December 2017

Good thing one of my resolutions for the new year wasn't to make my blog posts in a more timely manner. Especially since here we are almost a third of the way into the month of January and I'm just now posting an update on how December went for for me. The month of December provided very little in the way of rest. The first week of the month kept me busy with photography. On the first Sunday of December, I had a morning family portrait session in Lake Bluff and in the evening I had wedding up in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, that I photographed. Then on Wednesday that week, I did event photography for the Climate Action for Lake County and Puerto Rico. Also during this month, I did a couple headshots with one client being a former classmate of mine and the other being one of a current friend. December marked my second month of displaying my work during ArtWauk at Undercroft Gallery, which is located in the basement of Christ Episcopal Church. 

Meanwhile, there were plenty other events that kept me busy as well during the month of December. I went to a variety of different shows in the area including acts such as Tchami, Illenium, Midnight Tyrannosaurus b2b Figure, and even went to see the Impractical Jokers. The end of year has the tendency to have plenty of get togethers and I ended up going to parties held by Clean Power Lake County, Schuler Scholar Program and my former job, Six Flags. Even with all that, my favorite part of the month was following Pretty Light Live on their end of year tour stops. Me and my friends saw them play two nights in Detroit and the New Year's Eve show in Philadelphia. It was a ton of fun doing that and I don't think I could have asked for a better way to celebrate my 30th birthday. 

I'm doing my best to start this year strong and trying to grow my business. I had my first portrait session this last weekend in my studio. This aligns nicely with my goal of having at least one portrait session per week. I'm hoping to keep the momentum going and getting my nephew, Je'kori into the studio of Friday. Once again, ArtWauk is sneaking up on me with it less than two weeks away already. Another step I'm taking to increase my visibility is becoming a member of both the City of Waukegan Chamber of Commerce and the Lake County Art League. 

November 2017

November was a hectic month and I'm expecting the month of December to even top that hecticness. While I may not have had much in the way of photo gigs, I had plenty of other work to do that related to my photography. The last two Saturdays of November, I had events showing off my work. The second to last Saturday, I participated in ArtWauk with my show, Glimpse Surround, that is currently at Undercroft Gallery. Then the last Saturday of the month, I set up at the Parlor and participated in Small Business Saturday. My only photo shoot of the month took place at Old School Forest Preserve on the surprisingly warm Sunday after Thanksgiving. 

Now in regards to my personal life, it was decent month. Early in the month, I had a ton of fun getting to see ODESZA perform. Also, game night crew has continued to get together and have some very fun game nights. The main change of late has been the fact that they are now hosted at Taylor's new apartment and that they now happen of Saturdays instead of Sundays. Final personal event of note was Thanksgiving. For me, it was much of the usual in that I celebrated at my parents' home. We had a relatively small group made up of my parents, 2 sisters in college, my grandma, and myself. We managed to make it through the holiday without annoying each other too much and even had some fun. 

The month of December is definitely shaping up to be a busy, but fun month. I have quite a few shows that I'm looking forward to going to this month. Over the next few weeks, I will be going to see Tchami, Impractical Jokers, and Figure. I'm most looking forward to my plans for the end of the year. This week, I booked an Airbnb in Detroit and bought tickets for Pretty Lights Live at the Fillmore. Also, I'm planning on following Pretty Lights Live to Philadelphia for the New Year's Eve show. This month I will continue to run my exhibit, Glimpse Surround, at Undercroft Gallery so please stop by during ArtWauk/Holiday Wauk. 

September & October 2017

September found me with a few different photo jobs, but not an overwhelming work schedule overall. In early September, I had a Saturday where in the morning I had a maternity session in the morning at Greenbelt Forest Preserve and then in the afternoon I photographed a two years old's Sesame Street themed birthday at Old School Forest Preserve. Then in the middle of the first week of September, I went to the headquarters of Premier Build + Design Group to do a few headshots. In mid-September, I cleaned up my studio space and showed off some of my latest work during ArtWauk. During that same weekend, I had a headshot photo session in downtown Waukegan for a local actor.  The next weekend found me at Salt Creek Golf Club taking photos for the 2nd Annual Kick to Cure Cancer Foot Golf Outing. The final Friday of the month of September, I photographed the wedding of Steny and Lisa at the Highland Park Community House. Then I finished up the month of September by photographing the sixteenth birthday of my friend's sister.

