Kelly & Thomas

Currently, if I have free time during a weekend and the weather is nice, I often choose to go out to any one of the numerous picturesque nearby locales to do some wandering and photography. Part of me embraces this opportunity to explore and capture the world on my own. Meanwhile, the portrait photographer in me also wants to capture people in these settings. This is why I offer an open invite for a free mini portrait sessions during this time when I'm out doing photography during the weekend. 

A couple weekends ago, Kelly and Thomas took me up on this offer for a mini session over at Illinois Beach State Park in Zion. I arrived about an hour before golden hour so I could do some hiking before their session. Then I headed over to the beach a little before our scheduled time and found a location I liked for their portrait shoot. 

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

Dennis and Dareth | Wedding

Taking a step back a little ways today as I post photos from Dennis and Dareth’s wedding back in March. This was my the first wedding I shot this year and definitely up there in terms of the most fun I’ve had photographing a wedding. It was very rewarding looking back at these images to make this post. Before I choose the photos, I was expecting that I’d post 30 images, but I eventually found out that wasn’t going to be possible. Definitely was glad that I got to capture the beauty and fun of Dennis and Dareth’s special day.