Grinkie Teams Up With Vine Park Brewery in Spokesmodel Search

ENTER TO WIN!  Be featured as next season’s (Summer 2013) spokes model for Vine Park Brewery!

Vine Park Brewery is looking for a new spokes model for their ad campaign slated to run on the back cover of MnUps magazine. You could be Miss Vine Park, Summer 2013, be featured in a magazine back cover ad campaign, and receive a prize package valued at over $750! All levels of photos are encouraged (professional portraits, snapshots, digital phone photos, etc.).  ANYONE CAN WIN!

Winners will receive a professional pin up photo shoot with Grinkie Photography (a $250 value) including professional hair and makeup by an acclaimed pin up stylist ($100 value), two VIP passes to the season’s MN Craft Brewers Event ($100+ value), a chance to brew your own beer or wine at VPBC ($250 value), a Vine Park Brewery T shirt, and bragging rights (PRICELESS)!
Contest is open to Minnesota residents and photographers.  Submissions for entry into the contest will begin March 15th  and will be accepted until April 10th. Finalists will be chosen by from valid entries, and the contest will be posted at www.vinepark.com, and www.mnups.com with digital voting for the Summer 2013 issue to begin on April 15, 2013, and end on April 30, 2013. Photography session will be completed in May for June magazine release.

Entry rules:  Must be 21 to enter. Enter by emailing your name and birthdate, a completed MnUps Model Release  and a picture of yourself to vpcontest@mnups.com.  Snap a shot of you looking your best. Photographs do no need to be professionally taken, nor do they need to be pin-up inspired. All MN residents and photographers are welcome and encouraged to enter. ANYONE CAN WIN!Live the dream of being a spokes model for Vine Park Brewing.

The Fine Print:  Additional contests will be run for the Fall 2013 (September 2013), Winter 2014 (December 2013) and Spring 2014 (March 2014) ad campaigns. Entries who were not chosen as finalists, as well as finalists who were not chosen as the Grand Prize winner for the season will be rolled over into the following contest. Winner will be chosen by popular vote.  Winners will be announced on the websites. Prize package is as stated in contest rules, no cash value/substitution will be awarded.  If the winner is unable to complete the photo session on schedule, the first runner-up will be awarded the prize, and so on.

 

Grinkie Photography Teams Up with Keen Modeling

Grinkie Photography LLC had the pleasure to work with Deborah Keen of Keen Modeling Agency in October to photograph aspiring models represented by Keen.

Christi of Grinkie Photography and Emily of Emily Theisen Photography (both Studio 210 photographers) worked with these fresh new faces to create preliminary portfolios for them to use on modeling and talent call-outs.

Model:   (Keen Agency)    Photo:Christi Williams

Historically, aspiring models can find it challenging to know what to do or who to trust with regards to having a professional portfolio. photos, only to find that they didn't get what they needed.  Many times they can be taken advantage of by unscrupulous people, and pay big money for photos, only to find that they didn't get what they needed.  And while a professionally styled portfolio is not an absolute must, it can be a great help for new talent to feel more confident on casting calls.

Model: Junior Paul (Keen Agency)  Photo: Christi Williams

We had SO much fun working with Keen's local talent, that we've offered to team up for future shoots at the studio. Keen will be advertising upcoming casting calls in the Minneapolis/St Paul area, and Grinkie Photography and Studio 210 will be working to create affordable, professional starter portfolios for the models.

Model: Soleil (Keen Agency)   Photo: Christi Williams

One advantage to this partnership is that we can utilize our experience with fashion and senior portraits to give aspiring talent of all ages high quality images to help them on their career paths. And our senior portraits get the advantage of our partnership with people who are on the cutting edge of the fashion business.

We'll be posting updates to this story when we have more information about casting calls. Until then, we'll keep a Keen eye out for our model friends!

Just in!! The Keen Agency is running a model contest on their Facebook Page. Take a minute to check out the fresh faces and vote for your favorite.

Welcome Our New Team Member

Grinkie & Grinkie Photography LLC are happy to welcome our newest Team Member, Dawnfelice Warneke, our Girl Friday. Watch the blog for more from Dawnfelice, who will be updating our blog and website with news of all things Grinkie.

