May 2016

I'm still a little behind in regards to my photography but I'm hopeful that I will catch up soon.  At the beginning of the month, I did a couple more head shots for the Premier Build + Design Group. Also at the beginning of the month, I photographed an in home baptism in South Barrington. The next weekend, I got another last minute job doing photography for a very small wedding in Lake Forest. I wish I could have joined the wedding party for dinner in Evanston, but instead I was doing photos for my sister, Josie, before Waukegan High School's prom. The next weekend I had a couple bookings as well. The first shoot was in downtown Waukegan and in the harbor with a couple for their one-year anniversary. Later, I went down to Chicago to do photography for a prom send off party. The final weekend of May, I photographed a birthday party in Hainesville. 

Have no worries, I have not been all work and no play. I can assure you that I have found time for some fun. I went to a couple Cubs game with family and the best part of that being that they won both games as well. I continue to be an active member in Clean Power Lake County. I was even part of a group people from Clean Power that attended the Lunch with the Mayor at Glen Flora Country Club. Also, I got the opportunity to have a lovely brunch at Ryerson Woods in Deerfield thanks to the Woods and Wetlands Group. I really wish I could have stayed longer for that but I had to run off for a photo shoot in Waukegan. One last activity from this month was attending and photographing the Waukegan Chamber of Commerce After Hours event at the Waukegan Marina

Considering Light and Time

I'm still playing catch up on blogging. Last month, I had a couple pieces of my work exhibited as part of Bradley University Photography Society's "Considering Light and Time" fundraiser exhibition. The show ran from April 25th through April 28th on the second floor of the Heuser Art Center. Since that was a pretty slow week for me, I decided it was a good excuse to travel down to Peoria and visit for a few days.

I timed my arrival nicely with the beginning of the closing reception. The reception was a small, intimate affair with a variety of quality photographs. I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to the current head of the photography department, Maragaret LaJeune. From her I found out that the money they raised from selling the prints from the exhibit, they would be using to bring in photographers for workshops for any interested Bradley students. I think this was both a cool way of raising money and putting the money to use on campus. The only disappointment was that by the time I looked at the prints a second time, whoever had bought one of my pictures had already taken it and I did not have the opportunity to take a photo with my pieces. 

When I originally found out about this show, I had planned on having a long weekend and staying until Sunday. However, I ended up booking some work doing photography for a birthday party on Saturday night. Spending three days at Bradley felt like it was just about the perfect amount of time. Plenty of time to participate in college shenanigans and hangout with the current members of Pi Kappa Phi and some of my friends that are still in the area. 

Detra & Patrick | Engagement

A couple weekends ago, I had the pleasure of having an engagement session for Detra and Patrick. It was great working with these two and seeing the love they have for each other. They have known each other for twenty-five years but did not reconnect until fairly recently. Detra actually lives in Dallas right now and was spending the weekend in Waukegan to visit her fiancé, Patrick. While visiting, she wanted to get some engagement photos taken and ended up finding me online. 

I was really hoping that by this time of year that the weather would be a little more cooperative and I would be having outdoor sessions and not be doing studio sessions. Alas, the weather has been all over the place so far and it's been good that I have a studio space. When Detra first stepped into my studio, she was happy to see that the grey backdrop went well with their outfits. She actually wondered if she had told me when we previously about what colors they were wearing. It was actually far from planned but worked out very well for the photos. 

Rufino & Linda | Wedding

I'm very late on making this post on here since this wedding happened over a month ago. Getting this wedding was every bit the surprise and unexpected for me. I got the call asking for my photography services on Wednesday for a wedding that was happening on Friday. Additionally, the call was very brief and I got minimal information in regards to the wedding. When Friday quickly rolled around, I was a little nervous and anxious because, well, it was April Fool's day, I was working a few hours at the hotel, and I still didn't even know where the wedding was taking place.

I was very relieved when I got to the venue and found out that this was not an April Fool's joke at my own expense. Both the ceremony and reception occurred at the Southport Beach House in Kenosha, WI. This was a very nice location that I would have never known existed if I had not photographed this wedding. I can really envision how beautiful it can be in warmer weather with having a wedding on the beach and then retreating indoors to the beach house for the reception. However, since this was early April that was not really an option and everything happened inside. 

In the end, it was a very nice wedding day with its fair share of hiccups along the way. For one, the ceremony started later than expected as setup took longer than planned as well as the bride running a little late. Also, there was an amusing mishap as the groom's cellphone went off as he was saying his vows. The final bit of trouble I experienced was when the wedding party wanted to try have their photo taken after it had gotten pretty dark. I tried the best I could to light the scene with a flash but had troubles with my technology and plus they did not want to be out in that chilly April weather for too long. I'm happy that everything turned out pretty well with the wedding overall.

April 2016

April was a very busy month for me and as a result I forgot to do much of anything in terms of blogging. I will work on bring more in depth posts on the last month to a screen near you very soon. I'm happy to say it was mostly my photography that kept me busy and not working at the hotel.

 I started the month with one very hectic day as I worked at the hotel and did wedding photography on short notice in the evening. The next week I worked with an event planning company called Ellis Illusions and did photography for a prom themed 30th birthday party. I really had one of those experiences where you are reminded how small the world is sometimes when I ran into the head event planner from Ellis Illusions while I was working at the hotel a little more than a week after the party.  

Right now, each job is still something that is new to me and a learning experience. I also did a headshot a few weeks ago for an employee of Premier Design + Build Group. Then last week I did engagement photos in my studio. This week the wild world of photography had me doing photography for a children's birthday. Photography for children's birthdays can really take it out of you. 

Don't worry the month wasn't all work and no play making Dylan a dull boy. I found time to have fun as well. In fact even managed to mix business and pleasure as I met some great local business owners at the Waukegan Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event at Three Brothers Theatre. A couple weeks ago me and my friends enjoyed some time in Chicago for a Cubs' game on the rooftops. I went down to Springfield with Clean Power Lake County for Lobby Day. Finally, I spent a few days visiting my alma mater, Bradley University. I had been meaning to visit for quite some time and knew the timing was right when a couple of my pieces got selected to have a couple of my pieces in the the Bradley University Photography Society's Considering Light and Time exhibition fundraiser. 

Moving Waukegan Forward: Renewable Energy

Last Thursday, I helped Clean Power Lake County with their luncheon at the Waukegan Public Library. There was a strong turn out of county and city officials as our CPLC group continues to push for a transition from the coal energy to cleaner energy like solar power. The two major speakers for our event was Andrew Baumann, vice-president of Global Strategy Group, and Sarah Wochos, co-legislative director for the Environmental Law & Policy Center. 

The Global Strategy Group is a company that conducts polling for numerous groups. In December 2015, they conducted a poll of 300 Waukegan residents about their opinion on the coal plant and the desire of people for clean power. Baumann showed that there is a strong desire that goes across political lines and demographics for moving to clean power. He even went so far as to say that some of the numbers were actually quite surprising in comparison to some polls his company has conducted.

Wochos's presentation showed that clean power is the future of power. We are continuing to see more and more states using clean power. She also suggested a few different areas in Waukegan that that could potentially be redeveloped into solar fields. She also provided other places in Chicago and Detroit that have found new life after being converted to solar fields. 

The closing remarks of the luncheon were from my alderman, David Villalobos. He continues to be a strong proponent for our group as we try to bring clean power to Waukegan and making out city green town once again. He also had a call to action for our group's trip down to Springfield on April 21. We are going to be lobbying the politicians to pass a bill for clean energy jobs in Illinois.