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.  

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.

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. 

Echevarria & Caceres Families

As the years go by, it usually becomes more difficult to get everybody together to have family portraits done. That's why when these two families asked me about doing family portraits, I was more than willing to do it. It was certainly an interesting and challenging shoot for a couple reasons. First, it certainly stretched the limits of space in my small studio space with having thirteen people total between the two families. Second, I took a lot of photos of a ton of different groupings. 

Rowe Family

My final photo session of 2015 happened the day after Christmas. Going into this shoot, I was nervous for a couple of reasons. The first factor was that this was my first time doing a shoot in a client's home. Also, due to the nature of the holidays, I did not have as much time as I had become used to in order to prepare for this shoot. Obviously I overcame my nerves and did this photo shoot. In the end, everything turned out well and I look forward to working with Cynthia and her family again in the future.

Larsen Family

As I said in my previous post, I ended the month with a family photo session. I first got in touch with the Larsens by responding to their posting for a family portrait session on Thumbtack. I later ended up meeting them in person prior to the shoot as they visited my booth at Dandelion Wine Arts Festival. This was an exciting shoot because it was the first time photographing someone that was not friends or family. It was a pleasure to photograph the Larsen family. I want to build on this experience and do some more family portrait sessions.