Bob Dylan Art Show at Waukegan Music Exchange

Since Bob Dylan is going to be performing at the Genesee Theatre next week, the Waukegan Music Exchange decided to celebrate the him for the entire month of March. One way they decided to celebrate Bob Dylan was by having an art show featuring pieces from local artist that were inspired by his music. When I saw the posting looking for art for this show, I knew it was only fitting to submit a piece of my own since I consider myself a bit of Bob Dylan’s music. Initially I had considered trying to create something new for this show, but a number of factors resulted in that not quite working out.

Instead I went and pivoted to a couple photos that I took about 20 years ago when I was on a trip to New Zealand. These photos had always reminded me of the opening line of “Time Passes Slowly” when Bob Dylan sang, “Time passes slowly up here in the mountains”. I remember really resonating with that opening line during that time when I was in the mountains. At that time it really did feel like the world truly did feel like the world was moving a little slower just like Dylan had crooned in the opening line of this song. It was definitely cool finally getting to show the world this association that experienced all those year ago.

Fall Photo Sessions

It's time to capture the magic of fall with a photo session this season! Whether you want to update your family portraits, get some stunning shots of you and your significant other, or simply celebrate the season, I'm here to help. Don't let these beautiful moments slip away. Book your session today and get ready to create lasting memories. Ready to capture the beauty of the season? Reach out to me via email at dylan@dylanblake.net or call/text at 224-419-5623.

Outdoor Portrait Session Deal

Between the weather getting better and nature coming back to life, I’m feeling inspired to go outside and do some photography. I think it would be interesting to both go for some hikes to get some nice nature photos and also schedule portrait sessions in these same areas since I’m already there. If you’re interested in a great deal on a portrait session with me, this is your opportunity. These portrait sessions will be $80 for 10 digital photos and only available for times and dates listed on the flyer. Please reach out on your preferred platform to book with me today.

Friday Introduction

Good evening! I guess I’ll take some time to reintroduce myself on here.

My name is Dylan and I’m a photographer based in Waukegan, IL. My main niches are portraits and weddings, but I’m always willing to explore other photography opportunities that may come my way. 

Here are few interesting facts about me:

1. I like running to stay in shape. I’m not really one to do any sort of races like a 5K’s or marathons. I think it has been 20 years since I last ran in a 5K.

2. Back in June, I hiked my first 14er along with a few of my buddies. We went out to Colorado to hike Mt. Elbert (14,439 ft). Definitely one of the most exhausting but also rewarding things I’ve done.

3. I’m looking to kind of restart things with my Instagram page for business so I’ve archived all  my past photos on there. Nothing like a fresh-ish start, right?!

A Little Bit of a Redo

Cheers to a new beginning (sorta). As life continues to be quiet on the photography front, I’m considering using this time to start over my photography business. The way I’m envisioning this working is not a full scale reset with me clearing the internet of all the work that I’ve done up to this point. Instead my website and business Facebook page will not be changed all that much being as those are both the platforms where people most often reach out to me on. 

The main place that you will be seeing a change is on my business Instagram page. So sometime in the next week my plan is to archive all the photos that are currently posted on Instagram. I’ve decided to do this is because Instagram is a platform that I’ve rarely gotten leads from over the many years that I’ve been on there. Plus it seems like the process of moving a photo back out of the archive seems very easy. In other words, if I have a change of heart, I can always bring back my past without too much hassle.

Originally when I was planning on beginning this restart of my business Instagram page, I was thinking I would start right off the bat with offering opportunities for free portrait sessions. However, soon after that I began to think that finding someone looking to have a session with me might take longer than I would like so that put the kibosh with that idea. Instead I’m working on doing a little branding session of myself and also an updated about me post to go with that. So in other words, you have that to look forward to probably on Friday.

It appears that it might be a few more weeks until I could potentially be offering free sessions. Currently it looks like next Saturday, I will be having a portrait session with some of my nieces and nephews. And then the weekend after that I will be having the annual family portrait session with Larsens. The weekend after that is Labor Day weekend so I’m probably not going to try to do any free sessions that weekend being as my siblings from Minnesota will be in town visiting. Pretty much it might be awhile before I’m offering much in the way of free photo sessions. Of course if anyone is looking for paid sessions, I’m more than happy to be accommodating and fit you in to my schedule.

July 2024

At the beginning of the month of July, I was hoping both my businesses would be much more prosperous than they ended up being in reality. Something about taking that vacation in June had me feeling like I was re-engergized and would have a good month of July. Specifically I was thinking I’d get a few inquiries about booking me for family portrait sessions. Unfortunately, it has been mostly quiet on all fronts with my photography business. Briefly, it was looking like I’d at least have a little photography work being hired for a birthday party. It was definitely a little disappointing when that didn’t quite work out in the end.

