Deininger Family | Winter 2019

This was my second time photographing the Deininger family and both times it has been around the same time of year in early December. Originally we had planned on having this session in late November, but the weather was not looking particularly good for the date we initially planned. It ended up being a case where once again the beginning of December was the time that worked best for everyone. The last time I had a family session with them, I remember it being unseasonably warm for that time of year and I’m sure we were all hoping to be as lucky once again. While we weren’t quite that fortunate, we go weather that was good enough to be comfortable outside and get some great photos.

Pielmeier & Peterschmidt Families

If these families look familiar, it’s because it wasn’t all that long ago since the other time I photographed them. The previous time I saw these families was back in late July when I was photographing the wedding of Katie and Dylan. On this day in mid October, I made the trek up to Holy Hill to both some individual and combined family photos. Started off this session by getting some photos of Katie and Dylan with their son. Then the timing worked out well so that right about the time that was winding down, Katie’s sister, Andrea, and her husband, Adam, showed up along with their three boys. From there I mostly focused on Andrea’s family, but also got a few shots in between of the two families together.

Larsen Family | 2019

The annual family portrait session with the Larsens happened the last weekend of September. Just a few days before we were unsure if we would have to reschedule since there was rain in the forecast for that day. Luckily for us the weather held off and we managed to have their session as scheduled. It so cool getting to photograph the Larsen family year after year and seeing first hand how much the kids, Kitty and Rocky, have changed. Also, I was happy that we had this session at Roosevelt Park since I wanted to have one there for quite awhile.

Miller Family

Back in the day, I would go to Maria semi regularly to get my haircut. These days I go elsewhere, but I keep up to date on what she’s up to thanks to the fact she cuts my mum hair still and also through Facebook. Prior to this portrait session, I had only heard stories about Maria’s family from her and had never met them. She was inspired to get schedule a portrait session since her daughter and granddaughter, who live in Hawaii, were in town.

This portrait session took place at the beginning of July at the home of Maria and her family in Winthrop Harbor. A couple aspects of this session did not quite go as planned. First there was my plan was mainly to have this session outdoors. However, after being outside for a few minutes, we realized the mosquitoes were worse than expected. So after getting a few different groupings in the yard, we decided it would probably be better to scurry inside for a reprieve from the mosquitoes and take most the remaining photos indoors. Also for this session, we were short one member of the Miller family as their son was unable to make it home from work in time. All in all, I’m happy with how the photos turned out from this session and thankful that Maria wanted me to photograph her family.

Larsen Family

Last Sunday, I did what's starting to become a yearly tradition of the Larsen family portrait session. Before it, they had a couple locations in mind and they asked me if I had any preference of the locations they were interested in for the photo session. I said that I was most interested in Warren Township Park since it's been a very long time since I had been there and that I had never had a photo session there. Since it was a warm, humid day on Sunday, I was little worried that the park was going to be a little busy. Luckily, the weather helped out a little in that regard by giving us overcast skies that probably deterred people form going to the park. That helped make the photography a little easier and gave the Larsen kids, Kitty and Rocky, plenty of a chance to have fun time at the park. When it was all said and done, I felt like this was the most tired I've ever been from a photo session due to a combination of the weather and chasing the kids around during this session.

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. 

Deidre & Benjamin

This will be the last of my long overdue posts and hopefully the last time that I delay posting photos for so long after a session on here. As I had said in a previous post, there was a time when my schedule was very busy with non-photography work and as a result I never got around to posting these on here. These days, my schedule is less busy and I'm trying to catch up on past work as well as trying to get new business.

Similarly to now, my schedule was pretty open when this photo session. Obviously, one of the few perks of having an open schedule is being able to take last minute bookings. That was the case with this session as I was contacted only a couple days ahead of time. It was really great getting to photograph Deidre, Benjamin, and their daughter. You really see the love of this family in their photos. 

Echevarria & Caceres Families

As the years go by, it usually becomes more difficult to get everybody together to have family portraits done. That's why when these two families asked me about doing family portraits, I was more than willing to do it. It was certainly an interesting and challenging shoot for a couple reasons. First, it certainly stretched the limits of space in my small studio space with having thirteen people total between the two families. Second, I took a lot of photos of a ton of different groupings. 

Rowe Family

My final photo session of 2015 happened the day after Christmas. Going into this shoot, I was nervous for a couple of reasons. The first factor was that this was my first time doing a shoot in a client's home. Also, due to the nature of the holidays, I did not have as much time as I had become used to in order to prepare for this shoot. Obviously I overcame my nerves and did this photo shoot. In the end, everything turned out well and I look forward to working with Cynthia and her family again in the future.

Larsen Family

As I said in my previous post, I ended the month with a family photo session. I first got in touch with the Larsens by responding to their posting for a family portrait session on Thumbtack. I later ended up meeting them in person prior to the shoot as they visited my booth at Dandelion Wine Arts Festival. This was an exciting shoot because it was the first time photographing someone that was not friends or family. It was a pleasure to photograph the Larsen family. I want to build on this experience and do some more family portrait sessions.