melissa oholendt | minnesota wedding & lifestyle photographer » personal

freedom

melissa oholendt — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 02:55:12 +0000

I feel a pull every year on this freedom-driven Holiday; a sense of obligation to honor, love and serve the people who spend (or spent) their lives dedicated to the service of keeping our country the land of American dreams and progress.

This year, I am spending my 4th of July spending time with a best friend I have missed dearly on an Army base in Kentucky. This holiday, while we enjoy sangria, berries and fireworks, her husband is deployed to Afghanistan protecting and defending this country we love in heat we know nothing about with threats we would care not to know about. More than anything I want to spend this holiday celebrating their sacrifice as a couple and the sacrifices of my family over their years of military service so that I can enjoy every day of my freedom as an American citizen.

To soldiers and veterans everywhere, thank you. There are no more words. Thank you.

Happy 4th to my love, my friends and the people I owe every thing to.

i’m yours,
melissa

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featured! eat drink pretty & utterly engaged

melissa oholendt — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:03:24 +0000

I’ll admit it; sometimes life isn’t as blissful and picturesque as I might want to think. Sometimes Life just flat-out throws a fist-of-doom at you right square in the stomach just to get your attention and prove a point. (Yup. I just used an analogy of Life being the equivalent of a street fighter. Pretty sure that’s who I’ve been trading sucker punches with the last few weeks.)

In the darkness of some cloudy days came one amazing ray of sunshine. Jenna of Eat Drink Pretty made my week and featured Kimber & Chas’s fabulous Utah engagement session. If you don’t follow the Eat Drink Pretty blog, you are missing out. (I mean that.) Between her panache for making the most gorgeous sweet treats, she also posts about one of my very favorite topics: entertaining.

I also found out that a couple of the photos I took of the JNP Studios Workshop Tablescape were published in Issue 9 of the online magazine Utterly Engaged. The tablescape was all about the manly-man so I’m sure they were – ahem – thrilled with the uber-girly squeal that escaped my lips when I first saw my name.

Even though it hasn’t been the kindest of last 30 days, I know how blessed I am to have my photography recognized by a blog and an online publication that I love. Blows to the stomach included, I realize I am living one hell of a charmed life.

I have so many fun blog posts coming up soon including the details of two spectacularly gorgeous Minnesota weddings. Look for those to hit your Google Reader this month, but first…I must go put Life in a headlock. He deserves it.

i’m yours,
melissa

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a year

melissa oholendt — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:00:04 +0000

At the beginning of May I had my own little anniversary date; May 3 marked the date of my first official photo session. I won’t lie, I look back on those first photos in my portfolio and I cringe a little (a lot) but I also celebrate because I have come far since those beginning days. I have failed far more than I have succeeded thus far but out of that I have grown in knowledge, in skill and in confidence. And while I still have so far to go, it’s a little piece of joy to look back and be able to say that I am a totally different photographer today than I was back then.

My hope for next year is that I can look back and cherish where I am right now; WHO I am right now because I think the recognition of how far one has come is important but remembering who you were is just as important. A year ago, I was holding myself back in protection from the fear of the unknown but today I am purposefully running full stride in the direction of fear and uncertainty. I know my failures will be numerous but that’s ok because playing it safe is no longer in my vocabulary.

I am so grateful to the clients and friends I have gained since the beginning of this journey. I have been entrusted with documenting one of the most important events in a couple’s life and I am being honest when I say I am totally honored by their trust.

Saturday was the first wedding of my second wedding season ever and let me tell you, it set the bar pretty high; can’t wait to share. Until then, Happy Anniversary to me and a heartfelt thank you to my clients, friends and support system for pushing me and believing in me. I would not be here without you.

i’m yours,
melissa

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kimber & chas | engagements

melissa oholendt — Wed, 19 May 2010 16:01:33 +0000

A couple weekends ago I got to fly down to my home state of Utah and photograph one of my best friends and her fiance and if I’m being honest, it brought with it an emotion that I didn’t really anticipate.

I think one of my favorite things about photography is not only do I get to witness the gentle, silly and loving moments in a relationship but I also get to document those same moments for a couple to see for themselves. More than almost anything I want my friends to lead lives filled to the brim with love and getting to witness Kimber & Chas so fully inundated is enough to make my heart burst but then I am priviledged to show them how they laugh together, how they look at each other with such love and even how they cuddle together. I can tell you from experience it’s an amazing thing see your relationship laid out in that way and to be able to show someone I am close to what they look like in love is downright powerful.

To my friends, thank you for hosting/feeding/loving me. I can’t wait for your wedding in October! xoxo

i’m yours,
melissa

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tiger dreams and tiger snoozes

melissa oholendt — Sat, 15 May 2010 03:10:41 +0000

I hope you all appreciate the self-discipline that it is taking not to break into some random Katy Perry song about waking up in Vegas. Because really, it’s taking a lot. My second choice is Viva Las Vegas by the Vegas King himself but all I can envision are blinding sequins, thick eyeliner and lots of hip gyrating which was not the Vegas that I experienced. (Save for that one night… Airhorns & Lasers, I’m looking at you. If the two months it took me to write about my WPPI experience in Las Vegas are any indication of the equal overwhelming parts of goodness and madness, then truly there was an immense amount of goodness and madness.

