Community Profile: Honeybee Photography

Ever since Melissa Paulus-Goers was a kid, she was always being creative.

“I would draw on my notebooks during class,” she said. “I designed clothing for my paper dolls. My sister and I would even perform for the neighborhood kids while lip synching to The Jets, and then charge our audience to watch us sing into our curling iron ‘microphones.’”

That simultaneously artsy and entrepreneurial impulse stayed with her for the rest of her life, eventually plunging her into photography and into her Inver Grove Heights photography studio, HoneyBee Photography. Five years ago, a friend asked Paulus-Goers to take photos of her newborn’s “tiny toes, small fingers, wrinkles, and smile” to memorialize the child’s birth. The experience inspired her to jump into the business, for real.

“I decided that I could bring in some money to help pay for our travel that my husband and I enjoy to do each year,” she explained. “Photography packages can get really expensive, including the cost of purchasing the prints, so I saw an opportunity to provide customers with lower-cost, high-quality photos.”

Fulfilling that mission, she said, brings her a great deal of pride.

“I love capturing honest and fun-loving portraits of everyday life—the ordinary moments that we all take for granted,” she said. “I love making seniors feel beautiful during their session. I love capturing the smiles of children interacting with each other. I love knowing that my photographs are hanging on the walls of my clients.