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.

March 2016

I'm still trying to figure out where the month of March went. Man, did the month ever fly by quickly. While my photography has been lacking a little in terms of work during this month, I've made progress in terms of marketing my business. For one, I've started to explore a new avenue as I've started posting ads on Craigslist. For quite awhile I've scoured Craigslist looking for work, but never made the effort to post my own ads. I've gotten a decent response from my ads and gotten a few potential clients from them. Also in terms of marketing, I continued to ad my business to listings leading to my site continuing to move up in terms of SEO.

This month I didn't have any photo sessions with clients but I did do a little bit of photography from time to time. One of those projects I did was my self-portrait session where I dressed as a lumberjack. I also entered a photo of my cat in the Waukegan Park District's Pet Superstar Photo Contest. Despite my best efforts which included a bit of editing, my photo did not win. Finally on a more serious note on the last day of the month I photographed a luncheon hosted by Clean Power Lake County. I will write more at length on that in the coming days.

So far, I'm not entirely sure what the month of April is going to hold. I photographed a wedding on short notice yesterday. I'm photographing an event next Saturday and a portrait session next Sunday. Then as far as my personal life goes, I'm looking forward to the Cubs season beginning Monday. Hopefully this is the beginning of a great year for the them. Also, later in the month I'm going to Springfield with people from Clean Power Lake County to lobby for clean jobs in Illinois.  

Self-Portrait | Lumberjack

Before I shaved yesterday for work orientation, I had grown my beard since November. It felt like a fitting tribute and last hoorah for my beard was having a photo shoot. Since I had bought the the clothing needed to look like a stereotypical lumberjack and had a good beard, it seemed only right to do the photo shoot as such. As I said, the beard is gone as of yesterday morning, but I'm going to grow it back at some point. 

Daniela

When I had my work on display at Sidecar Studios last May, I held a drawing for a free photo shoot. The luck winner of the drawing was Daniela Lopez. Back in the fall, we tried to get together for a photo shoot but it didn't end up working with our schedules. A few weeks ago she got back in contact with me and we finally found time to have the photo shoot with her and her friend, Samantha. I learned two lessons from this shoot. First, sometimes it takes time for things to come together. Second, sometimes good things take time.

Thumbtack Spotlight

I am big fan of Thumbtack since it's been an effective means for me to connect with clients that I wouldn't normally find. So far I have a good experience working with them and I look forward to continuing to work with them in the future. When they gave me the opportunity to be featured in the Thumbtack Spotlight, I jumped on it as fast as I could. The Spotlight about me can be found near the bottom of the page which you can get to by clicking the badge above or clicking here.

Kelly Family

Last week, I had the pleasure of photographing the Kelly family in their home. It was a little more challenging than I expected it to be since their two-year-old daughter was a bit of a tough customer to get to smile. Luckily, prior to the shoot they already had a few ideas of spots in the house where they wanted me to photograph them. Since they had done such a wonderful job of planning ahead, I mainly got to focus on getting the lighting right for making some great photos. 

February 2016

February was an interesting month. I ended up having two paid shoots that I got off of Thumbtack. Also, I had a free shoot that I gave away as part of a prize drawing during when I had work on display at Sidecar Studios. I'm working on editing images from a couple of those shoots and hope to have them finished up by the end of this week. I'm so happy to have some work to do during these colder months. Also, I volunteered my photography skills for the Waukegan Park District a couple nights this month and did photos for their Mother-Son Sweetheart Dance and Father-Daughter Date Night. 

This coming month, I'm not sure what exactly to expect with my photography. I'm definitely looking forward to the beginning of spring and as a result more outdoor photography. While life may become a little busier with photography, life may be a little busier this month with my other jobs.  In about a week and a half, I have orientation for Six Flags and will have to say goodbye to my beard that I've been growing the past few months. Then a week later, I'll be attending Six Flags' Leadership Summit and learning about what this coming year has in store for the park. This is also the time of year where many schools will be having spring break and as a result KeyLime Cove be getting busy and I'll be working more there.

Michael | College Senior

A couple of weekends ago, I had the opportunity to have a photo shoot with Michael. He is one of my clients that I met through Thumbtack. I was very excited to have the opportunity to use downtown Waukegan as the backdrop of a photo shoot. Leading up to the shoot, we discussed a little about what he was seeking for a location for the shoot. When he told me he wanted an urban setting and that he didn't have any place in particular in mind, I thought downtown Waukegan would work well. The two reasons it came to mind were that it feels like a very solid urban setting and I'm very familiar with it. He told me he was unfamiliar with the area but would trust my judgement. 

Dancing the Night Away!

Friday and Saturday night, I helped the Waukegan Park District by being the photographer for their Mother-Son Sweetheart Dance and Father-Daughter Date Night. Doing photography was definitely a learning experience for me in regards to taking portraits and printing on location. The first night was a little rough since I was attempting to take the portraits and print them nearly simultaneously. By the next night, I had learned my lesson and instead chose to shoot most the portraits at once and then print the pictures once I was mostly freed up from shooting. This system worked so much better and made things much less stressful for me. I feel like this event went well for the most part and I would likely be willing to do it again next year if asked.