MidWest Lifeshots Photography

Information may not be reliable

Our carefully created teams ensure chemistry between the photographers for your event, one that simply hiring an assistant won't provide. We understand the value of a dollar and affordable, (some say cheap), is something we can provide you with. We don't feel that photography should cost an arm and a leg, but it should definitely be worth every penny! Photojournalistic style is what we strive for, to truly tell your story through photography.Having worked with clients based all over Southeast Minnesota, clients employed at Pepsi, Mayo Clinic, IBM, Target and many other corporations, Midwest LifeShots (or "Life Shots" as some spell it) has vast experience in the field and a resume to prove it.
Are you a Nikon or a Canon shop? This is a common question we receive from clients who know their gear searching for a photographer. We are both actually. One team is a Canon shop, shooting with two Canon 5D Mark IIs and one Canon 5D. Our second team shoots all Nikon, with Nikon 300 and 700 bodies. All cameras produce amazing results and are top of the line. We use L series lense for Canon and high level Nikor for Nikons, most fixed at a f stop of 2.8 and all highly reliable in any shooting conditions. We are also members of a few PPA (Professional Photographers Association) organizations, including the Cornbelt PPA and the Twin Cities PPA. These organizations provide education seminars monthly where we keep our brains finely tuned on the latest and the greatest offerings for our clients as well as providing a network of other photographers should an emergency arise. Through the offerings of the PPA, we are able to see such masters of their craft as Bob and Dawn Davis, Jasmine Star and many others. WPPI provides similar results and our membership there starts soon.

MLS (or MLSP) is run primarily by Scott Elder and Jen Elder, with Ken McCasland as the owner. Scott and Jen met online nearly 7 years ago while Jen was searching for a friend using America Online's Instant Messenger. Scott was going to college at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and John A Logan College, both located in southern Illinois. While sitting on her computer at her parents house as a senior at Mayo High School, Jen searched for "Austin Powers" in profiles to try to find a friend. Scott came up as a possibility since at the time he had a quote from Austin Powers in his profile. Scott is an enormous movie fan, having arrangements with the local Wehrenberg theater to review nearly every movie released on his website, The Movie Freaks. She sent him an instant message and it all began. The two talked on the phone a few times, through Jen's first year at Northwestern Christian College in Roseville, MN (twin cities). Ultimately the two setup a weekend to meet. Scott, his brother Jason and their foreign exchange student Marcus went to Minnesota on a shopping trip to the Mall Of America. Having never been, it seemed like a nice time to visit and to meet this girl he had been talking to for so long. Scott picked her up at Northwestern, they went to Outback for their first date and the relationship snowballed from there. The two have been inseperable ever since and have a blast working together in a profession they truly love.

Through years of experience in Photoshop and nearly eight years as members of NAPP (the National Association of Photoshop Professionals), both Scott and Jen love both sides of the work they do (photographing and processing). There is nothing better than seeing a bride, groom, mother or grandmother smile at the photographs we take. We truly can't stress enough how important it is to make each of our clients smile.

Charitable organizations are a large part of what makes our career rewarding. Working with Christ Community Church in Rochester to ensure every event they put on it covered photographically allows us a wonderful outlet to use our creativity to provide a service to those who wouldn't normally pay for it. We hope to become members of Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep soon. Do you have a charitable organization you'd like us to help with? If so, don't hesitate to send information our way.

Infant sessions (or newborn sessions) are near and dear to our hearts. We recently welcomed our daughter, Emily Mae Elder, into the world in April of 2009. Now having a child, we can recognize that having bottles, nipples, diapers and wipes around just simply isn't enough to remind yourself of how precious your new baby is. Having artwork to showcase the true beauty of a new child within their first few weeks in the world is something quite special and worth every penny.

Family sessions are incredibly adventurous and fun. We aren't your typical studio you might find at JCPenney, Sears or WalMart. We strive to be a different experience in every way. Taking a few photographs inside our studio is first on the list, but quickly we'll move everyone outside if possible to obtain original photographs unlike any studio experience you might have received in the past. Most common places for us to do family sessions are places like Plummer House, Quarry Hill Nature Center, Foster Arends Park, Silver Lake Park and even Downtown Rochester to capture the University of Minnesota, Peace Plaza and the world famous Mayo Clinic. You can view the gallery here.

