Mary Jo Heier-Johnson for City Council Ward 2 | Lemmon, South Dakota

Portrait Photographer: Brittany Schnell

Relaxed Formal Portraits

The cat is out of the bag!! From Mary’s Facebook Wall:

So I decided to step out of my comfort zone and do something I think I will enjoy and at the same time make an impact in our community. I decided to run for a City Council 2 year term position for Ward 2. If your in Ward 2 plan to go to the polls on April 13th and vote!

Thank you Brittanyography for the wonderful pictures! We have so many wonderful people and assets in this community and I just want to help it shine like it should and make the best decisions for our community with the support of all of you!

We knew right away that Mary’s portrait session should be in Lemmon. We had a few locations in mind, but settled on two iconic locations: The Petrified Wood Park & The John Lopez Sculpture Park. Mary chose a mini session, with 20 minutes to take photos. We spent ten at the park and then at the sculpture park.

Petrified Wood Park

Built in the 1930’s, Lemmon’s Petrified Wood Park has been the shining star of the town. People come from all over to stop and look at the massive chunks of stone: the cannon balls, the petrified wood & dinosaur bones. My favorite stones have glittering pieces of mica scattered throughout the rock.

After a few moments with Mary, I found she felt the most comfortable leaning on something, sitting down or squatting. I think her comfort shows through the photos, helping her appear natural even though she was outside of her comfort zone. When I find something that works, I roll with it!

John Lopez Sculpture Park

It’s crazy to me that this space wasn’t here when I moved to town. I’ve loved watching it’s transformation and it’s quickly become one of my favorite places in town to take photographs. John has done such a wonderful job in all aspects of this project-the landscaping, the murals and the sculptures displayed in the park!!

I like the earthy tones & soft pink colors of the park combined with Mary’s outfit.

Lemmon’s Alley Way

On the walk back to our vehicles, we found a clean, neutral wall & these beautiful pine trees. The sun was finally peaking through the clouds, so we snapped a few photos of the light playing on Mary’s hair.