Mariana's Quinceañera

I began the month of September by photographing Mariana’s quinceañera. It has been a couple years since I had last photographed, but I did a good job picking it back up pretty easily. The ceremony part of quinceañera took place at Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines. I was unsure of what to expect since was unfamiliar with this church. Part of me was a little worried since I was not completely sure if the ceremony portion would be indoors and the weather forecast was looking a little troubling. In the end, the ceremony was held outside on a sizable veranda and the weather actually turned out very nice as well. The reception then was held at the Arches Banquet Hall in Waukegan. While it wasn’t my first time being at the Arches, it was my first time having a photography job take me there.

August 2018

Photography work was minimal for the the month of August. One of the bookings that I thought I might have at the beginning of the month for a Racine couple's 10th anniversary fell through unfortunately. Meanwhile as I posted about in my last blog entry, I did the Larsen family portrait yet again this year. Also noteworthy for my photography is that I will have a few pieces on display at the Family Piano Company. Currently the photos on display are from summer since my plan is to have pieces that coordinate with seasons of the year. It's definitely a very cool opportunity that Family Piano Company has allowed me in using their space.

My big adventure for the month of August was going out to Colorado to see Pretty Light Live perform at Red Rocks Amphitheater. I'm very happy that I ended up finally making a trip out to Colorado after talking about it the last couple years. It was a great weekend with great music and friends in a beautiful environment. The only complaint I can possibly think of is that we did not do more exploring. Granted I'm hopeful that I'll make it back out that way some time to explore Colorado further. 

The month of September will definitely be an interesting one. On the first day of this month, I had my first big gig of the month as I photographed a quinceañera. Right now, I'm less than 2 weeks away from photographing the wedding of one a classmate from high school. Meanwhile as far as fun activities, we are now in the midst of one of the most exciting months on the sports calendar. College football started this weekend with my favorite teams, Notre Dame and the Ohio State University, winning their opening games. Then this weekend, the N.F.L. kicks off and the Bears face off against the Packers. And there's also my Cubs making a strong case once again to participate in playoff baseball again.

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.

Nahf Family

This family portrait session occurred on the last Friday evening in July. Originally we had planned on having this photo session a week earlier, but it ultimately got pushed back because the weather forecast looked iffy for most that afternoon.  Seeing as the weather was much better the day of this portrait session, it turned out to be a great decision to re-schedule. Everything went well with the only real trouble was getting the dog, Percy, to not be distracted and look at the camera. 

Spread the Hug

Spread the Hug is an organization that I first became involved with as a volunteer.  It all began in May 2017 when I came across an ad on Craigslist looking for a photographer for free hugs in downtown Chicago. Once I took a more thorough look at the ad and the related site (spreadthehug.love), I was impressed by the organization's mission and felt like it would an interesting opportunity for me to help out. The mission of Spread the Hug is breaking down barriers between people, reducing fear and hostility, cracking open hearts, spreading love, and encouraging a culture of kindness -- ONE BIG HUG at a time.

While the founder of the organization, Mark Abrams, was in Chicago for a business conference, he decided he would spend some time spreading the hug in the city. Our crew for this event consisted of 4 people: myself, Mark, another photographer named Meagan Baker, and a videographer named Anthony Lasala. Going into this, I think most of us thought we were only simply going to be chronicling Mark hugging people outside the Water Tower Place in Chicago. Instead, Mark encouraged us all to participate and we all did at one time or another. 

Helping and participating in this event in Chicago, ultimately lead to me becoming a seed of sorts for Spread the Hug. Once I got my hug dealer t-shirt in the mail, I began to wear it for one of the days of the festivals I attend. Over the last year, I have dealt hugs and given out awesome cards at Hulaween, Pretty Lights Detroit Night 2, Okechobee, Summer Camp, and Electric Forest. And don't worry because I do not plan on calling it quits any time soon. If you're interested in participating yourself, follow this link here.

Amber & Eric | Wedding

A few weekends ago, I photographed Amber and Eric's lovely backyard wedding in Burlington, WI. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect being as it was my first backyard wedding and since it was actually the grandmother of the bride who hired me. Also, I was a little worried about the weather since there was some rain in the forecast for the day. Ultimately, everything went very smoothly and the rain held off until later in the evening. Also, it was pretty neat that since a few member of the family were from Waukegan, they food catered by a couple Waukegan restaurants, rib tips from Hillery's Bar-B-Q and sandwiches from Leno's Sandwich Shop.

Veronica & Ronnie | Engagement

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.

July 2018

The month of July had a pleasant mix of work and fun. While work is not quite where I would like it to be in terms of bookings, July was overall a positive month. The main reason I say that is because it was the first time in what feels like quite a while that I had time to focus on my photography business. Then in terms of the gigs that I had they all went pretty well. As I said in a previous post, I began the month by photographing a baptism. Later in the month I photographed a nice, intimate backyard wedding in Burlington, WI. Then in the final weekend of the month, I had a family portrait session over at Bowen Park. I plan on coming out with a blog post about the wedding and family portrait session in the next week or two. So make sure to keep an eye out for that. 