Senior photography is done by Robin Arnold (formerly Robin Olson of Robin One Photography). With our marketing and editing style and Robin's eye for detail, your senior portraits will be like none other. Robin is a phenomenal senior photographer. To utilize her skills she takes her clients to multiple locations with many different outfit changes to ensure proper coverage and amazing results. Are you a hunter, fisher or race car enthusiast? If so, she'll showcase what makes you, you and make sure that your pictures are representative of their subject, not like everyone else's. We have filmed clients from Century, John Marshall, Mayo, Lourdes, Albert Lea, Byron, Winona and many others in southeast Minnesota. You can view the gallery here.

Engagement sessions are SUPER fun. We get together with the happy couple and take them to a location of their choice, usually a forest, park or downtown for an urban setting. Sometimes we capture them at known landmarks within the area such as the Corn Tower, Sugarloaf, Soldiers Field or even the Kahler Hotel. This is a session we spend at least an hour doing, making sure the romantic nature of the couple and the way they interact with one another is captured perfectly for them to cherish. You can view the gallery here.

Wedding photography is our biggest love. On a wedding day, capturing love between a bride and groom is priceless and we adore every second of it. Following the groom and bride through each stage of their day, we ensure that a photojournalistic style is given to each and every capture and that they have a true storybook wedding presented to them in their photographs. We have filmed weddings in Rochester, Minnetrista (in the Minneapolis area - Gale Woods Farm), Byron, Lewiston, Plainview, the Berwood Inn, Lanesboro, LaCrosse (WI - Wisconsin), Minneapolis and the St Paul area as well as many other locations throughout Minnesota. Providing prints at a cost quite reasonable, we offer enormous value for the cost conscious bride as well as providing state of the art photographs for them to treasure. Formal shots, just the couple, first look (first time seeing each other), the ceremony, the reception, cake cutting, catering, you name it! We capture every second of your day.

Miscellaneous photography is done throughout southeast Minnesota, ranging from Food photography for Dish It Up, to real estate photography for Coldwell Banker At Your Service, Coldwell Banker Burnet, Edina Realty, Keller Williams, Property Brokers of Minnesota, RE/MAX, Century 21 Alpha Realty and Counselor Realty. We have worked with all the big names in real estate in the Rochester area, including Shawn Buryska, Lori Mickelson, Pete Dokken, Ed Garris, Marion Kleinberg, Debbie Quimby and many others. Our site can also be located on wedding vendor pages such as WeDJ.com, wedplan.net, onewed.com, postbulletin.com, within Google Maps and occasionally on Google Adwords. We also have a blog presence. We use SmugMug for processing our images. This allows us to utilize BayPhoto as our printers, ensuring our finished product is printed on the highest quality Kodak paper and delivered to our clients promptly via United States Postal Service or even UPS at their choice. Don't skimp on printing, you won't regret it. Chain stores such as HyVee, Target and even Walgreens allow printing of your photographs, but the print paper just won't stand the test of time. Ours is quite reliable.

Home, Contact Us, Thank You Page, The Latest, Blog, About Us, Directions, Testimonials, About Us Contact, About Us Thank You, Wedding Home, Wedding Pricing, Photo Booth,Wedding Contact, Wedding Thank You, Families Home, Families Pricing,Families Contact, Families Thank You, E-Sessions Home, E-Sessions Pricing,E-Sessions Contact, E-Sessions Thank You, Seniors Home, Seniors Pricing, Seniors Thank You, Seniors Contact, Gallery Seniors, Gallery Families, Gallery Weddings, Gallery E-Sessions.

Contacting us right away when considering professional photography is very important. We offer discounts to Mayo Clinic employees, IBM employees as well as military discounts to all branches, inlcuding the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and National Guard. Our vast involvement with the community and number of discounts offered makes our appointments fill up very quickly and failure to book us soon may result in weeks, sometimes months out for open appointments. We sincerely hope to hear from you soon!