SisuPhoto
It’s hard to believe I’ve been a professional photographer for nearly 25 years. What began as a hobby shooting black and white images of old mining ruins has led to my current position as a photographer for the Minnesota Legislature, along with the owner of this little business called SisuPhoto. SisuPhoto offers professional photography services ranging from families, weddings, engagements, seniors, events and headshots. As much as I love photography and capturing my subjects in the best possible light, I’ve come to realize what really makes this job special — the people I photograph. I appreciate beauty as much as anybody, but I would never make it as a landscape or architectural photographer. Emotion, interaction, personality — they all work together to tell your story — and I love to use my camera to artfully capture moments to remember. I bring to the table my training and experience in photojournalism and my ability to craft a visual narrative. As the mother of two active and not always cooperative boys, I understand the challenges of parenting all too well and have developed the ability to adapt to ever changing environmental conditions — from photographing an outdoor wedding in a thunderstorm to weathering a toddler melt-down during a 20-minute mini-session. The photojournalist in me is driven to capture truth with my lens while navigating each situation for the best photographic outcome. In short, capturing the beautiful chaos of your life in all its glory.
The photographer
Michele Jokinen grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan along the shores of Lake Superior. Following a brief stint as a biology lab tech sequencing DNA and nearly becoming a high school biology teacher, she discovered her love of photojournalism while working at her hometown newspaper the Daily Mining Gazette in Houghton, Mich. She has a M.A. in photojournalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia and has interned for the Bay City Times, Duluth News Tribune and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and was a staff photographer for the Rochester Post-Bulletin for five years. While working as a stay-at-home parent for ten years, she focused on staying sane and building her photography business SisuPhoto. Michele recently reentered the workforce as a photographer for the Minnesota Legislature, first with the Senate during the 2023 session, and more recently in a year-round position with the Minnesota House of Representatives Public Information Services. When she’s not behind a camera, Michele enjoys spending time with friends and family, visiting the U.P., writing, reading, swimming across Lake Nokomis, time with her amazing book club, saunas, baking, coffee, wine and ALL the cheese! She lives in south Minneapolis with her husband Adam, sons Oskar and William, dog Wiglaf and cat Whiskey.