on this day and EVERY DAY I LOVE my pet and all he does for me!

English Black Labrador puppy running to ball in snow

Tags: 2020, Kari McGill, MN Pet Photographer, MN Pet Portraits, Photography by Kari, Rochester MN Dog Portrait Photographer, Rochester Pet Portrait Photographer, SE MN Dog Portrait Photographer, Southeastern Minnesota Dog Photographer

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Thursday, February 13, 2020

One Year {Fillmore County MN Children’s Photographer}

Being a Fillmore county children’s photographer is an honor. I love meeting all these amazing and beautiful families and getting to watch them grow. Miss M and her Mom met us at our studio in Spring Valley, MN for her one year and cake smash session. We started her session with a winter theme to go with her polar bear leggings. Her older sister chose the theme of cats for Miss M’s first birthday. How cute is that? Andrea painted the cat props that made the cake smash set come together perfectly. Miss M was a mover and shaker and walking all over the place. She wasn’t too terribly sure of her cake, but she did give it a try or two! I love how much you can see her personality in her sweet eyes. Check out some of my favorite images below.

Tags: 1 Year Old MN Cake Smash Session, 2020, Baby, Cake Smash Photography, Kari McGill, One Year Cake Smash MN Photographer, Photography by Kari, SE MN Infant Portrait Photographer, Southeast MN Children's Photographer, Spring Valley MN Children's Portrait Photographer, Watch Me Grow Portrait Sessions

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Thursday, February 13, 2020

Valentine’s Portraits {SE MN Infant Portrait Photographer}

Just a day left before Valentine’s Day, so I had to share some favorites from this little sweetheart’s 3-month session of her watch me grow session.

Miss A was so expressive during her session and gave us so many smiles (which does not typically happen during 3-month old sessions.) Look at that face…she is just precious.

P.S. the purple outfit is one of the outfits available to use at sessions as well.

3 month old baby laying with hearts as a background

Tags: 2020, Baby, Kari McGill, Photography by Kari, Rochester MN Area Children's Photographer, SE MN Infant Portrait Photographer, Spring Valley MN Children's Portrait Photographer, valentine's day portraits, Watch Me Grow Portrait Sessions

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Sunday, February 9, 2020

Sunflower Mini {SE MN High School Senior Photography}

Who doesn’t love sunflowers?!?! I know I do, they are one of my favorite flowers. And since we had between 8 to 10 inches of snow in southeast Minnesota today, I thought I would share photos from a senior sunflower mini session from last fall.

Sunflowers fields are a bit scarce in SE MN, so Andrea planted some in my family’s garden for us to use during sessions. This mini senior sunflower session was so much fun! Such a lovely young lady in our “field” (patch is probably a better word) on such a perfect Minnesota fall evening with the most beautiful sunlight. She did such a great job with movement and expression, she was a natural in front of the camera. But not surprised as I had done a session with her when she was about 4 in one of my first years in business and she was a natural then, too. It was such a delight working with her and her Mom, again! These are some of our favorite images from her session. Enjoy!

I LOVED the few mini sunflower shoots we did this past year at our farm with our sunflowers! I already can’t wait to do photos in them again next summer! If you’re wanting a sunflower field session, and want to be one of the first to know when I start opening up my booking dates, send us a message and we’ll be sure to let you know first.

Senior girl portrait with sunflower by face

High school senior kneeling in from of MN sunflower field

Tags: 2019, MN Senior Photographer, Rochester MN Portraits, senior 2020, Senior Photography, Senior Portraits, Southeast MN senior portraits, Southeastern Minnesota Senior Photographer

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Thursday, February 6, 2020

Portraits of Black Labrador Puppy {Southeast MN Dog Photographer}

If you follow Photography by Kari, you’ve seen this handsome guy show up in our posts every once in a while since October. He’s my family’s English Black Labrador puppy. He’s now 5 months old and has grown so much since his Christmas session. When we got him at 8 weeks when he weighed 11 lbs and now weighs 38 lbs.

He’s such a good puppy but is still a puppy. Just this week he tore up part of our carpet in our living room in about 3 minutes. He’s also been doing classes with Carla Ladd at LaddK9 training based out of Preston, MN. He’s incredibly smart and Carla has helped so much in his learning. He has learned all the basic commands during puppy head start and kindergarten class and he knows how to do some tricks including shake, other one, wave, high five, and back. We’ve also been having Carla come out to our house to start training him to pick things up for me when I drop them.

He’s been such a great addition to our family. He’s smart, very serious, loves to go for drives, enjoys hanging out at the studio on days we don’t have any sessions, and lives to eat with carrots being his favorite snack. These puppy portraits show Maverick just how he is and was happy to do the photos if it meant he got some treats, he knew to go back to the spot for a photo after he got his treat if he wanted another. We plan to do some more fun photos next week, so be sure to check back.