The month of October was much less busy in terms of photo work. In fact all of my photo work happened on a Saturday in late October. In the morning, I photographed a courthouse wedding and then did photos of the wedding party down at Waukegan Harbor. Then in the evening, I was the photographer for Waukegan to College's Oktoberfest at Bernie's Book Bank. It was actually for the better that this was how my schedule worked out since it allowed me to spend most of my time finishing up working on painting my parents' house. I celebrated completing work on the house by going down to Suwannee Hulaween.

So far things are shaping up pretty well for this month. I'm excited to see ODESZA perform at the UIC Pavillion this Saturday. Also, I'm happy that for the first time in quite a while I can focus on being a full-time photographer and have a couple events this month. First, I'll be having a show during ArtWauk at the Undercroft Gallery. Then, I'll be participating in Small Business Saturday at the Parlor. Life looks like it's on upward trend here.

Larsen Family 2017

The Larsen family was one of my first ever photography clients. Over the last 3 years, I have photographed their family 4 times. It's very interesting having the opportunity to get a glimpse into seeing a family change as the years go by. When I first met the Larsen family, they were a family of 3 and their daughter, Kitty, had recently celebrated her second birthday. Today, the Larsen family has grown to 4 family members with the arrival of Rocky and Kitty has had to adjust to no longer being the only child. As always, it was great getting to work with the Larsen family and are these children ever adorable these days. 

August 2017

Many times the months feel like they move by a pretty quick pace and August was not the exception to this rule. In fact, August feels like it flew by at ultra sonic speed and I feel like I'm struggling to figure out the events of this month. Well, I had a couple paid portrait gigs during this month. I'll give more details on one of my shoots at a later date. The other photo session was with the Larsen family. This is the third year that I've photographed their family and is it ever cool to see them grow year after year.

This was a decent month as far as my social life was concerned. One of the highlights of the month was going to Chicago to catch Pretty Lights performing at Northerly Island. Also had plenty of time to celebrate the changes that occurring in the lives of those that are around myself. Seemed like I got to experience quite a range celebrations from a baby shower to a send-off party to a 91st birthday party. Don't worry though, all that partying did not wear me out.

This month I also continued to volunteer for Clean Power Lake County. I was actually part of the planning committee for the beach cleanup and rally that we held. The major event of the day was the Lake County Climate Action Pledge that was introduce by Lake County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor at the rally. The other accomplishment that we can pat ourselves on the back about is having a great turn to participate with this event.

Taylor & Brian | Wedding

Being a photographer at times means that you have to be willing to be flexible. Last week truly put me to the test when it comes to flexibility. Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of photographing Taylor and Brian's wedding at the Loft & Chapel at Cedar Ridge in Waukesha, WI. It was a pretty nice day with relatively little in the way of hiccups. Having said that, I'm sure you're a little curious how as to how I got my flexibility tested. 

The real test was the days leading up to the day of this wedding. At one point, I thought I would be able pull off having a booth at Dandelion Wine Fine Arts Festival and photographing this wedding. This idea seemed so very foreign about this time last week. I was questioning whether I was going to participate in Dandelion Wine since there was rain in the forecast and didn't think I'd be photographing the wedding since it had been awhile since I had received a response. Since Saturday's weather forecast was improving, I was considering working late and trying to pull together a booth for the festival. Of course, that plan changed once I finally got confirmation on the wedding Friday evening. 

Happy New Year!

Yeah I know I'm a little late on wishing everyone a happy new year, but it's better late than never, right? The first week of the year was mostly taken up by work at the hotel since some places were still on winter break last week. I am so happy that I finally have time once again and can focus on my photography once again. While I am thankful that I have a few other jobs to help keep me a float and subsidize my photography, at the end of the day my passion is in photography. 

Much like years past, I have not made any specific resolutions for the new year. I just have the very broad goal of continuing to grow my business and improve my photography. One of the ways that I'm looking to accomplish this is by taking on a 365 photo project. This is a project that challenges me to do photography everyday and post my favorite photo from the day. This project has me both excited and a little worried. I'm excited because I believe this will help me to become a better photographer and help me to take photos that I'm happy with. The worry stems from the fact that it's going to be a tough task and probably going to push me out of my comfort zone at least occasionally. Well, that's all I have for now and over the next few days you can expect some new blog posts so I can get caught up with posts I've been meaning to put up.