April 2017

Happy May Day everyone! Well, the month of April began with a flurry of work. Key Lime Cove was busy because it was spring break for many areas. Then, in addition to that I was helping out at the Lisa May for Mayor campaign. It was amazing seeing so many local people from different backgrounds coming together for a common cause. Unfortunately, despite all the hard work and effort everyone put into the campaign, we ended up losing by a couple hundred votes. While we may not have experienced the victory we wanted, I am optimistic that people in Waukegan will continue to push our politicians for the change we need here.

In the time after this campaign season, I worked at Key Lime Cove until its final days. In the days leading up to the closing for Great Wolf Lodge to begin remodeling, the mood at the resort was very somber. I am going to miss all the great people that I met during my time at the resort. When I took this job, I was thinking it was going to be a summer job and instead I stuck around for almost four years. It's sad to see it go, but I'm also looking forward to having an opportunity to spend more time on my photography now.

Over the last month, I have not done nearly as much photography as I would like to have done. I had a couple gigs as I photographed a child's birthday party and a wedding at the courthouse. I have fallen off my pace for my 365 photo project and my self portrait. Today is a new month and a fresh start so I'm planning on getting back to my photo project. Also, looking forward to pursuing new photography jobs and spending to learning my craft better.

February 2017

I can't believe we're already 2 months into the new year. So far, it hasn't been the greatest year, but I'm working hard and finding the silver lining in it all. For example, business has been slow at this point in comparison to last year. At the same time, I take some solace in the fact that this is the slow season for photography and that I was working a little harder last year on getting new leads. The only photo session that I've done so far was for my friend, Alex Morgan, and his campaign for alderman of the the 3rd ward in Evanston. Obviously, I have to push myself to get caught up and be at the point where I can focus my energies on once again on getting leads and growing my business. Another positive is that I have a couple head shots booked for this coming week and I met with a client yesterday.

The big positive for this year has been my creative work and my dedication to my 365 project. In a few days here, I'll be celebrating the 2 month anniversary of this project. While every photo has not been perfect, it is definitely helping me to grow as a photographer in countless ways. In fact, my family and I are planning on having a show in my studio space during the March Art Wauk. I really think this could and hope that this is just a small step in a much bigger journey for myself.

Happy New Year!

Yeah I know I'm a little late on wishing everyone a happy new year, but it's better late than never, right? The first week of the year was mostly taken up by work at the hotel since some places were still on winter break last week. I am so happy that I finally have time once again and can focus on my photography once again. While I am thankful that I have a few other jobs to help keep me a float and subsidize my photography, at the end of the day my passion is in photography. 

Much like years past, I have not made any specific resolutions for the new year. I just have the very broad goal of continuing to grow my business and improve my photography. One of the ways that I'm looking to accomplish this is by taking on a 365 photo project. This is a project that challenges me to do photography everyday and post my favorite photo from the day. This project has me both excited and a little worried. I'm excited because I believe this will help me to become a better photographer and help me to take photos that I'm happy with. The worry stems from the fact that it's going to be a tough task and probably going to push me out of my comfort zone at least occasionally. Well, that's all I have for now and over the next few days you can expect some new blog posts so I can get caught up with posts I've been meaning to put up. 

May 2016

I'm still a little behind in regards to my photography but I'm hopeful that I will catch up soon.  At the beginning of the month, I did a couple more head shots for the Premier Build + Design Group. Also at the beginning of the month, I photographed an in home baptism in South Barrington. The next weekend, I got another last minute job doing photography for a very small wedding in Lake Forest. I wish I could have joined the wedding party for dinner in Evanston, but instead I was doing photos for my sister, Josie, before Waukegan High School's prom. The next weekend I had a couple bookings as well. The first shoot was in downtown Waukegan and in the harbor with a couple for their one-year anniversary. Later, I went down to Chicago to do photography for a prom send off party. The final weekend of May, I photographed a birthday party in Hainesville. 

Have no worries, I have not been all work and no play. I can assure you that I have found time for some fun. I went to a couple Cubs game with family and the best part of that being that they won both games as well. I continue to be an active member in Clean Power Lake County. I was even part of a group people from Clean Power that attended the Lunch with the Mayor at Glen Flora Country Club. Also, I got the opportunity to have a lovely brunch at Ryerson Woods in Deerfield thanks to the Woods and Wetlands Group. I really wish I could have stayed longer for that but I had to run off for a photo shoot in Waukegan. One last activity from this month was attending and photographing the Waukegan Chamber of Commerce After Hours event at the Waukegan Marina

Considering Light and Time

I'm still playing catch up on blogging. Last month, I had a couple pieces of my work exhibited as part of Bradley University Photography Society's "Considering Light and Time" fundraiser exhibition. The show ran from April 25th through April 28th on the second floor of the Heuser Art Center. Since that was a pretty slow week for me, I decided it was a good excuse to travel down to Peoria and visit for a few days.

I timed my arrival nicely with the beginning of the closing reception. The reception was a small, intimate affair with a variety of quality photographs. I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to the current head of the photography department, Maragaret LaJeune. From her I found out that the money they raised from selling the prints from the exhibit, they would be using to bring in photographers for workshops for any interested Bradley students. I think this was both a cool way of raising money and putting the money to use on campus. The only disappointment was that by the time I looked at the prints a second time, whoever had bought one of my pictures had already taken it and I did not have the opportunity to take a photo with my pieces. 