During the month of July, I scaled back on the time spent on my reselling business. In recent months, I’ve been trying to refrain from buying more items until more of the items that I already have, start to sell. So this month I spent much more time adjusting prices on items that are already listed and sending out offers than I have ever done before. Finally having an item sell after it has been sitting for months or maybe even years does feel like a minor victory even if it’s only a small profit in the end.

While it was a rough month for my businesses, I feel like my social life has been in a fairly decent spot this past month. It feels a little odd making this statement considering that I skipped out on participating in some of bigger local festivities such as Independence Day and Scoop Waukegan. The warm weather of the summer provided some good opportunities to hangout with both family and friends. Honestly, this is probably one of my favorite parts of summer is that it tends to encourage people to get together. This month provided just about the right mixture of time spent with people that I see regularly and others that I seen on a more sporadic basis.

So what does the month of August have in store for me at the moment? Honestly, my schedule is currently very open so feel free to inquire with me about any photography work that you have. The only work I have on the books this month is a family session on the last Sunday of the month. Otherwise work these days will consist of trying to figure out how to get more bookings in my photography business. And trying to find a good balance for my reselling business.  

Colorado Trip 2024

Back in mid June I went on my first vacation out of state in a couple years as I went out to Colorado to climb Mt. Elbert, the highest point in Colorado. This was most certainly not a solo adventure as I tagged along with a few friends of mine with more experience when it comes to these type of hikes. In recent years, they’ve visited a few different states in pursuit of the thrill and challenge of climbing mountains. I know in the past there was a time or two where my friends invite me to go on one of these hiking trips but turned them down because I was unsure if it would interfere with photography work. This year’s trip obviously worked with my schedule so I decided to join in on this adventure with my friends. 

Our journey west started on Wednesday afternoon as the four of us that were traveling from the Waukegan area piled into a Toyota Highlander. Our original plan for the drive out was that we would stop at a rest stop at some point to sleep for a little while but instead we managed the 15 hour drive fairly well with each of us doing a portion of the drive. Since most of our driving was done during the night, there wasn’t all that much to see out the windows. The lone thing of note during this portion of the trip was stopping at the World’s Largest Truckstop to take a break and get a bit to eat.

By the time we were close to Denver, it was around 7am but we had to find a way to occupy our time since we had to pick up our friend who was flying in from Seattle at around 11am and also to wait for check in time at the Air BNB at 4. The first place we stopped at was a diner to grab some breakfast. I’m still kicking myself just a little for ordering biscuits and gravy instead of getting a Denver omelet. From there we wasted some time at Walmart before finding a nearby park with a trail that we walked on for a little while. Next, we headed over to the airport and had a slight hiccup in navigating things so it took a few more minutes than we thought it would.

After the airport, we headed over to Golden to wander a bit. When we first planned this trip, we had been talking about going on the tour of the Coors Brewery. However, what we didn’t realize was that you have book a tour quite a bit in advance so that put the kibosh on that idea. So instead we checked out a few shops around there and then stopped at restaurant for lunch. Then we left Golden and made a couple stops to get supplies. By around 5 we arrived at our Air BNB for the next few days, settled in, and relaxed after a long day. 

On Friday we did our warm up hike so that we could get acclimated to hiking at higher altitudes. The trail we ended up hiking was the 7:30 Mine Trail, which was about a 15 minute drive from where we were staying. We chose this trail since it was a reasonable distance from our place and also seemed to have a few interesting features to it. One of the more noteworthy features of this trail, the Clifford Griffin monument, we completely bypassed on our way up without even realizing it. As a result when we reached a point on our trail where it looked like we had reached a natural stopping point, we were a little confused about if were on the right trail even. 

Eventually after debating what to do, we cautiously crossed a stream to try out path that didn’t seem quite as well trodden. We didn’t get very far down that path before realizing that the monument we had been looking for was actually on the side that we had just come from and had somehow missed it. So we decided to head back at that point and figure out where we suppose to have turned. On the way back down figured out that the monument we had been looking for was a little off the trail and behind a large boulder that blocked it from view. 

Of course since the hike took a little out of us, we stopped over at a restaurant down the road from us for a late lunch. Then we went back to our Air BNB to shower and relax for a little while. Later in the evening we decided it would be best to prepare for the challenges of the next day by getting a nice filling meal. To accomplish this, we went to Beau Jo’s to have some Colorado style pizza. After that we stopped at a gas station in town to make sure we were stocked up on snacks and foods for our hike. Once we got back to our place, we packed up our hiking bags so we could be ready to head out early in the morning. 

