Addison | 6 Months

If you follow me much, you know that I don’t normally use props during sessions. However, when a client owns props that they would like to incorporate into their session, I’m more than happy to work with them to make that happen. So when Addison’s mother told me while we were planning the shoot that she had some props that she was interested in bringing, I was interested to see what she brought along. Clearly, she made good decision on props that gave us a variety of looks for this milestone session.

This session happened in early July and Addison was actually closer to 7 months old by the time this session happened rather than 6 months old. Then again you’d be none the wiser if I had not mentioned it. Originally this session was planned for mid June, but ended up getting reschedule since the weather on that day was looking to be on the cooler side with a chance of rain as well. Then, with both our schedules we didn’t have a time that worked for everyone until a few weeks later since there was a period where we traded off time out of town.

Miller Family

Back in the day, I would go to Maria semi regularly to get my haircut. These days I go elsewhere, but I keep up to date on what she’s up to thanks to the fact she cuts my mum hair still and also through Facebook. Prior to this portrait session, I had only heard stories about Maria’s family from her and had never met them. She was inspired to get schedule a portrait session since her daughter and granddaughter, who live in Hawaii, were in town.

This portrait session took place at the beginning of July at the home of Maria and her family in Winthrop Harbor. A couple aspects of this session did not quite go as planned. First there was my plan was mainly to have this session outdoors. However, after being outside for a few minutes, we realized the mosquitoes were worse than expected. So after getting a few different groupings in the yard, we decided it would probably be better to scurry inside for a reprieve from the mosquitoes and take most the remaining photos indoors. Also for this session, we were short one member of the Miller family as their son was unable to make it home from work in time. All in all, I’m happy with how the photos turned out from this session and thankful that Maria wanted me to photograph her family.

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

August 2019

My photography work for the month of August came over the first couple weekends of the month. And maybe even by the end of the month of September I’ll be caught up on posting and give a more in depth story of my August photography gigs. For now I’ll tell you that the first Saturday of the month, I traveled to Indiana to photograph a wedding. Then, I felt blessed that the second weekend of August because I did not have to travel far from home for my photography gigs that were both in Waukegan. First, on that Saturday I photographed a birthday part for a three year old’s birthday. Then on Sunday, I photographed a wedding over at Bowen Park.

My social life was rather quiet during the month of August. Lately, I’ve been opting for staying in and working on my business rather than going out. These days growing my business is my top priority so it’s probably going to be mostly the same for my social life in September. The only social event that’s on the agenda for this month is birthday party for my downstairs neighbors’ daughter, Ely. Other than that during a game night this past weekend, there was talk of having another game night later in the month.

I’m happy to say that my schedule for photography in September is a bit more busy than my personal life. I have one weekend that is very busy in the middle of the month. On Friday the 13th, I will be heading up to Osh Kosh, WI, to photograph a wedding. Then the next day I have two events on my schedule with most my day spent in Chicago at the Field Museum photographing Faith in Place’s Green Team Summit and VIP reception. Once that’s finished, I’ll have to see how quickly I can make my way back to Waukegan to take photos at a birthday party. Other than that busy weekend, I may have a couple family sessions the last weekend of the month.

Eliza and Niko | Prom

At one point I was thinking about doing mini sessions for prom at Bowen Park, but I ended up dragging my feet and it didn’t end up happening. Maybe if I don’t have any sessions scheduled for the day of prom, I’ll do it this coming year. Luckily for Eliza and Niko, they were only couple that I was doing prom portraits for this year because they ended up running a late in getting to the park. Also, we were fortunate that the rain held off and we were able to get their session in before it hit.

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.

July 2019

The month of July was certainly more of a month of work than play. There were a few times where my photography took me took familiar territory. With the first gig of this month it was the fact that I was photographing my former hairdresser, Maria, and her family. The next two gigs the familiarity sprung from the fact that they took place at a location, Bowen Park, that I’ve been to on numerous occasions. Granted, they could not have been two more different jobs. The first was a 6-month milestone portrait session that had originally been planned for June, but ended up getting pushed back due to the weather. To contrast with that, the other work I did at Bowen was capturing a wedding ceremony.

The end of the month ended up being a little busy for me as I had three different photo jobs in the last week. Last Friday I had motivation to get my studio space back in order as I had someone stop by to get some basic photos for a modeling portfolio. Then on Saturday, I traveled up to the Menomonee Falls, WI area to photograph a wedding. To close out the month, I had a portrait session for a pet turtle of all things at Bevier Park. I’m trying to get back more into blogging and tell you at least about some of this different shoots that I had in July.

As previously stated, my social life was certainly more low key during this month especially when compared to last month. The most noteworthy social time was the second weekend of July. The weekend started a little early for me as I took Friday off since it was the day a bench at the Waukegan Public Library was getting dedicated to my maternal grandparents. The next day, I checked out Scoop the Loop with some friends since it was happening in downtown Waukegan. Finally, I closed out that weekend on Sunday by getting together for game night. Other than one busy weekend I didn’t have too much going on in my social life.

