Chersti Rydning.

It was a blast to work with the 21 year old MPLS actress Chersti Rydning! The ideal was to do a Minneapolis lifestyle theme with the importance of color. As a fan of her acting skills and what she does in the film community, I was very impressed on her unique look and style. The weather also was damn impressive! These days, you don't know if its going to rain or snow! It was a warm day and my assistant, the Sun Seeker app did wonders for my natural lighting style. The lenses that I used was a Canon 85mm 1.2L and a Carl Zeiss 35mm 2.0, two great lenses to use in a setting like this. With the 85mm, depending on what look I am going for, I can be far back so Chersti is more comfortable and with the 35mm, I can take more of an cinematic portrait, which is what I go for, especially if my subjects are filmmakers or are in the film community. At the end, I thought the experience was one that I will never forget and I think you will see more of this talent in the future and I am thankful to be apart of it. (photo wise!)
www.mikerossvisuals.com

Laura Heurung and Katie Ahlers.

These photos are Laura Heurung up top and Katie Ahlers on the bottom writing on board while shooting Shout Outs at The Nerdery.

Landmark Lagoon Theater.

As I was walking down Lagoon Ave in Uptown Minneapolis, I stumbled upon this beauty of a cinema called Landmark Lagoon Theater and took a photo of it. The lens I use was a Carl Zeiss 35mm 2.0 with a ND .9 filter.
www.mikerossvisuals.com

Best Friends Rehearsal Shots.

Best Friends is the new short from Twin Cites Writer/Director/Producer Ryan Strandjord. What you see here are a couple shots of them rehearsing their roles. I was put on to be a still photographer for the film and it being the first time for a job like this, I couldn't be more excited to be apart of the film crew! Other than being stranded with a 50mm 1.8 on this shoot, I was pleased on how the photos turned out, for glass choices, I will plan on using a 24-70mm 2.8 zoom and a Carl Zeiss 35mm 2.0 for the principal photography. Ryan and leads Ruby Davenport and Charlie Baker were very professional and fun to work with. I would have to say that the highlight of the day was when I told them I was leaving and Charlie yelled "I forgot you were here!" That's great to know when your doing work like this and I hope I do the same in a couple months.

bfshortfilm.com
www.mikerossvisuals.com

Glitch Portraits.

Hey everyone! I definitely apologize on not updating my blog since March. Such a long layoff will not be happening for awhile!

What you actually see here is an experiment I been working on for months now. The ability to glitch portraits to give it a artistic, Minneapolis feel. While I am not 100% satistfied with the effect (about 80%), I believe they add even more of the mysterious look I go for in my portraits.

Models: (starting from up top) Dominique Joelle, Mia Johnson, Amy Strate and Samirah Abu-Nasser.

I can't wait to share new personal portraits and collaborative video projects for the summer! From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all for following and showing me support this year!

www.mikerossvisuals.com

45th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade - Minneapolis 2012

Great idea from Michael Szczepanski (in the b/w with the glass and the freelense shot of the bird on the wall). I have done prior nightlife photography around my home of sort around my neighborhood, but going downtown Minneapolis and doing the same was just terrifying for me. Why? Because a vast major of my photography were printed as natural light photos. I never had confidence to try something out like this as covering the 2012 St. Patrick Day Parade. (Capturing this year St. Paul St. Patrick Day would be astounding if I can pull if off)  2013 - I really hope I can pull this off) Basically last year around this time, Mike S talked me into expanding my portfolio and challenging ourselves to cover something of this magnitude (well for me at least!) Thank to my guy Szczepanski for the challenge and for your time and viewership! www.mikerossvisuals.com 

Gina and Becca.

This was a photo session I had with best friends Gina and Becca. What I got from the meeting with Gina was that they have never taken photos of each other and they kept their friendship by long distance. The idea was to frame them close to each other but shoot from a distance, symbolizing their friendship being close, but have a long distance feel to it. We decided to take the photos at Open Book in Minneapolis and I could say we got lucky with the light and their coffee was damn excellent! My assistant Andrea was spot on with helping me with errands and keeping the girls comfortable as I planned the shots. I shot all the photographs with a Carl Zeiss 85mm 1.4 so I can be far back to give the ideal look I was going for and even thought a 35mm would of work in some instances, the 85mm didn't disappoint with the colors and shallow depth of field.