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I am getting all my ducks in a row and that includes all my website addresses. I will be deactivating this blog shortly and everything will be now over at at a much improved blog I have been working on recently. The link to my new site is….
www.benberndtphotography.com/blog
pretty simple
~Ben
I can honestly say that I have never received a ticket and I have only been pulled over 2 times…first for having my trailer lights go out and second for giving some drunk friends a ride home on a cold winter night and the police were just targeting people. Anyways… I am a good driver most of the time and when I am not it usually involves trying to keep up with party bus drivers who don’t feel the need to obey traffic laws.
So four weekends ago, I was shooting a incredible wedding over in Oakdale, MN and they had a party bus taking them over to the reception venue in Saint Paul. We were going to stop at parks that weren’t busy along the way to take the fun creative shots. Since the parks in Saint Paul are often filled with other wedding parties, I wasn’t really sure where we were going and in what order. So I needed to stay with the bus at all costs.
Well this driver has a thing for running red lights….not once, not twice, but three times. And on the third red-light-run that I followed him through, I was tagged by a police officer. It’s not the cops fault, I ran the light fair and square. So I pulled over in one of those little corner convenience stores that are rather common in urban area’s and the officer walks up to my car. I quickly explain that I am the photographer for a wedding party that was in the bus in front of me and I really need to get back to them ASAP. I fully expected to get the ticket and I just wanted him to hurry up and give it to me. By this time, the bus was easily a good mile or two down a road that has stoplights every block. Instead of giving me the ticket, he runs back to his car and says he’ll clear the way for me. He then turns on his lights and sirens and we go flying down the road.
So I got a sweet police escort through Saint Paul and I didn’t have to pay a big ticket. Total rockstar move by that guy and easily one of the highlights of my year.
yeah… everyone on the bus was pretty stoked to see me come flying up with the cop.
A couple weeks back I spent the day with Rick and Thanh for a incredible wedding. I have actually known Rick for a couple years and was really excited to see the two of them finally get married. While I am not completely done with all their wedding photos, I worked out a few Teaser shots to carry them until later this week when they get the rest of them.
Enjoy!!
*** for some reason, wordpress is killing my quality when I link to the photos. The actual photos are tack sharp 
***
Rachel and I shot a wedding for Liz and Matt over in the Stillwater, MN area and were stoked to see that they had brought in a photobooth for their guests. Right away we knew we had to hit this up before we left that night. I thought they turned out pretty good.
Kim and Brandon put on a incredibly fun wedding and I had the pleasure of being e a part of it. Since we have a 6 month old at home, Rachel can only go to a handful of weddings this year. So I brought my friend Robby with to help me out. Robby and I go back a few years and he has helped me out on a lot of weddings. So it was nice to have a friendly face and to not have to worry about bringing anybody new to help me this year. Kim had also wanted to hit up a few of my favorite spots in the Minneapolis area and we got some fantastic shots to show for it. Check out the slideshow below to get a quick peak at a handful of their photos
A huge thanks goes out to Kim and Brandon and I hope you two have a fantastic life together. You both seemed to be truly passionate about each other and I pray that continues for each of you.
~Ben
A Saturday back in mid June, Rachel and I went back to our hometown area for a wonderful wedding. Britney & Zack planned a great wedding out at a local farm that had a cool barn that was modified to be a fantastic location for a big party. We really love when couples see each other ahead of time and set aside time for photos without a lot stress and rush, and we really really love when people are fun and laid-back like these two were. We even were treated to a nice sunset to end the night with. They had fun, we had fun, and I hope you have fun with this slideshow of their big day!
If you scroll down a few blog entries, you can see that I had shot a few engagement photos of Melissa and Erik this past fall up in Brainerd. The few months between that shoot and their wedding two weekends ago have just flown by for me to say the least. Anyways. . . On the 17th January, I had the pleasure of escaping to the north woods to shoot their wedding. Melissa must have done a lot of planning, because everything was really thought out and gorgeous. They had rented a cabin to relax in and this was no ordinary cabin… it was pretty much the coolest cabin I have ever been in. We shot a bunch of photos and spent a fair amount of time playing around there. Since Rachel was very pregnant and two weeks away from our due date, she decided to sit this one out. So I called in my friend Robby McCabe to give me a hand. We drove up Friday night and crashed a hotel in the area so we’d have a good nights sleep and a fresh start to the day. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and were settling in for the night when I came to the sudden realization that I forgot my shoes at home…200 miles away. I look at the clock and it was 10 minutes past when all the stores close…hmmm (I was actually freaking out since all I had were bright white running shoes). About 15 minutes into my freakout, I get a call from Erik saying that the timeline was going to be bumped back a bit in the morning and not to come at 7:30am like I was planning. Talk about Awesome!!!. So I had plenty of time to get some fancy new shoes and get over there without missing a shot. Nothing like a little drama to keep you up at night. I can bet that I will never forget my shoes from this day forward.
I have put together a fun slideshow of their day, so check it out!!
2008 was a crazy year for us and I mean that in a good way. Rachel and I met a lot of really cool people and made some new friends out of it. We also really started to define our style and pushed the limits on our abilities on a couple projects we worked on. Rachel dove in headfirst into the business side of things last June and has been a huge help. Her creative talents fill in some voids that I have and its nice to have the support from her. I have had the last month to more or less catch up on a lot of editing and sorting.  I am about 70% done with all my 2008 projects and I hope to wrap everything up by the year end so I can start fresh in January. This weekend I will be shooting a wedding for my friend Laurie. The reception and the bulk of the photography will be over the Edinburgh USA Golf club. I shot a wedding back in May here and it is a fantastic venue.  Since Rachel is VERY pregnant right now, I asked my friend Robby McCabe to come shoot with me. He has helped me out on a few occasions in the past and it will be great to work with him again. He is also going to be helping me on a wedding up in Brainerd in Mid January.
I love the north shore and this was my first chance at shooting a wedding up there. The entire wedding was out of the Superior Shores Resort up in Two Harbors and it was an absolutely perfect weekend for a wedding. All week and the night before they had been predicting rain and thunderstorms, so I was on the edge of my seet with anxiety. I have never said this before, but I have never been rained on during a wedding (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!), so I was really happy to see my lucky streak continue on. To showcase their day, I put together a slideshow that runs around 4:20 in length. Enjoy!!!
~Ben
Three Friday’s ago, Rachel and I had the pleasure of play paparazzi all day with Krista and Matt. The day was absolutely perfect and everything just flew by we were having so much fun. We spent a couple hours out at the state capital in Saint Paul for the more formal type of photos. I had been there before, but was never able to go into any of the offices, so it was really neat that everyone was able to get ready there too. Overall I couldn’t have asked for a more fun day and everyone looked like they were having a complete blast. I love slideshows (I think Krista shares that sentiment too), so I tonight I put one together that tells a little bit more of how the day went. It runs for around three and a half minutes.
Enjoy!!!