This is the second set of pictures from earlier this year. This session was actually from the beginning of March where we really lucked into some mild weather for this laid back engagement session. This session was a departure from what I'm used to for most photo shoots, but I think we all really enjoyed it since it is an honest reflection of this couple and their easy going, fun attitude. It was great having a little bit of a break from what I'm what I'm normally used to photo sessions.
This year, I've done a good job of keeping up with my editing work, but at the same time had a little bit of a rough go with posting my latest work in a timely manner. I can't believe this session happened all the way back in the middle of February. The day before this shoot was actually the day when I had ruined my old camera by falling into the lake during my morning photo adventure. As a result, the day leading up to this shoot was stressful since I didn't have much time to figure out my camera situation. Luckily, everything turned out alright thanks in part to Zoha for picking a great location and having quite a few ideas of poses for this photo session.
Back in early February, I did the engagement photos for my cousin, Agnes, and her fiancé, Luke. A weekend in early February worked best for us since Luke was in town that weekend. In planning, it took us a little while to settle on location and at first the plan was to have the shoot mainly outdoors. I was very happy when Agnes told me that they had reserved some time at the Lincoln Park Conservatory and also the Lincoln Park Zoo's South Pond Pavilion. Both these locations provided backdrops for nice backdrops that were very different from one another. We also ended up talking a few photos along the shore with some of the last bits of daylight.
Well, the month of January I've been working on trying to build momentum with my photography and get my business moving in the right direction. I'm continuing to work on both the 365 project and the portrait-a-day project that I started in 2017. Another personal project that I'm trying to resurrect is a weekly creative portrait project. Yesterday was the first day where I resumed work on that project.
For my business, I'm trying to have at least one portrait session each week. So far I've accomplished that goal between two paid shoots and two free ones. The paid ones was Bhargavi's maternity session and family portraits for the Vashers. The free ones were of my nephew, Je'kori, and then an anniversary session with my parents. Also, I had the honor of photographing the ribbon cutting for Real Invest Inc. It was very cool getting to see a side-by-side comparison of how they remodeled their office building and exciting to hear how they could help with future developments in our community.
I am also happy to say that I followed through on becoming a member of the Lake County Art League and the Waukegan Chamber of Commerce. I'm looking forward to seeing how these organizations can help me to grow as an artist and businessman. Joining the Chamber has already started to pay off with attending their Business After Hours event at Cracken Cakes & More. If it wasn't for attending that event, I wouldn't have met Mikki Schuk of Real Invest Inc. and been asked to photography the ribbon cutting. Also, I met a fellow photographer named Marie Schoblocher. She was helpful in that she gave me new ideas for my marketing and also said maybe I could second shoot some weddings with her.
Finally, what is life if you can't have a little fun. I went over to my alma mater to see Waukegan beat one of their big rivals, Zion-Benton. Also, I took in a couple shows in January. The Aragon Ballroom is starting become a venue that I'm becoming pretty familiar with the last couple months. This month I went to Datsik there and did he ever put on a show. My other show in January was actually my first show at the United Center. I finally got to see one of my favorite bands, the Killers. It was definitely up there as far as my favorite shows I've attended goes.
On Saturday, I kept pace with having a portrait session a week with an outdoor photo session with my parents. Since it was my parents' anniversary weekend, they decided to have a photo session to celebrate. While the weather wasn't quite as good as we expected, we still had a good photo session over at the harbor.
