I can't believe that this maternity session happened 3 weeks ago now. I remember being persistent about keeping an eye on the weather in hopes of having a beautiful sunset photo session on the beach. While the weather itself was a little on the cool side, we were blessed with some gorgeous late in the day light for this session.
May was a month where I'm tried to take steps to help me to achieve my goals. One such step was creating a routine for weekdays. My ideal weekday begins with a run to the harbor and back as the sun is rising. Then, I spend my time wandering and exploring to get a photo for the day. The remaining time is spent getting ready for starting my workday at 9 a.m. This could really be anything from catching up on the late night shows to eating breakfast to showering to going through the photos from this morning. After a long weekend away for Summer Camp Music Festival, I'm trying to get back into this routine once again.
I got a few photo gigs during May but I haven't gotten around to posting about them yet. One of the gigs was a maternity shoot at Waukegan beach. Also, I travelled down to Chicago and took some pictures for the an organization called Spread the Hug. Then this week, I got my studio back into shape and opened it up for cap and gown photo sessions. The only person I got to take photos of was my sister, but it was still nice to finally clean up my studio. Also, maybe I'll manage to get some high school seniors yet or even manage to draw in some 8th graders from down their promotion at the Genesee Theatre on Wednesday.
Now what can you expect from me this month? Well, this Saturday I'm signed up for a booth at the Dandelion Wine Fine Arts Festival. Unfortunately, with it looking like the weather calling for rain and thunderstorms , I'm leaning towards to participating. Later in the month, I am seriously considering participating in ArtWauk once again. Hopefully, this time we can actually get listed on the map and draw people down a little further north on Genesee. Finally, later in the month I'm looking forward to going to the first weekend of Electric Forest.
This will be the last of my long overdue posts and hopefully the last time that I delay posting photos for so long after a session on here. As I had said in a previous post, there was a time when my schedule was very busy with non-photography work and as a result I never got around to posting these on here. These days, my schedule is less busy and I'm trying to catch up on past work as well as trying to get new business.
Similarly to now, my schedule was pretty open when this photo session. Obviously, one of the few perks of having an open schedule is being able to take last minute bookings. That was the case with this session as I was contacted only a couple days ahead of time. It was really great getting to photograph Deidre, Benjamin, and their daughter. You really see the love of this family in their photos.
Back in February during campaign season, I was hired by my friend, Alex Morgan, to do some photography for his campaign for 3rd ward alderman in Evanston. I first met Alex when he was the community organizer for Clean Power Lake County, which is a local environmental. While he may have moved on from that job, he still stops in sometimes to help Clean Power. When he first contacted me about this photo gig, I had some nerves seeing as it had been awhile since the last time I had done portrait photography. He helped to calm those doubts when he told me that he just wanted my creative eye.
Unfortunately, his campaign was not a victorious one in the end. It was always going to be a tough race to win since he was going against an incumbent that has held the position for the past 20 years. Knowing Alex well, I'm sure experiencing this loss will just be a slight hiccup. Instead this will only push him to work harder for what he believes in.
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.
Last week, I photographed my first courthouse wedding. Despite doing a number of weddings in the past, I have yet to do preparations photos. I certainly did not expect that this would be one where I'd get much of an opportunity to do so. I ended up being wrong in this regard. As we arrived at the courtroom and the couple got some help from judge and the officer for the final touches for the ceremony.
The ceremony itself was brief but emotional. The bride welled up with tears of joy the moment the judge began the ceremony. Prior to the ceremony, I had a location in mind for some portraits. The judge helped by reaffirming this location when he suggested it as well. It's always nice when things go according to plan.
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.
Over the last few months, I've spent a lot of time editing photos but haven't found the time to go through my images and post them. Since over the last few weeks my life has been a little less busy, I've finally found time to finally get caught up. That folks is why even with it feeling like winter outside and summer seeming like a distant memory, I am posting these photos now. I wanted to say that these photos took me to places far and wide, but the reality is that for the majority time I was in Lake County. The lone exception was a sweet sixteen party in Chicago that was planned by Ellis Illusions.
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.
In early November, I had a photo shoot with the Larsen family and the newest addition to their family, Rocky. There was definitely some of the crying and fussing that you can expect from a photo session that includes a newborn. Overall, the little guy was fairly cooperative throughout the session.
