Azuree & Spencer | Courthouse Wedding

Last week, I photographed my first courthouse wedding. Despite doing a number of weddings in the past, I have yet to do preparations photos. I certainly did not expect that this would be one where I'd get much of an opportunity to do so. I ended up being wrong in this regard. As we arrived at the courtroom and the couple got some help from judge and the officer for the final touches for the ceremony. 

The ceremony itself was brief but emotional. The bride welled up with tears of joy the moment the judge began the ceremony. Prior to the ceremony, I had a location in mind for some portraits. The judge helped by reaffirming this location when he suggested it as well. It's always nice when things go according to plan.

February 2017

I can't believe we're already 2 months into the new year. So far, it hasn't been the greatest year, but I'm working hard and finding the silver lining in it all. For example, business has been slow at this point in comparison to last year. At the same time, I take some solace in the fact that this is the slow season for photography and that I was working a little harder last year on getting new leads. The only photo session that I've done so far was for my friend, Alex Morgan, and his campaign for alderman of the the 3rd ward in Evanston. Obviously, I have to push myself to get caught up and be at the point where I can focus my energies on once again on getting leads and growing my business. Another positive is that I have a couple head shots booked for this coming week and I met with a client yesterday.

The big positive for this year has been my creative work and my dedication to my 365 project. In a few days here, I'll be celebrating the 2 month anniversary of this project. While every photo has not been perfect, it is definitely helping me to grow as a photographer in countless ways. In fact, my family and I are planning on having a show in my studio space during the March Art Wauk. I really think this could and hope that this is just a small step in a much bigger journey for myself.

Summer 2016 Birthdays

Over the last few months, I've spent a lot of time editing photos but haven't found the time to go through my images and post them. Since over the last few weeks my life has been a little less busy, I've finally found time to finally get caught up. That folks is why even with it feeling like winter outside and summer seeming like a distant memory, I am posting these photos now. I wanted to say that these photos took me to places far and wide, but the reality is that for the majority time I was in Lake County. The lone exception was a sweet sixteen party in Chicago that was planned by Ellis Illusions.

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. 

Larsen Family | Fall 2016

In early November, I had a photo shoot with the Larsen family and the newest addition to their family, Rocky. There was definitely some of the crying and fussing that you can expect from a photo session that includes a newborn. Overall, the little guy was fairly cooperative throughout the session.

Avery | Newborn

On Halloween, my newest niece, Avery, was born. I had her shoot when she was 6 days old. This session did not go quite as smoothly as I expected it to since she had a little case of the hiccups that seemed to keep her from falling asleep. Also, she didn't want to give up on the pacifier once we gave it to her. I was happy that I was able to deal with these little troubles and still get some good photos of my niece.

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.