Kristine Paulsen Photography – Lifestyle Portraits, Editorial and Wedding Photography in Missoula Montana

I was walking back from a meeting downtown today and happened upon this gorgeous, flowery little bush and had to stop and take some pictures. I wish Missoula had more of these beauties!  (I’d love to do a photo shoot amongst some flowering trees – does anyone know where a group of them are?)  Anyway, just thought I’d share.  Oh, and I thought you all might enjoy this happy little robin, too. (I photographed him last week in the evening.)

Cheers!

-Kristine

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Just wanted to say Happy Earth Day to everyone! What are you doing to green up your life a bit? I try to use my car as little as possible, I rarely eat meat (though that seems to be more of a money-saving choice than anything), I use reusable cloth bags when shopping, I turn off the lights when not in a room, etc. They’re little things, but they add up if we all partake.  Ok, off my soapbox now.

In celebration of Earth Day, I thought I’d post a few pics that I snapped yesterday.  I love spring. I ADORE spring.  The smell of it, the warm breezes, and baby leaves….oh…they’re just so cute!  So, check out these little sweeties below. (These are all macro shots – these leaves were maybe a centimeter or so long, if that.)

This is obviously not new growth, but I thought it was cool anyway. These are the individual lavender flowers on an old lavender stem.

Cheers,

-Kristine

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I’m so excited! I finally get to announce one of my newest options available to those of you out there who are planning on getting married – save the date engagement videos!  (And, hey, if you’re not getting married and you want one “just because,” that’s awesome, too!)

Take a peek at the one I created for Panika and Austin, whose photos have graced this blog in two previous posts (this post and this post). We had a lot of fun with this video and made it in between making engagement photos. I hope you enjoy it – feel free to share with friends. :) And remember, I’m based out of Montana, but I’ll travel, too. (And enjoy it!)

(P.S. the video might take a while to upload even though it’s only about 2 1/2 minutes long. To get it loading, press the play button, wait until you see the “bar” start to creep along and press pause to let it fully load before viewing.)  Also, I’d recommend watching it in HD, so be sure to click the HD button before loading if you’d like to watch it at a higher quality.)

Cheers!

-Kristine

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Alright ladies and gents! A few days ago I posted a sneak peek of Panika and Austin’s engagement session, and now I’d like to post a few more of my favorite photos from our lovely day in the sun. Talk about perfect weather for an engagement session – not too hot, not too cold, gorgeous light, a great couple. I could go on and on! But, on to the photos!

P.S. Stay posted…I’ve got another cool thing up my sleeve that I’ll be sharing hopefully within the next few days.  :)

Cheers,

-Kristine

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The sun has finally decided to stick around Missoula, and it even played nicely and came out for Panika and Austin’s engagement session the other day.  Panika and Austin are so wonderful – we had a great time making some very sweet images…I cannot wait to photograph their wedding this summer! I’m still editing photos, but I wanted to share a “sneak peek” of one of my favorites so far.  Take a look!  There’s just so much love in this kiss and their touch.  :)  Thanks Panika and Austin for being so awesome!

Cheers!

-Kristine

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It’s yet another rainy/snowy day in Missoula so how about a yummy hummus dish to warm you from the inside out? Here’s the recipe:

Yummy Hummy

1 can garbanzo beans (or chickpeas for those of you who prefer that moniker)
1/2 cup MaraNatha tahini
1 teaspoon cumin
3 to 4 cloves of garlic (I used 4 because I love garlic…either that or I’m subconsciously trying to ward off vampires)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
water (add as needed for correct consistency)

Mix all the ingredients together in a food processor – tah dah! Hummus!

Add some cumin to the rest of your ingredients.

Squeeeeeze that lemon.

Lemon juice is just so pretty.

Don't forget your salt.

Voila! Hummus!

Add some olive oil, paprika and crackers for a great little snack.

And, in other news, I’m so glad we moved Panika and Austin’s engagement session to tomorrow – it’s so yucky today! Here’s hoping the weather improves a bit! Or a lot, I’d be ok with a lot.

