Senior Photos at Glensheen Mansion
It’s time to share some of Laura’s great senior photos at Glensheen Mansion created during our 25th Annual North Shore Weekend a couple of weeks ago. Laura’s session was so much fun! Her mom and dad, Bruce & Dana, made the trip up north with her. It was so great to see them once again as well. Joannie and I photographed their wedding back in 1990.
Actually, I get to see the whole family at least once a year! Because grandpa & grandma have me create a unique family portrait for them every year. In fact, this year’s version was completed just a short time ago at Long Lake Regional Park in New Brighton, MN.
And, just a couple of years ago, Bruce, Dana, and Laura made the trip up north on our 2018 North Shore Weekend for Laura’s twin brother’s, Caleb and Micah’s senior photographs! And yes, we photographed the entire family up north that year too!
The annual Hokel family portrait for 2018, created at Split Rock Lighthouse.
Laura’s Senior Portraits at Glensheen Mansion
Another one of Laura’s great senior images at Glensheen.
We met up with Brude, Dana, and Laura at Glensheen early on Sunday afternoon. We were going to be doing our “dueling sessions” with Dan & Jenny, who were having also up north with us to create their engagement portraits at the same time. The “dueling sessions” idea was worked like a charm for us the past several years on Lake Superior. We just bounce from location to location and take photographs of both clients in each photo spot. It’s always fun and very casual, and we all help each other out as we go along. It’s also a great way to make new friends!
Laura by the pretty stone arch bridge at Glensheen.
Senior Pictures in Two Harbors
When we finished up at Glensheen Mansion, we headed north up Highway 61 and made a stop in Two Harbors, MN. The business district in Two Harbors has become an annual photo stop for us. Not only is that area really cool, but it’s never in the sun, so we can always work there without fear of direct sunlight on our subjects. I always use reflectors and/or fill flash, so the lighting is always very nice too.
A cute senior picture of Laura on an old fire escape in Two Harbors.
Laura is a pretty photogenic high school senior, and a bit of a character ta boot. Whenever I’m using fill flash, I always do test shots to balance my exposures. Well, Laura made a habit of making a unique “face” for my test images every time! I decided to keep quite a few of them and put them in her highlight music video at the bottom of this post. Her dad says that’s the real Laura, so who am I to argue?
Another one fo Laura’s pretty senior portraits in a field of yellow wildflowers (to match her yellow boots).
Iona’s Beach Senior Photos
After our Two Harbors photo stop, it was on to Iona’s Beach, also known as “Pink Beach”. Iona’s Beach is a relatively quiet location and a very pretty one too! There’s not only a beautiful beach, complete with pink colored rocks, but there’s a wonderful pine forest that you have to walk through to get to the beach. It’s so pretty and peaceful there. We made quite a few images of Laura, as well as Dan & Jenny, at this terrific Lake Superior beach. Then it was off to Split Rock!
“On the rocks” at Iona Beach.
Senior Portraits at Split Rock Lighthouse
Our last photo stop was at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. This is where our “North Shore Weekend” got its start back in 1996. It was there, during the creation of our own family portrait, that Dan & Juli joined us for their engagement portraits. Dan & Juli’s engagement session was so fun that we decided to make it “a thing” every year. That was 25 years ago!
Laura, with the famous Split Rock Lighthouse as her backdrop.
Laura’s senior photos at Split Rock, as well as Dan & Jenny’s engagement images, were created under some of the best lighting conditions you could possibly imagine! The wonderful soft light was provided by Mother Nature and a perfect layer of fog and overcast that she provided about an hour before sunset. Just amazing light!
There’s One More Thing…
We hope you’ve enjoyed Laura’s senior pictures at Glensheen Mansion. I’ve created a cute highlight video and you can view it at the link below on our YouTube Channel. Thank you for reading our post and have a great day! – M&J