01/01
After some hard work and a ton of narrowing down pictures, my new website is up. If you haven’t already checked it out, please head over to www.raivala.com to see it.
I am also looking for a graphic designer to possibly help me with a new blog header for this page. If you know someone that is good at digital designs, please have them contact me. Thanks!
12/29
Please pardon the mess on the blog. I am in the midst of making changes to it so if you see something goofy, don’t be scared. It will all be fixed shortly. :)
10/10
Hi everyone! I am getting ready to go on a mini vacation with my kiddos this week. I will be back late on Friday and will have very limited to access to orders and emails until then. My cell phone does not work in the area that I am going to so all voicemails will be returned on Saturday and orders will be placed then as well. Have a great week everyone!
10/01
I know that I am not the greatest at blogging. I think that it is because I have a hard time coming up with the words to describe the pictures that I take. I think that I need to start speaking from the heart more and spend less time thinking about what is the correct thing to say or not to say. I guess the years of working in Human Resources made me cautious that way. :) Don’t get me wrong, I think that being aware of other’s feelings is important, but I personally hold myself back from showing you who I really am because of my cautious mind. I’ll be working on that. I promise.
I had a busy summer both personally and in my world of photography. My two oldest children are in karate and I am a believer that we should encourage their dreams and ambitions so we have been attending karate class very regularly even though the youngest two kids don’t exactly like sitting at the karate studio for 2+ hours. Thank goodness it has been nice out so we have been able to go on walks while the older boys are in class.
It has been years since I have felt like I was able to kick back and enjoy summer, but this year it was accomplished. My family and I were able to go on multiple family vacations this summer. We also watched countless sunsets, went on family bike rides, played outside almost everyday, at dinner on the patio and slept in our playhouse.
It was a great summer and I am excited to share with you some of the pictures that I have been blessed to photograph over the last few months. Here are just a few of the images that I fell in love with.
I will get more up in the next few weeks.
05/29
At the end of March my Grandma Millie went to live with God forever. Or as my kids say, to live at ”God’s house”. It hasn’t been easy knowing that I will never hold her hand again or get a kiss on the cheek from her. I have found comfort in my family. So many of us have been able to meet frequently to talk about Grandma and to reminisce while starting get her things in order.
There is probably no surprise when I tell you that one of the first things I did was to scan hundreds of photos of my Grandma. My goal is to make disks of the images for my family. One of the last times that I was at my Grandma’s house I noticed a disposable camera sitting where one always sat, in my Grandma’s living room on the coffee table. My Grandma loved to take pictures of things that she was proud of and that thought was beautiful. I picked it up and realized that I held in my hands the last moments in my Grandma’s life that she wanted to remember forever through a photograph. A few tears started to roll down my cheek. At the time I knew that I had to see what she photographed.
A few days later I found myself at Walmart dropping off the disposable camera (none of the professional labs that I know of print these). After about a week of anticipation, I had the packet of pictures in my hand. It took me about 3 seconds to rip it open and to take look. There I stood in the Walmart photo area again with tears running down my cheeks starring at pictures of my Grandma’s Christmas tree, snowfalls, sunsets, fall colors and quilts that my Grandma’s quilting group had made. All things that meant so much to her.
This is another humbling reminder to me about how important pictures are in our lives and in our memories. I am so thankful to have seen the world again through my Grandma’s eyes and I will cherish these pictures forever….just like all of my memories of her.
05/11
I realized that I have pictures of my boys on here (I need to add more recent ones), but I haven’t really shown off my girls. Well, that needed to change so I decided to take my camera with me to the park yesterday.
Grace= 8 months old & Claire= 2 years old
08/21
Hi everyone!
I am officially starting my maternity leave today (I think that today is the day for the new little girl to be born). I will check my voicemail and all electronic messages periodically throughout my leave of absence. I will try my hardest to respond back to everyone in a timely manner.
Have a great day!
-Katie
05/16
Throughout the entire last week I had been feeling under the weather so I isolated myself from the real world. Today I felt better and decided to take some well needed (and loved) me time. I headed down to Minneapolis on the NorthStar Train with the Sandhill Photography Club of Elk River and wondered through the maze of streets with my camera in hand. It was so nice to stop and enjoy the beauty of the buildings. I almost forgot how astonishing they are.
I would like to thank the members of the Sandhill Photography Club for allowing me to venture out with them today.
