Simon McConico | Valo Photography

Hey Mister! Thats my sister!

I was in Minneapolis this weekend and my sisters fiance was in from North Carolina.  They are getting married later this year and we went out to take a few photos while I was up there.  I will be shooting their wedding and it should be crazylotsoffun.

This was the first time I met Alex and… well… I am glad that I approve. He is a lil crazy and different, but who am I to speak? I am a lot crazy and different. These two fit well together and that makes me a happy brother. Here are just a few images that I shot.

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Some weddings are like a party. Brent and Christina’s wedding was most definitely a party.  From the moment we got there to the moment we left there were crazy things happening everywhere we turned.  I love to shoot weddings that reflect the couple’s personality and where they are having a good time.

From the flowers to the dress, there were lots of things that were either handmade or given personal touches.  Christina is my cousin (Brent is now as well), and there were lots of family hands involved in the planning and execution of the wedding.  My mother made the cakes, I shot the photos, my uncles bus company provided a party bus, parts of the dress were sewn on by an aunt (if it wasn’t an aunt, it was a family member), and my Dad instructed the couple for the first dance and Father/Daughter dance.  It was great to see how everyone helped pitch in to make this day very special for Brent and Christina.

The Party  bus was out of control! So much fun!

Well… everything was nuts.

Ooo… my Mama made this cake. It was good.

My pops choreographed the First Dance and the Father Daughter dance.

My dad and sister were tearing up the dance floor.  He taught ballroom dance and she currently teaches it in Minneapolis.

There was a lot going on at the wedding and it was such a blast.  We brought out the crazy booth and you can see the photos from that here: CRAZY BOOTH

Also, if you get a chance, please vote for us here: VOTE

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Here are some of the shots from Brent and Christina’s crazy booth at their wedding.  The photos of the wedding will be coming soon, but for now, check out the nonsense that was happening in the corner of the reception hall.

Also, if you wouldnt mind dropping by and voting for Valo, we would appreciate it: VOTE

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Ian contacted me a little less than a year ago about his wedding.  I was just getting use to my iPhone and was figuring out how to send emails back and forth… (sorry for the randomness).  We met, talked, and then he got a contract back to me and we began talking about shooting his engagement session.  The problem was that Kyle was living in Minneapolis at the time and going to school at the University of Minnesota.  We tried a couple of times to get the shoot done, but either I was gone when she visited, or when I was in Minneapois, she was in Wisconsin.

A few weeks ago we were finally in the same place at the same time and so we were able to shoot the engagement photos.  We met pretty close to the U of M and wondered around for a while.  There are lots of great places to shoot over there and here are a few of the photos we took.

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Tope (pronounced Tope-weh) and Ebony were a joy to meet. I had already known Ebony from when I lived and went to college in Minneapolis. I met Tope the day that we were going to shoot and he stepped out of his car with a sweet pink shirt and some killer shoes. I could dig that. We went to a park for a few photos with the couple then from there we went to St. Anthony Main and walked around by the river. Next weekend the couple will be getting married and I get the privilege of being their photographer. I am excited to make amazing images that capture their day.

3 Comments | In: E-Sessions | tags: canon 5d mark 2, engagement photography, engagement session, milwaukee wisconsin, minneapolis, minneapolis minnesota, Photography, simonmcconico, Valo Photography. | #

Happy Mothers Day!!!  I can’t express how important my mom has been in my life and still is.  I know she is gonna see this post, so I am gonna brag on her a while.

I am an interesting person.  My mom always called me unique.  I guess that is a good way to describe me.  Weird doesn’t work, odd, perhaps, but I think I like unique the best.  I owe my mom tons for putting up with my uniqueness growing up.  It was hard for her to punish me because I would dance, make crazy noises, or whatever I could to make her laugh so she couldn’t punish me. (Good idea, until she said “Wait till your dad comes home!”… yeah, then it sucked). I owe her tons for encouraging me to be who I am and loving me and not telling me that I needed to be anyone other then who I was.  Words don’t really do justice to how she helped raise me with my pops and my other sibling.  I think she is fantastic…

Okay! All that to say this – Maliya is cute! She was born on April 14th and Jake and I were able to photograph her on April 18th, just 4 days after she was born.  Full of energy and hair, she was looking around the room cooing and looking cute.  Her mom was there and looked a little exhausted.  Maliya has two older sisters that Mom and Dad have to control, not to mention the attention a newborn needs.  I am so honored and privileged to be able to record one of the first days of the, sure to be amazing, life of little miss Maliya.  Enjoy the photos!

Oh… P.s. For all of you ladies who had a child, more power to you, but my Mom has you all beat. I was 13lbs right out of the oven. Broke one of her ribs… That ain’t no joke.  My mom is my 5’2″ ball of fury!

You can see Jakes take on the lil’ lady: Here

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A little while ago Jake and I went up to Minneapolis to shoot a wedding.  The day after the wedding we stuck around and shot some promo material for Christ Church Internantional’s new website that is in the works.  After we shot that we hung out with Jamey who is one of my mentors and a good friend.  Some people just have a cool, down to earth vibe and that is very Jamey.  He is the pastor of Leadership and Development at CCI and does his job well.

One of the things that I really admire about him is that he is good at reading people and encouraging people.  We went to the Tea Garden (whish they had one in MKE), and chatted for a while about Valo and the big ideas we have for our company.  He gave some great feedback to our thoughts and encouraged us to keep going after our passions.  Here are a few photos that we took when we were walking around in South Minneapolis.

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