Currently I don’t have much planned for the month of August. The only things on my schedule are photography gigs the next two weekends. First, there’s a wedding that I’m photographing tomorrow in Crown Point, IN. Then, I have a party that I’m doing photography for the following weekend. Meanwhile, I don’t have any definitive plans as far as social engagements. I’m debating whether to catch a concert or two, but there is nothing definitive at the moment. Well, until next time. hope all is well.

June 2019

We are a week away from the end of July yet I haven’t made a post with an update about my month of June. This month ended up being a month of more work than play for me. In fact, the majority of my photo work was done on June 1st if I’m going to be honest with everyone. This was the day where I began my day by participating in the Dandelion Wine Fine Arts Festival. Heading into that day, I was unsure whether I’d be partaking since the weather wasn’t looking too good and my favorite European soccer team, Liverpool F.C., was playing in the U.E.F.A. Champions League Final. In the end, I resolved that I would have a little lighter setup than past years in case it did rain and so I could leave a little early so I could catch Liverpool playing in the finals.

June 1st was also the day that I had an engagement session with a recent Navy graduate and his fiancée. Initially, we had planned on having this session at Bevier Park, but my clients looked for a different location since the weather forecast for their session looking ominous. They ended up getting permission to have the session at their hotel, the Inn at Market Square. The other bit of shooting I did during this month was volunteer work for Clean Power Lake County’s Environmental Justice Rally. June also saw a couple potential clients get a hold of me, but didn’t quite find the time to make sessions happen during the month of June.

Most of my fun during June was going to a couple of music festivals and a show. The first festival I went to was Spring Awakening, which was in Hoffman Estates for the first time this year. It was nice getting to hang out with my friends that I normally go to shows with as well as actually getting to catch up with a friend from college on Sunday. Then a week later, I got a last second invite from a friend to catch Dead & Company playing at Wrigley Field. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into the show, but I ended up being so happy I accepted the invite because I had a blast. Finally, my month of June closed out by once again taking the trek up to Rothbury, MI, for Electric Forest. I really enjoyed the group that made it out this year and I think we all had a blast.

Chi.Shooters x We Out Here Gallery Photo Meet Up

I didn’t have a ton on my schedule this week so it allowed me the opportunity to get caught on some photography that I did on the side. These photos are all the way from the beginning of March from when Chi.Shooters and We Out Here Gallery hosted a photo meet up and silent auction of prints by Chicago photographers. It was really cool getting to see some of the work from local photographers and getting to take photos of some awesome models during this event. I took a ton of photos during this event and would have taken even more if I hadn’t run out of space on my memory card.

April & May 2019

My April and May were two distinctly different months in terms of work. April was tame with very little in terms of work related to my business. I started the month of April by participating in Wauk the Mall over at Belvidere Mall. This was an event that opened up vacant store space to local artists in a variety of different mediums, had a variety of bands performing in the space that used to the arcade, and even opened up the nonoperational movie theater so people could even check that out. A couple weeks after that, I was once again a part of ArtWauk as my exhibition, “Current Hesitations”, was still at Undercroft Gallery. The lone gig I had in the month of April was photography at Illinois Beach State Park for a 50th wedding anniversary celebration.

Meanwhile, the month of May provided me with a variety of interesting gigs. On the first Saturday of May, I had a couple gigs. I actually started off my day by setting up for Wauk the Mall and then leaving for a different photo gig I had at the American Legion in Fox Lake. I went out that way for a 90th birthday party to get a family portrait since it was one of those rare times where everyone in the family was in town. After that, I headed back to Wauk the Mall to work the photo booth that I had setup. I was actually pleasantly surprised with how I did with the photo booth, especially considering the fact that attendance overall was down compared to the previous month.

The following week took an interesting turn as I ended up picking up some gigs on short notice. Going into the first full week of May, the only thing on my schedule was going down to Springfield on Thursday to do photography for Faith in Place of Lobby Day and a prom portrait session for a couple on Saturday. Then, early on in the week I ended up picking up a couple gigs doing some local real estate photography. I also ended up being hired to do a group photo of the employees at the Social Security Administration as a going away gift for one of them. The final surprise of that week was getting contacted by someone interested in buying my photo of the lighthouse at Waukegan beach.

The week that followed was quiet in regards to photography, which was nice because it allowed me the opportunity to get caught up a bit. Then, once again I got some more pleasant surprises in the form of work to finish off the month of May. I got contacted to do a couple more real estate gigs. Also, I had the awesome opportunity to be the second photographer for John Welsh of Welsh Studios over Memorial Day weekend. The ceremony was at St. Peter Catholic Church in Antioch and the reception took place at DoubleTree by Hilton Libertyville - Mundelein. It was a very beautiful wedding day and hope to work with John again in the future.

Meanwhile on the social front, life has been fairly calm with me getting out on occasion to have fun. I feel like over the last couple months, I’ve hung out a bit with all my different groups of friends at one point or another. I got to hang out with my friends from high school back in April when I joined them in celebrating my friend Raul’s birthday with going out to eat at Lazy Dog and having some fun over at Dave & Buster’s. Also, I’ve gotten together with my game night friends for a few rounds of wildly contest games. And finally, over Memorial Day weekend I went to Summer Camp Music Festival with my friends who are into electronic music.