If we did happen to run into each other chances are that you encounter me with wide-eyes and maybe even that faint scent of eau de franticness that comes with jam-packed days and late (late) nights. So, what happens when 14,000 photographers converge on one city for one gigantic trade show? A whole lot of fun and surprisingly not a lot of picture taking from this photographer.

But I actually did do things. I promise. I did.

. late night pizza parties at the hotel with some of my very favorite people.
. meet people I admire & look up to.
. fred egan & jory cordy mini workshop.
. t r a d e s h o w o f i n s a n i t y (it was just big and clearly overwhelming for me, ok?).
. many, many meals with new friends & old friends and everything inbetween.
. DANCING
. and the victor sizemore mentor session. (the only time where my camera took priority)

Sad for you, I’m saving the mentor session goodness for my new branding roll-out but I will share with you the one photo I brought back. Oh, and it’s a good one.

You are welcome.

i’m yours,
melissa

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jnp workshop | part two

melissa oholendt — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:00:31 +0000

Two months ago, I spent a day with a roomful of strangers all with a solitary goal – to grow and invest in their futures in the photography industry. We listened together, laughed together, some of us maybe-might-have cried together. Bottomline, we all experienced this huge leap of growth together; the word powerful doesn’t even begin to touch the surface of the experience.

I can tell you first hand – I didn’t fully realize the value of a workshop until I attended one myself. It’s so much more than the things you learn on a material level; it’s also about the friendships you make and the people who in turn can challenge you, encourage you and mentor you. It’s 100% about getting out of your comfort zone (and for me that meant getting out of my zip code) and giving yourself the time and opportunity to be pushed in ways you don’t normally allow yourself or even in ways can’t do yourself.

I challenge you to invest in yourself that way in 2010; whether it’s Jeffrey’s workshop or someone else’s workshop (I am biased – go to Jeffrey’s!) it honestly has been the best thing I have done for my business this year.

JNP Workshop
Jeffrey Neal

(The gorgeous couple in the photos is the stunning and talented Amy Tan and her beau JC. And neither is a model. Yeah, I didn’t believe them either.)

i’m yours,
melissa

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for the love of california

melissa oholendt — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:00:08 +0000

It took one missed flight, an intense argument with a Delta agent, three “talk me off the ledge” conversations with 3 different people and nine ridiculously long hours in the Minneapolis airport but I swear to you the flight into Newport Beach was like my own version of the dream where everything is has a pink romantic hue to it and fog machines blow out puffy white clouds and you’re not quite sure if people actually have feet or if they are floating.

We chased the setting sun from MSP to SNA as it set into a rainbow of colors and at one point, I’m pretty sure that Jonathan Taylor Thomas tossed me a bag of gold-covered peanuts as he winked at me and blew air kisses. It was THAT good.

I am not ashamed to say that I fell head-over-heels in love with Orange County the moment my feet hit the sand. I conceptually and whole-heartedly understood why a disproportionate amount of my friends had thrown their hands in the air and moved to Southern California with zero forethought; only dreams of sunny beaches and 70 degree weather. Had there been time to spend a day at Disneyland, I might have done the exact same.

Dear Southern California, can we be besties for life?

i’m yours,
melissa

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featured!

melissa oholendt — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:21:47 +0000

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

When I first started my photography journey, a very wise and wonderful friend gave me this advice: Dream BIG. There’s no point in dreaming if you don’t dream big. So I did. Some may look at my 5-and-10 year plans and laugh (There’s likely an entry for “Portraits of Justin Timberlake” in my ten year plan. No big deal.) but I am crazy passionate about making these things happen for myself. Yes, a lot of the things on my list are out of reach right now but what fun is there in aiming low?

In the past couple weeks I have been so humbled and honored to have some of my work featured on the blogs of women & publications that I respect and adore. With a huge thanks to these very fabulous women, I have been able to cross off one 2010 goal far (far!) earlier than I originally had hoped.

Minnesota Bride Blog:

First Blush Bride Event Planning:

Live the Fancy Life:

Justin Timberlake, here I come.

i’m yours,
melissa

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st. valentine

melissa oholendt — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:19:34 +0000

I know there are various opinions on the non-holiday that Valentine’s Day is but I venture to say that any day we set aside to celebrate the love that is in our lives is more than reason to celebrate.

To my own sweet, sweet Valentine. Life isn’t worth anything without you. Thank you for showing me God’s Love every.single.day.

Love deeply.

i’m yours,
melissa

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jnp workshop | part one

melissa oholendt — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:55:02 +0000

I had so much riding on this trip to Southern California; so many hopes, so many wants, so many needs. I still have much left to process but I know this: I know that trip changed my business. I know that trip changed me. I know that the JNP Workshop set things in motion that will forever determine how I function as a businesswoman and it will forever remind me to remain true to myself.

I made lifelong friends that I am thrilled to grow with and I deepened existing friendships to a level that I can’t even speak about without getting emotional.

It was the best and worst trip of my life and I wouldn’t change one single thing.

Can’t wait to share.

ps – isn’t my Gina friend simply stunning?
i’m yours,
melissa

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