Cheers,

-Kristine

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I took a little trip the other day to the National Bison Range since I’d never actually been before. (Shame, shame!) Since it’s not tourist season yet, it was pretty quiet up there, but that made the trip so nice. Meadowlarks sang their pretty little songs, the bison munched on grass and pronghorn antelope used teasle to scratch the things that itched.

It’s gorgeous at the range – stunning mountainous backdrops, rolling hills…all good stuff. Anyone want to do a photo shoot there?  :)

Ok – now for the pics.  Enjoy!

Pronghorn antelope run across the prairie.

These ladies were content to just chew on some grass.

Meanwhile, the buffalo grazed.

This guy was glad to have found some teasle. He used it to scratch his ears.

His straight-on look was pretty comical. I just cannot get over their huge eyes!

Also, coming up on the blog: a recipe for hummus that’s downright addictive!  Plus, more fun stuff, too – just got to keep it under wraps for now!

Cheers,

-Kristine

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Hi all,

Missoula’s turned a bit gray over the past few days, so I thought I’d post a delicious cookie recipe for those of you who like to bake on rainy days. (I do!)  This recipe is an all-time favorite of mine.  Farmstyle Oatmeal Cookies are just such a wonderful comfort food and loaded with oatmeal.  They’re not the fanciest looking things, but my, are they tasty!  Enjoy!

Farmstyle Oatmeal Cookies

2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup lard or shortening (I used shortening)
1/2 cup buttermilk (I didn’t have buttermilk on hand so I made my own by adding a bit of vinegar to regular skim milk and letting it sit for a while to “curdle” a bit.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups quick cooking oats
1 3/4 cups all purpose or whole wheat flour (I only had all purpose)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix brown sugar, buttermilk, vanilla and shortening. Stir in remaining ingredients. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place about three inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten the cookie balls with the bottom of a glass dipped in granulated sugar. Bake the cookies until golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Immediately remove the cookies from cookie sheets.

Pack that brown sugar.

I didn't have buttermilk on hand so I made my own with a bit of vinegar added to regular skim milk.

So, shortening's bad for you, yes. But it's pretty in this picture.

Beat the ingredients together. It will smell very yummy and you'll find it difficult to resist doing "quality control" checks.

Flour is just so pretty. Make sure you don't pack it into your measuring cup as this will increase the density of the cookie and decrease its loveliness.

Cookie! Baked, plated and ready to eat!

Cheers,

-Kristine

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I had the pleasure of photographing Mike the other day for a story he has submitted to a German publication. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m sure it’s great – he’s written a firsthand account of his experience buying and using a gun in Montana.  He needed some photos to go along with his story, so we drove up Highway 200 a bit to a practice range out in the middle of nowhere.  There were some other dudes using it, so we ventured a bit farther until we found a nice little wooded area and proceeded to have some fun.  (No firing the gun though – it’s out of commission for the time being.)

Mike and I were both pretty stoked with an awesome little snow shower that happened while the sun was shining.  Made for some beautiful light. His story is set to run April 10th and hopefully I’ll be able to post a link to the PDF of it at some point.  Anyway, check out some of my favorite photos from the session!

Cheers!

-Kristine

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Happy Easter everyone! I just wanted to wish you all a wonderful holiday if you celebrate, and figured I’d post a little Easter-ish photo of my own.  You know those marshmallow Peeps?  Well, I’ve got a “peep” of my own, in the form of a living, breathing parrotlet.  What the heck is a parrotlet, you ask?  They’re a mini parrot, about 4″ tall, and they can even learn words.  My little guy’s name is Flash.  (I know, I know…I couldn’t resist a photography-related name for him.  But it fits his personality perfectly.)

Anyway, I thought these photos were cute.  (And he liked it too. Flash falls in love with nearly everything he sees now that it’s spring, so he was more than happy to make his acquaintance with the bunnies.  Silly, silly.)

Oh, and before I forget, you still have time to enter the contest to win a free photo session and Big Dipper ice cream. See the previous blog entry for details.

Cheers!

-Kristine

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