We had everything we needed for our hike together in decent order so that we started making our drive to Mt. Elbert around 3:30am. We set out so early because we were a little worried about the parking situation and didn’t want to hike any further than necessary. Another reason was that we wanted to reach the summit before the afternoon since we had heard that there’s usually thunderstorms in the afternoon up there. I think we timed our arrival fairly well as we found a decent parking spot near the trailhead and were on the trail hiking by around 5:30am. 

Starting the hike at 5:30am worked out pretty well for us considering that we were a little lacking when it came to headlamps and flashlights. So it was convenient that by the time we started hiking, the sun was starting to shine through and illuminate the path. At the beginning of the hike, I felt like we were all keeping a reasonable pace and doing pretty good. I’m not sure how long that lasted as after some time a couple people in our group seemed to have better endurance and hike on ahead. Meanwhile, myself and my 2 other buddies went about things with a slower pace and often took breaks.

The beginning of the hike when you’re moving in the wooded trail area, progress seemed fairly easy. The challenge of this hike really started to kick in right around the time where I was out of the woods and moved beyond the tree line. Going along the trail as I continued my ascent, the altitude took its toll and really wore me out. There were plenty of times where the thought of giving up and turning back crossed my mind, but kept on going because I wanted to conquer the mountain. There are definitely times where it looks disheartening when you see all the zigzagging you have to do to get to what you get to the top.

Then you reach what you thought what might be the top only to find out that it’s actually a false summit. On the plus side, all the members of my hiking group were finally back together since the friends that were ahead of us waited for us up there. From there we hiked over to the actual summit, took in the view from the top, and for a moment reveled in our accomplishment. After about 6 hours on the trail, there we were finally at the highest point in Colorado, Mt. Elbert. 

The descent was much faster, but presented its own set of challenge as I tried my best not to slip as I navigated the rocky terrain of the mountain. For the descent, we yet again began as a group but as we progressed, there became more separation between each member of our group with myself bring up the end of the line. I was certainly relieved that everyone else in my group waited up for me at the tree line. For awhile in the woods on the way down, we managed to stick together as group. However as seemed to be often the case with this hike, we would eventually separate in to two groups. The descent ended up taking around 2 hours. 

Since we had an early start to our day for the hike, there was still quite a bit of the day left by the time we finished up the hike. One of our top priorities after the hike was finding some place to grab a bite to eat that hopefully had outdoor seating since we all kind of felt a little gross and smelly at that point. Eventually on the trip back to our place, we stopped at a Wendy’s that had a few picnic tables outside. My friends were really speaking the truth about the first meal you have after a hike tasting so good. Once we got back to our place, we took it easy for the most part as we were pretty worn out for obvious reasons. Eventually the guy in our group who is a chef cooked up a quality meal with a steak burger and potatoes and green beans on the side. Definitely  was a good way to end the day. 

Sunday was our last day in Colorado and we didn’t have anything planned for the day. So there we were on Sunday morning scouring the internet to find something interesting to do. Eventually we decided to go to Denver to catch the Nationals take on the Rockies. We made sure to get into the stadium early so that we got some of the $3 Coors. The game itself was a bit of a disappoint but then again we were all mostly happy that it didn’t go into extra innings seeing as our seats weren’t in the shade and it was a pretty hot day. The Rockies scored their only run via a solo home run in the second only to see the closer be unable to close it out and give up 2 runs in the 9th inning. After that we wandered around Denver for a little bit and grabbed dinner. 

Abria | Prom

A couple weeks ago it was Waukegan's prom so I took some photos of my niece, Abria, and her friends before they headed to the venue.

MaryKate & Drew | Courthouse Wedding

This past Saturday I photographed the courthouse wedding of MaryKate & Drew. For me this was the second time in the last few years where I've photographed a courthouse wedding over Easter weekend. So I guess there's a little popularity when it comes to that weekend and my clients. It definitely seemed like a busy morning at the courthouse with a total of 12 couples getting married.

January 2024

I kind of feel like I’m still trying to get my bearings for the year 2024 and yet the month of January seems to have come and gone in the blink of an eye. I could have sworn it was just yesterday where I started off this year by going down to Waukegan beach to jump in Lake Michigan for the Polar Bear Plunge. The first week of the year was very light in the way of work and had a healthy dose of time to relax as the Christmas season wound down. The week was punctuated by my first photo gig of the year as I found myself in the familiar halls of the Lake County Courthouse to photograph another courthouse wedding. 

The second week of January served as the start of the year for me when it comes to work which meant I had a whole lot of editing ahead of me. The first collection of photos that I worked on editing this year were actually from my last photography gig of 2023 where I photographed my uncle’s retirement party. Then once I completed that, it was time to get to work on editing the photos from the courthouse wedding that I did as my first gig of the year. By the time the fourth week of January rolled around, it felt like life was settling more into the usual routine since I was now caught up with my editing.