Salwa Bullard Photography

Nolan :: Minneapolis Senior Portrait Photographer

Salwa Bullard — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:57:16 +0000

It was a lot of fun shooting Nolan’s senior portraits this year. Luckily we seem to have caught the last of the mild weather before winter hit! Here are a few of my favorites from his session.

Nolan has a FANTASTIC serious-model face, but sometimes his composure cracked and the laughter came through!

Hope you have a great senior year, Nolan!!

The Mahmoud Family :: Minneapolis Family Photography

Salwa Bullard — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 23:39:51 +0000

I love shooting toddlers, because the entire session is unscripted. Where this age group is concerned, the “perfect shot” is capturing them in action – exploring, running, playing, and generally doing whatever occurs to them in that instant. Little Roan in this session was no exception! It was a pleasure shooting your family, Rachel…here are a few of my favorites from yoursession!

Generational Session: A Family Portrait!

Salwa Bullard — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 22:36:53 +0000

I was so flattered when Ashley asked me to photographer her family; she is an extremely talented photographer whom I considered a mentor when I first got started myself. I’m lucky to call her a friend now, and we had a blast at the shoot! She wanted to do the session as a gift to her mother and grandmother. There are four generations of women represented in these photos, and they were all as fun and friendly as they are photogenic. Please enjoy a few of my favorites!

The He-Chen Family

Salwa Bullard — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:27:51 +0000

I just love this family! They are high energy and a lot of fun – a real joy to be around. I was fortunate to get to photograph them for the second year in a row. Check out last year’s session to see how much the boys have grown!

Kayla :: Maple Grove Senior Portrait Photographer

Salwa Bullard — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 01:52:37 +0000

Kayla is a senior at Maple Grove Senior High, and she’s awesome. I love how radiant she is when she smiles! Check out some of my favorite images from her senior photo session:

Have a great senior year, Kayla!

The Wedding of Jeff & Erika

Salwa Bullard — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 02:13:29 +0000

I have had the pleasure of second-shooting quite a bit this season with a very talented photographer, Kendra of Kendra Elizabeth Photography.

I am tackling the task of catching up on blogging the weddings, and I’m going to start with Jeff & Erika’s wedding from June. SUCH an adorable couple. Here are some of my images from their day!

Jack, 6 months :: Minneapolis Baby Photographer

Salwa Bullard — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 21:48:51 +0000

It was the kind of day where all you had to do was step outside, and within minutes you were covered in a lovely sheen. Mosquitoes flew rampant…until they caught your scent, that is – and then you were done for. Nevertheless, baby Jack and his parents were troopers, and we had a great portrait session at Como Park!

Jack’s cousin Karsten joined us for a little while. I love Jack’s expression as he reaches for his cousin’s face!

Nose? Why yes, I believe I’ll help myself, thank you.

Such a beautiful family!

Thanks for letting me be a part of your day!

Michelle & Matt

Salwa Bullard — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:55:19 +0000

I was fortunate to get to second-shoot for Laurie Farr from Rendition Studios over Memorial Day weekend. Laurie is from CO and was shooting a wedding here in Minneapolis. A mutual friend put her in touch with me, which is awesome, because Laurie is super-nice, and I got to spend a beautiful day shooting a beautiful couple!

Michelle and Matt are wonderful. Such a sweet couple and so obviously in love, they were a pleasure to hang around on their wedding day. Michelle is a chiropractor (she owns a practice in Uptown), and Matt is a pilot – they describe themselves as a match.com success story! Matt pretty much couldn’t keep his eyes off his bride – not that I can blame him – just look at her!

Here are a few of my images from their day:

Congratulations, Michelle and Matt!!

{Enjoy} Wedding Workshop

Salwa Bullard — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 11:40:38 +0000

I can’t believe that I’m only now getting around to blogging about this, because taking Erin Johnson’s {Enjoy} Workshop this past fall was a HUGE deal to me. Around this time last year, I was mulling over which direction I wanted to take my business, and had been leaning strongly towards transitioning into wedding photography. I knew that I had a passion for bringing out peoples’ personalities in portraiture, and wanted to apply that to telling the story of couples’ wedding days – when emotion runs high, love flows freely, and the excitement is practically a physical entity.

What I hadn’t quite worked out yet was the logistics. I knew that shooting weddings was a world apart from shooting portraits, but in what ways, exactly? How should I market myself? What kind of pricing structure should I use? And honestly, the biggest question of all was lurking under the surface - was I really ready for this?

When I came across Erin’s {Enjoy} workshop (which you can read about here: http://www.enjoyworkshop.com/), I felt a little jolt in my gut – the kind you get when you’ve found something you didn’t know you were looking for.

The 12-hour workshop was jam-packed with informative topics, including branding, pricing, products, client interactions, and more. Erin was extremely open with sharing her own business plan and practices; it was unbelievably helpful to see an example of how one’s books might look. I met some very talented photographers, including Dani Stephenson and Krystal Muellenberg, and as a group, we took an in-depth look at each of our websites for constructive criticism. The intangible take-away – and perhaps the most valuable to me – was the bolstered confidence I felt after leaving the workshop. I left feeling completely inspired and eager to get started on my new path!

Part of the workshop was a photoshoot with real-life couple Jeni & James, who were so much fun to work with. Jeni, you’re freaking adorable. Also, can I have your skin care regime?

Thanks to Jeni and James for being such great models, to Erin for the wonderful workshop, and to the awesome group of photographers present that day!

Nicole + Ryan :: New Prague Engagement Photographer

Salwa Bullard — Thu, 26 May 2011 02:47:53 +0000

She is a graphic designer who makes rustic, wood-burned signs. He is a mechanic who builds meat smokers out of propane tanks and competes in BBQ contests. How freaking cool are they?! Nicole and Ryan are an awesome couple – really down to earth and easy to talk to – and I had so much fun walking around New Prague with them on their engagement shoot. With all of their impressive crafty skills (I’m jealous!), and how chill they both are, I seriously cannot wait to shoot their wedding in October!

Congratulations, you two!

Their beautiful dog, Chubs, did SO well through his part of the shoot. Eventually, though, he decided that being photographed wasn’t all that interesting anymore…