Kristin & Nick | Engagement

Kristin and Nick’s engagement session happened back at the beginning of this month. We contemplated a few different locations before deciding to go with Glacial Park in McHenry. I must applaud Kristin for making a good choice for the location of the session especially since I’m not overly familiar with the McHenry area. This session up to this point definitely goes down as the one with the windiest weather that I’ve ever photographed in. In spite of the conditions, I got a lot of great photos of this couple as well as a few with their son too. This session was a lot of fun including the moment near the end of the session when I suggested the prom pose and Kristin got into the pose quicker than I’ve ever seen at any of my past sessions.

Frances & Raul | Engagement Session

Everything worked out just about right for this engagement session with Frances and Raul. They both are normally very busy since they are teachers at McCall Elementary School and also going through grad school at the same time. So we were lucky to find a time that worked out for all of us during their winter break. Of course we also lucked out in having great weather especially considering that this session took place the day after Christmas. And then to top it all off, we had a great location in the Botanic Gardens during golden hour. I feel like it really doesn’t get much better than this session!

Amanda & Jose | Engagement

It is always a joy getting to experience new locations while doing photography. I’ve seen a ton of photos of Morton Arboretum and I’ve wanted to check it out for quite some time. So when Amanda told me that this was where we would be taking her and Jose’s engagement photo, I was very excited for their session. The day of this session was my first time there so it was good that Amanda and Jose had visited recently and taken note to stop in the arboretum for photos. It was a beautiful location for an engagement session and we even had some great weather for this late October engagement session.

Janeth & Sean | Engagement

It’s interesting seeing firsthand how the world is so small sometimes and how people can be interconnected without our knowledge. I vaguely remember Janeth from high school since we both went to Waukegan and graduated the same year. However, the real surprise came after the shoot when I was telling my mum about how the engagement shoot had gone and happened to mention Janeth’s name. Soon my mum realized that she knew Janeth is a former paraprofessional my mum used to work with. In a situation like this you realize how small the world is sometimes.

Janeth and Sean’s engagement session happened in early October. Originally we were planning on having this session at a barn out in McHenry, however, they decided they wanted a bit more of a natural backdrop. So I suggested a couple different local forest preserves and they decided on Van Patten Woods after paying it a visit the day before our session. An added benefit of them visiting the day before was the fact that they had a pretty good idea of spots where they wanted to take photos.

LaToya & Kernan | Engagement

Third time was truly a charm with this engagement session. This couple had to reschedule their session a couple times since on a couple occasions the Navy didn’t grant Kernan his freedom on a weekend when LaToya was planning on visiting. After initially being contacted about having this portrait session back in late April, our schedules all worked out and we had this session the first Saturday since it was the weekend of Kernan’s Navy graduation ceremony.

The day of the session I was keeping a close eye on the weather because during part of the day I was participating in Dandelion Wine Fine Arts Festival and then the plan was to have LaToya and Kernan’s engagement session at a park. The weather wasn’t looking very good for later in the day so I was unsure if this session just wasn’t meant to be. I was very excited when I received a message from LaToya that they had received permission from the front desk that they could have their session at the hotel they were staying at, the Inn at Market Square in Zion. The hotel made for a great backdrop and most of all I liked having the opportunity to practice using off camera flash

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.

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.

Agnes & Luke | Engagement

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.  

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.