Sade & Alphonso | Wedding

For Sade and Alphonso’s wedding back in May 2021, I was the second photographer as I finally had the opportunity to work with my friend, Sandy. It’s always an interesting challenge to be a second shooter as while you feel a little less pressure to get some of the shots, there is also the need to add a little bit of a different perspective sometimes. This wedding was quite a drive for both of us being as we are both in the Chicagoland area and the wedding venue was all the way down in Farmington. So Sandy and I ended up carpooling for this wedding and had some time to catch up as well during the long drive.

New Year's Resolutions for 2022

My approach to New Year’s resolutions has usually been that I don’t make one because they generally are destined for failure most the time. Or I do something like last year where I make ones that are too big and as a result of that very difficult to keep. With last year’s resolution the primary goal was to try post daily on TikTok. Unfortunately for me I ended up having trouble with that goal from the very first day as I failed to post a video on the first day of 2021. With each passing day that I didn’t post, I lost confidence that there was any chance at all that was going to suddenly change and start accomplishing. The lesson that I’m taking from last year has lead me to change my approach for my resolutions in 2022.

I’m sure there are some people out there that can go from 0-60 on goal with little problem, but I have realized that’s just not who I am. This has lead me to formulate a different approach for accomplishing my resolutions this year. My method is that I am progressively building my way to improvement beginning with small goals and working my way up as the year goes. So far I have found this system is very encouraging since right now I am easily accomplishing most of my goals and know it serves as a good base for when the difficulty increases as the months go on during the beginning of the year.

So I’m guessing you might be curious on what exactly my goals are this year. One of the my major goals is building my web presence. And for the month of January, my way of accomplishing that is posting at least once a week on a variety of different platforms including this here very blog. Then from there in February, it will be moved up to posting twice a week on different platforms. Beyond the first couple months of this year, I haven’t quite figured out where to set my expectations but I’m sure I’ll have a better idea when it comes around. 

Frances & Raul | 2020 Wedding

One of my resolutions for this year is posting more consistently on social media. So I figured I should pick up from where I left off last year and post photos from France and Raul's wedding in November 2020.

Bon Family & Maternity Session

It's always cool when I get the opportunity to reconnect with people from my past during a photo session. For this maternity and family session I got to catch up a bit with one of my high school classmates John Bon and his family back in early July last year.

Jen & Joe | Wedding

Jen and Joe weren't going to let the pandemic stop them from getting married last year. Although it did alter their plans a little bit as they couldn't have it at their original location in mid August and went with a late September wedding at their home on the lake in Antioch.

Tatiana & Taylor | Wedding

Last year during Pride Month in June, I had the honor of photographing the wedding of Tatiana and Taylor. This was the first time I photographed a same-sex wedding. Also, this was the first time I did a sunset session.

Stephanie & Allen | Wedding

Stephanie and Allen's wedding was the first wedding I photographed last year all the way at the beginning of May. While some weddings were cancelled due to the pandemic, these two didn't let that stop them. This was nothing like the wedding they envisioned but they did a great job making due with life during the pandemic

Don't call it a comeback

Or I guess you can since it has been over 10 months since I last posted anything on here. Honestly, I’ll just leave deciding what to consider this up to you because what does it really matter. I never really went away and instead have continued to worked but just not posted about it. Basically I’m here today to tell you can expect me to start posting again soon and allow you a glimpse into what I’ve been up to with my photography over the last almost year.

So I’m guessing you might be wondering why I haven’t posted on here since time hasn’t particularly been scarce during this pandemic. I’d say that it can mostly boil down to the fact I’ve generally erred on the side caution. In my mind by not posting I was putting myself out there less and being safer as a result. Over the last year with photography there has definitely been a bit of hesitancy in taking on new photography work. When I did do photography, in the back of my mind there was a little bit of worry as to whether I was putting my health at risk by working and felt a little bit of guilt as a result.

Early on in 2020, it was looking like I was going to be having my best year in business. The shutdowns due to the pandemic definitely threw me off that trajectory as weddings were called off and having portrait sessions in my studio had to be halted. I realized that it’s pointless to dwell on what last year could have been like without the pandemic so I don’t spend much time doing that. Myself like many others has found a way to survive in this new normal. For me as a photographer that has meant still shooting weddings and only have portrait sessions outdoors while doing my best to wear a mask.

My studio space is the same place it has always been but it just hasn’t been used in about a year at this point. There have a been a few times where people have contacted inquiring about studio sessions which I’ve turned down since my studio is located at my parents’ home and they would prefer that I not bring any clients over at this time. Right now, I am aiming for starting to have the option of using my studio for photography when May rolls around. I figure by that time my parents’ will be be fully protected by the vaccine and I might have even received my first dose of the vaccine myself.

While my studio space hasn’t seen much in the way of portrait photography over the last year, it hasn’t just sat empty and unused. Instead near the beginning of the pandemic, I rearranged things so I could use it for my side hustle of reselling a variety of items on eBay and Mercari. This side business has certainly helped to keep me afloat during these tough times and it’s pretty cool to think these items that had simply been gathering dust are finding a second lease on life. The only real downside of running both my businesses out of the same space is cleaning up and switching things around when the times comes but I figure future Dylan can figure that out.

March 2020

The beginning of March seems like such a distant memory at this moment. At that time, there was a slight fear of coronavirus at that time, but most people could not foresee how things would drastically change in a couple weeks. I remember at the beginning of the month going to a couple events that had a decent sized crowds, like the Lobby Day in Springfield and CharletheFirst show in Milwaukee, and not being too worried at that time. Then the next week, I remember things beginning to change vey quickly with events being cancelled and places beginning to close leading me to realize how serious we should be taking coronavirus. That is when worry started to creep into my world and I began to question whether I would have been better off skipping those events.

The seriousness of the current situation really began to sink in during the evening of March 11th. On that evening it was announced that the NBA season was being suspended, Tom Hanks and his wife had tested positive for coronavirus, and that there would be a ban on travel from Europe. As I went to bed that evening, I remember being stressed and hoping that when I woke up the next day that I would find out this was all a bad dream. Of course when I did wake up the next day, I found out that the world was not returning to normal and I was wondering what to expect next. At that time I had a couple photo jobs scheduled in the next couple days and I was unsure if those would still be occurring.

Those couple photos gigs did end up going along as planned and were the last bit of photography I did before social distancing and shelter-in-place went into effect. My daily has not been changed all that much during this pandemic versus prior to it. Most weekdays no matter what’s going on in the world, I spend most my working hours over in my office/studio space at my parents’ place. The main difference is having more people over at my parents’ home. My sister, Josie, came back early from studying abroad in Prague since her program was closed down early because of the pandemic. Meanwhile, my mum, who is an elementary school teacher, has been home as well since all the local schools were closed down around the middle of March.

So I’m sure you are curious to know how things have been for my business during the month of March and what I’ve been up to. Well, this month actually started off strong with a few photography gigs. Before things began to shut down, I had an engagement session, did headshots for most of the staff at Heart of the City, and a senior portrait session. Then during the second half of the month, I’ve had time to work on a couple things. The main task that has taken up a decent amount of my time was putting in work on reselling items on eBay. A lot of the items that I’ve listed most recently were from an early March rummage sale in Gurnee with a variety of other items that I found at both my home and my parents’ home. This time has also allowed me to finally update listing of prints I was selling on the Facebook page for my business. Part of the thought process was that I was hoping to contribute to the virtual ArtWauk. However, when I went to participate I didn’t see much of anyone posting their work. Well, that’s it for now, I hope everyone out there is staying safe during these trying times.