The main bit of fun for this month was going to Camp Bisco Music Festival in Scranton, PA. To me the terrain and size are two things that set Bisco apart from other music festivals that I've attended. Bisco actually is on Montage Mountain, which is a ski resort in the winter and has water park in the summer. In fact when my friends were telling me about this festival, I didn't quite realize that one of the stages is actually in the water park. I don't think there are very many other festivals where you can chill in wave pool during a performance. I also appreciated the fact that it didn't feel quite as large as other festivals as far as the number of acts and attendees. With large festivals, it often feels like you're in all likely going make sacrifices from time to time whether it's because of conflicting set times or just the fact that you don't want to do all that walking to go to a stage that's out of your way. I definitely would be interested in going to Camp Bisco again if it works with my schedule.

My plans for the month of August aren't entirely clear at the moment. I currently have a couple family portrait sessions scheduled. One is for the middle of the month and the other is scheduled for around the end of the month. That's the totality of my work for the month currently, but I plan on seeking out some additional work and staying focused on my business. Then, in terms of fun, I only had a couple plans for this month. The first already happened on the 1st of August when I went to see Tycho at the Concord. The second is coming next weekend in the form of a trip out to Colorado to see Pretty Lights Live's 10th anniversary show at Red Rocks Amphitheater. It will certainly be an interesting month and hopefully be a productive one as well.

 

 

Azeam & Zoha | Engagement

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.

Ahhh!!! I haven't posted a blog in 3 months!!!

I'm pretty sure I don't have many people who follow this blog right now so I don't think there have been too many people eagerly waiting to know my whereabouts. And also I'm not really sure where to even begin honestly. The last few months have been an exercise in my ongoing battle to try to find the proper balance between work and play. There was even a time briefly where I had to manage working two jobs at once. 

Over the last few months, I have had an interesting assortment of photography jobs. Late in the month of April, I chronicled Faith in Place's trip down to Springfield for Advocacy. Then I ended the month by capturing photos of Greek Orthodox christening. Then, I began the month of May by working once again for the Waukegan Chamber of Commerce for their Wake Up with Waukegan event, which had Congressman Brad Schneider as the guest speaker. Also during May, I assisted a local photographer by the name of Marie Schoblocher with a wedding up in Kenosha, WI. 

Looking back, the month of June was actually pretty busy and perhaps that's part of the reason it went by so quickly. To begin the month, I participated in a couple different art fairs. The first one was on the first Friday in June and was called the D.I.Y. Art Fair at Cracken Cakes and More in Beach Park. While there was not much in the way of people that visited that art fair, I'm always eager to take any opportunity to try to get my name out to a wider audience. Then the next day, I had a tent in the Dandelion Wine Art Festival. This is the 4th time that I have been a part of this festival. I keep coming back because there is generally a decent turn out and I usually sell a piece or two.

In addition to art fairs, I also had a decent amount of photography work during the month of June. In fact, there was a four day stretch where I had a photo gig each day. I started off on a Wednesday with me doing photography for the Waukegan Chamber of Commerce's Golf Outing at Glen Flora Country Club. The next day I went out to Itasca to do a couple headshots for Premier Design + Build Group. My Friday evening was spent having fun doing photography at a 3 year old's birthday party. My final job during this stretch was actually photography for the 3rd Annual Kicks to Cure Cancer Foot Golf event at Salt Creek Golf Club in Wood Dale. My final gig of the month was a week later when I did photos for a married couple's joint 50th birthday, which they coined as a 100 year celebration. 

Meanwhile when it comes to fun, I have been at a different music festival nearly every other weekend it seems like recently. I ended the month of May by going to Summer Camp Music Festival in Chillicothe once again. Then a couple weeks after that I spent the weekend in Chicago for Spring Awakening Music Festival. It was actually the first time I've attended the full weekend in a few years. Finally, during the end of June, I returned to Electric Forest in Rothbury, MI, for my 3rd straight. It's always such a fun festival that you can count good music, art, and vibes. 

And with all that, I feel like I've gotten you all caught up with my life over the past few months. The month of July has been interesting so far and will likely continue to be the case. During the first week of July, I got back from Electric Forest and had a low key 4th of July celebration at my parents' place. Meanwhile, yesterday started off with me doing photography of a baptism ceremony at St. Paul the Apostle Church and the reception afterwards at Primo.

 Tomorrow, I'm beginning my trek out to another music festival, Camp Bisco, which is in Scranton, PA. This is my first time going to this festival, but I was inspired to go since my two friends' that went last year really enjoyed it. Plus, I think it's a little cool that it's in the city where Dunder Mifflin is located in the show "The Office". The weekend after I get back will be interesting as well. There will be lots of family in town since my cousin, Agnes, will be getting married in Chicago. I'm unsure of how much I will be seeing of visiting family though because I have a couple photo gigs that weekend. I have a family portrait session on that Friday and the next day I will be missing my cousin's wedding and instead be photographing a backyard wedding in Burlington, WI. As I said, July will be an interesting month.