Hello! I am Shannon, a single mother to the sweetest and most wonderful 14 1/2 year old boy who's life goal is to become a professional golfer. I grew up in and we currently reside in the northern suburbs of St Paul, Minnesota. 

By day I work full time as a Certified Medical Assistant in a Dermatology clinic. By nights and weekends I am a self-taught artist and photographer who is bound to craft of photography by feel... I am super deeply and emotionally connected to each photo I take. This art is my passion and my creative outlet. 

As a photographer, I strongly believe in the importance of getting in front of the camera myself. This allows me to have more empathy and compassion for those I am photographing.

Pulling others out of their shell is what I'm passionate about... you see, I was THE shyest person in the entire world up until the age of 14 or 15. I was soooo uncomfortable in my own skin. I hated it. I talked myself out of it and decided to do everything that made me uncomfortable, to tear out of my shell. Then I never looked back ;)

I want to inspire others to tear out of theirs ❤❤ So I started to take self portraits.  I even wrote an eBook on how to create your own self portraiture -- you can check my eBook out HERE

A FEW OTHER TID-BITS ABOUT ME OUTSIDE OF MY PASSION FOR PHOTOGRAPHY:

1. My son, myself, my boyfriend and his 2 boys have an obsession with super hero movies!! We go see all the super hero movies the day they come out! I find them super exciting and the gorgeous men in them aren’t bad either ;) I'm a total comic book movie nerd ;)

2. I love to read!! I will read any way I can whether it be an actual book or by listening to audio books. I tend to read a few books at a time and have read More about 100 books in the last year. A few of my favorite authors as of late are:

• Colleen Hoover ... she tends to write beautiful love stories with lots of twists and angst ;)

• Brene Brown ... everything she writes is profound and makes so much sense to me; I swear by her words like a bible.

• Blake Pierce ... this man writes about leading women heroine characters who are FBI profilers in his serial killer crime novels and I find them to be the most intriguing!

Shannon Kathleen Photography Publications:

{Click "Read More" below to read about my first publication}

Features:

• Featured artist at Our Weekend Stories. Read my interview here! :)

• Read my interview with Inspire Me, Inspire Be.

• I wrote a guest blog post for Dear Photographer regarding my favorite types of shooting style and you can read it here!!

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FOLLOW shannon kathleen photography ON INSTAGRAM!

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Shannon Kathleen Photography's Style

I am a creative story teller. I want to capture the real you, to tell a story about you with photos.  With my keen and artistic eye I will capture moments as they happened without orchestrating it. My style is identified as being more raw, realistic and factual. This is Lifestyle Photography.  I promise to tell you when your hair is sticking up, what to do with your hands, and I promise to never ask you to say cheese ;)

90% of your session with me will be un-posed

As an artist, my desire is that my work is organic and authentic.  Lifestyle photography is capturing natural reactions of and interaction between its subjects. After all, that energy is at the heart of what we want to remember about our life, relationships, and events at any given time.  I document the small details that happen throughout your session, many times when no one is even looking at the camera.

I shoot only using natural light and 99% of it is OUTDOORS

What makes me different than any other photographer you may have experienced?

It's a group effort actually...

I want to get to know you, feel connected to you and capture WHO you are with no manufactured smiles or moments.  We come up with an activity to do or a new place to explore and create new memories to freeze in time forever.  It'll be you who chooses to participate and get your family to participate too... you all know how to make each other happy :)

My goal is to create beautiful photos for you filled with treasures of loved ones that ooze with emotions; that are candid and so real that you can hear the laughter of your loved one, feel the loving warmth of your husband's smile...

I want to capture your truth.

Experiences we most often disregard and label as "just another day" are actually the defining moments of our relationships. The once sharp details in our memory will get fuzzy over the years. The most profound moments are so often left to slip away from our thoughts. 

When you step in front of my camera, I might ask you to whisper, dance, snuggle, kiss.  I’ll ask you what’s precious about each other, when you fell in love, what makes you laugh uncontrollably, where your happy place is.  See, my hope is not just to snap a quick photo of bodies posed, eyes pointed forward, but to let my lens share the words of a story only you can write, the story of your one beautiful life.

I understand that it can be just plain scary to get in front of the camera sometimes!!

Understand that one day, there will be a new generation that will want to learn about you and your life story. These photos are not just for you, but they are for your grand kids and so on.  Memories aren't just valuable, they're priceless.

We will have fun.  Yes, FUN!  All of my on-location sessions are spontaneous and unplanned. We'll glide through your session naturally and have a good time doing it!

Have questions? Click HERE

Click the affiliated link to check out all issues of Bella Grace Magazine and purchase Issue 11 in which the above image is the cover! :)