Pink Bow City

Pin ups have continued to be a source of joy for us at Grinkie Photography, LLC.  So much so we are joining up with Pink Bow City,  http://pinkbowcity.com, to provide content to their magazine Pink

Bow Pin ups.  They are an amazing and talented crew.  I can't wait to see where they take their community.

www.grinkiegirls.com

Grinkie Girls

Great things have been happening at Grinkie Photography, LLC.  Namely I discovered pin ups.  I still enjoy weddings and portraits, but I've been spending every penny I make on costumes, shoes and the like.  I also now have TWO other websites.  www.grinkie.com that gives you an overview of most of the pictures I've been taking and www.grinkiegirls.com that focuses on the pin ups.

I can't wait to see what 2012 brings.

Mama

Going into a shoot with a pregnant friend I didn't have a lot of inspiration, until I saw the belly.  How have I not been doing pregnancy shots.  I love curvy things and there isn't much more curvy and satisfying than a lovely belly. 

Why have a photo shoot?

I think great photography is not just about the images created, but the entire experience.  Good pictures are important, but so is the process of taking them.  We've all heard horror stories about stressful family portrait sessions gone wrong, but getting your picture taken should be fun!  Find a photographer you wouldn't mind hanging out with for an hour or so and get your best moments documented.

Doing a photo shoot both captures and creates a moment in time.  If properly embraced,  a photo shoot is an event in itself.  Pictures are the bonus.

Julianne

I am amazed  and proud to see my childhood friends turning out to be great parents.  Helping them document moments in their lives is fast becoming one of my favorite parts of photography.  I hope to be able to follow my new friends through different parts of their lives in the same way.  Here you see my friend Julianne that I have known since SECOND grade.  We started out talking about school, then camp then college, now we can talk about the joys and challenges of raising kids and building traditions with our families. 

Photography is giving me one more path to maintain connections with people I care about.

Evangelia

Evangelia is like a niece to me. I have known her mom, Angela, since Angela was one month old. ( I am three years older, but ten years less mature) I had the great pleasure recently to be there in the hospital when Jelly, as I think I'll call her, celebrated 36 hours of life.

NAP Conference

I had a great time doing portraits with my family. My Father-in-law just got a Cannon Rebel and we spent most of the morning playing with the settings, lights and people at my mother-in-laws National Association Parliamentarians conference.

The hotel let us swipe a chair from the main lobby, we set up in a hallway because we liked the wall there better and we cleverly strung extension cords about for kicks.

My pictures

There are a lot of different things you can do with photography and I've seen some really inspiring images that bring a lot of surreal elements together to make art, really touching images of people in pain or scared and strong formal family portraits.

The truth is more interesting to me. That is to say my slightly sunnier version of the truth. I like pictures that show people at their natural best. Perhaps guided photojournalism would be a good way to put it. I try to capture things as they are, but am not above saying "hey, that was great, do that again!". Life in action = interesting pictures.

Powderhorn 365

Amy Wurdock of Amy Wurdock photography (AmyWurdock.com) is the founder and administrator of www.Powderhorn365.com. This is a site that documents the life of our neighborhood.

Powderhorn neighborhood is in South Minneapolis, and it's fabulous. It's filled with artists, families and at least one former Olympic athlete. We have Marla's Caribbean food, the May Day Cafe, the South City Cafe, the May Day parade, an Art fair and loads of fun stuff that happens in the park year round.

For the Powderhorn 365 project one picture is taken everyday within the boundaries of Powderhorn. Seven core photographers and countless guest photographers participate. I was one of the core photographers in 2009 and am now an occasional guest photographer. If you live in Powderhorn and love taking pictures e-mail the site to get in on the fun.

This is one of my pictures from last year for the project.

Me

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Christi Williams. I was born and raised in Rochester, MN. I have a husband, two kids and camera. I quilt, paint faces, carve watermelons and take pictures when I'm not spending time with the previously-mentioned family.

I've lived in Redmond, Washington; Dover, Delaware; Nice, France; and Radomsko, Poland. As an extreme extrovert I get a lot of joy being around weddings, birthdays, and family gatherings even if they are not my own family's. It turns out photography is a great excuse to get invited to fun events.

After realizing how much I liked taking pictures and being a part of people's special days, I ventured forth to find a name for my photography business and happened upon Grinkie. Grinkie is what my husband called his blankie growing up, and I loosely translate that to mean "thing I love". Photography is one of the things I love.

My in-Laws got me a Canon Rebel for my birthday awhile back and opened a can of worms my husband has been dealing with ever since. He's had to arrange for more memory on the computer, more kid duty so I can go take pictures, less time on his computer to play video games as I tweak my latest collection of shots.

I send good wishes to the in-laws every time I use the camera, but I'm not sure if Scott does.