When I originally found out about this show, I had planned on having a long weekend and staying until Sunday. However, I ended up booking some work doing photography for a birthday party on Saturday night. Spending three days at Bradley felt like it was just about the perfect amount of time. Plenty of time to participate in college shenanigans and hangout with the current members of Pi Kappa Phi and some of my friends that are still in the area. 

April 2016

April was a very busy month for me and as a result I forgot to do much of anything in terms of blogging. I will work on bring more in depth posts on the last month to a screen near you very soon. I'm happy to say it was mostly my photography that kept me busy and not working at the hotel.

 I started the month with one very hectic day as I worked at the hotel and did wedding photography on short notice in the evening. The next week I worked with an event planning company called Ellis Illusions and did photography for a prom themed 30th birthday party. I really had one of those experiences where you are reminded how small the world is sometimes when I ran into the head event planner from Ellis Illusions while I was working at the hotel a little more than a week after the party.  

Right now, each job is still something that is new to me and a learning experience. I also did a headshot a few weeks ago for an employee of Premier Design + Build Group. Then last week I did engagement photos in my studio. This week the wild world of photography had me doing photography for a children's birthday. Photography for children's birthdays can really take it out of you. 

Don't worry the month wasn't all work and no play making Dylan a dull boy. I found time to have fun as well. In fact even managed to mix business and pleasure as I met some great local business owners at the Waukegan Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event at Three Brothers Theatre. A couple weeks ago me and my friends enjoyed some time in Chicago for a Cubs' game on the rooftops. I went down to Springfield with Clean Power Lake County for Lobby Day. Finally, I spent a few days visiting my alma mater, Bradley University. I had been meaning to visit for quite some time and knew the timing was right when a couple of my pieces got selected to have a couple of my pieces in the the Bradley University Photography Society's Considering Light and Time exhibition fundraiser. 

Moving Waukegan Forward: Renewable Energy

Last Thursday, I helped Clean Power Lake County with their luncheon at the Waukegan Public Library. There was a strong turn out of county and city officials as our CPLC group continues to push for a transition from the coal energy to cleaner energy like solar power. The two major speakers for our event was Andrew Baumann, vice-president of Global Strategy Group, and Sarah Wochos, co-legislative director for the Environmental Law & Policy Center. 

The Global Strategy Group is a company that conducts polling for numerous groups. In December 2015, they conducted a poll of 300 Waukegan residents about their opinion on the coal plant and the desire of people for clean power. Baumann showed that there is a strong desire that goes across political lines and demographics for moving to clean power. He even went so far as to say that some of the numbers were actually quite surprising in comparison to some polls his company has conducted.

Wochos's presentation showed that clean power is the future of power. We are continuing to see more and more states using clean power. She also suggested a few different areas in Waukegan that that could potentially be redeveloped into solar fields. She also provided other places in Chicago and Detroit that have found new life after being converted to solar fields. 

The closing remarks of the luncheon were from my alderman, David Villalobos. He continues to be a strong proponent for our group as we try to bring clean power to Waukegan and making out city green town once again. He also had a call to action for our group's trip down to Springfield on April 21. We are going to be lobbying the politicians to pass a bill for clean energy jobs in Illinois.

March 2016

I'm still trying to figure out where the month of March went. Man, did the month ever fly by quickly. While my photography has been lacking a little in terms of work during this month, I've made progress in terms of marketing my business. For one, I've started to explore a new avenue as I've started posting ads on Craigslist. For quite awhile I've scoured Craigslist looking for work, but never made the effort to post my own ads. I've gotten a decent response from my ads and gotten a few potential clients from them. Also in terms of marketing, I continued to ad my business to listings leading to my site continuing to move up in terms of SEO.

This month I didn't have any photo sessions with clients but I did do a little bit of photography from time to time. One of those projects I did was my self-portrait session where I dressed as a lumberjack. I also entered a photo of my cat in the Waukegan Park District's Pet Superstar Photo Contest. Despite my best efforts which included a bit of editing, my photo did not win. Finally on a more serious note on the last day of the month I photographed a luncheon hosted by Clean Power Lake County. I will write more at length on that in the coming days.

So far, I'm not entirely sure what the month of April is going to hold. I photographed a wedding on short notice yesterday. I'm photographing an event next Saturday and a portrait session next Sunday. Then as far as my personal life goes, I'm looking forward to the Cubs season beginning Monday. Hopefully this is the beginning of a great year for the them. Also, later in the month I'm going to Springfield with people from Clean Power Lake County to lobby for clean jobs in Illinois.  

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. 

February 2016

February was an interesting month. I ended up having two paid shoots that I got off of Thumbtack. Also, I had a free shoot that I gave away as part of a prize drawing during when I had work on display at Sidecar Studios. I'm working on editing images from a couple of those shoots and hope to have them finished up by the end of this week. I'm so happy to have some work to do during these colder months. Also, I volunteered my photography skills for the Waukegan Park District a couple nights this month and did photos for their Mother-Son Sweetheart Dance and Father-Daughter Date Night. 

This coming month, I'm not sure what exactly to expect with my photography. I'm definitely looking forward to the beginning of spring and as a result more outdoor photography. While life may become a little busier with photography, life may be a little busier this month with my other jobs.  In about a week and a half, I have orientation for Six Flags and will have to say goodbye to my beard that I've been growing the past few months. Then a week later, I'll be attending Six Flags' Leadership Summit and learning about what this coming year has in store for the park. This is also the time of year where many schools will be having spring break and as a result KeyLime Cove be getting busy and I'll be working more there.