For those of you who don’t already know, Stephanie and I moved the studio down the block a few months back. We’re now at 306 Lincoln Hwy. and loving every bit of it. We now have window space allowing me to see the day pass and a nicer store area which helps a ton. Plus our viewing room size doubled.

But when you double the space, you have to double other things, like the size of our viewing tv. Luckily I found a great deal on a 61″ HDTV not that long ago. As you can see, it fits pretty nicely into the room.

We’re still upgrading a ton of things around the studio. First was the ceiling rail system I finally got to install. I love not having the lights on the floor anymore. Makes me feel like I have so much more space.

The displays are definitely a work in progress. I’ll promise to shoot better, more professional photos when everything is finished, but these snap shots will have to work for the time being. Take a look here for a ton more.

Kati came in for her senior portrait session today. Had such fun shooting it with her. One thing I love is when someone isn’t afraid to point out something they’d like to do. Kati was more than willing to offer her own suggestions during the shoot, which was phenomenal. It made things so easy going and I knew she was getting stuff that she’d like in the end. Here were some of my favorites from the day so far, but they’re mostly of stuff I don’t normally shoot, which is probably why I liked them so much. We’ll have plenty more when she comes in for her viewing and ordering session next week.

Sometimes our seniors just do things, when we’re messing with the camera and then they stop when I bring the camera back to my head. And then sometimes I say, “no no no….continue doing what you were doing.” This was one of those perfect moments.

I went ahead and shot this for the heck of it. I realize when I shoot some types of portraits, they’ll never hang in someone’s home at 16×20 or larger, but hey, like I told Kati, they can’t all be smiling and plain photos.

Because I used a big aperture on this portrait you can’t really see the self portrait she did of herself, but I thought it was really cool. Definitely showed her artistic side.

Here’s some color images. The playground we used certainly suited everyone’s personalities that day. A great playful group of people.

I normally wouldn’t have shot this photo the way I did, but I’m so glad I did. I think it turned out great. There’s times where I try to force so many things, but in the end, I just kind of let this photo happen instead of trying to do something crazy with it.

I normally don’t care for the look of Catholic Churches. It’s not that they’re ugly, but they’re generally underlit, very yellow and remind you of you’re grandparents for some reason. Not this church. Fresh, clean, with tons of overhead filtered light.

Nothing says party like a little suspender limbo.

Just a backlit dance photo, but I liked the burst of light for once. The rest of the photos will have to wait at least three or four weeks though. We’ve got a few weddings ahead of the Meghan and Fred, so maybe from time to time I’ll post a new one just to keep you a little interested.

Congrats to the both of  you. Stephanie and I wish you many happy fun-filled years.

I wanted to make two posts of the Steck-Morales wedding we shot this past weekend. I’ve no Meghan for 9 or so years, ever since college. It’s actually one of Steph’s sorority sisters and good friends, so you might even recognize Stephanie in some of the photos. I’ve known Fred a little less, but they are such an awesome couple. Fred’s speech during dinner was one of the best ‘groom’s speeches’ I’ve ever heard at a wedding. A great group of people to be friends with and definitely head over heels about each other.

These are just a few previews of what’s to come later down the road when I can get caught up. This first post are my favorite black and white images thus far and the next post will be all color. The first image was from our stop at the Crystal Lake Beach.

I caught Meghan’s mom in the dressing room showing off her dance skills. I’m not sure if she knew I even snapped this photos, but I loved the action and candidness of it.

I dont’ think I’ve ever seen Fred without a smile on his face. The morning of his wedding was certainly no different.

I’ve also known the maid of honor Erin for about the same amount of time. She takes the Boy Scouts approach to weddings. “Always be prepared.” Her emergency tackle box certainly showed that.

Fred has a really fun group of guys to hangout with. It didn’t take too much convincing to tease.

Despite a somewhat dreary start to the day, it actually turned out fairly decent. Enough so to catch a great exit photo with bubbles.

Meant to post this much earlier today, but things got in the way. Since I’m primarily editing Tye and Sarah’s photos, I’ll be putting up a one-image preview every now and then until their viewing/ordering session, which is hopefully going to be next week if we can find the time and they have an afternoon or evening free. For now, you’ll just have to settle for a few glimpses here or there.

I got the opportunity to shoot with the Jozefowicz family tonight and had a blast. Both adorable kids and well behaved beyond belief. These were my two favorites from tonight, but they have a ton of great photos from the session that we’ll hopefully be able to share early next week. Don’t forget to book your family sessions before it gets unbearably hot this summer.

I was actually doing this photo of just the Tracy and Greg and I told the kids to just run up and give them a kiss when I said to. Mom and Dad had no idea what the kids were doing, but it worked out great. I loved that things like this get you a nice natural smile from everyone and it’s just different than the ‘stand here and pose’ shots. You still have to do those shots, but why not have a little fun too.

As I’ve mentioned, wedding season has shifted into overdrive and we’re off and running with it. But since we’ve moved the studio and have a lot more drive-by traffic than normal, we’ve also picked up a lot of family portraits recently. It’s so fun getting to know people around getting to work with their families. The Marsden family was no exception. Had an absolute blast and hope they had fun too. To keep kids at ease and having fun, I always ask them to do a few goofy photos and this is one of my favs.

If you’d like to see  a few more from their portrait session, take a look here.

Wedding season is officially here. We’ve already done a few on the year, but what we consider our ‘official season’ is in full force and it couldn’t come at a better time. I’ve been really excited to shoot with our bridal parties and yesterday’s Kromphardt/Carew Wedding couldn’t have gone any better. Everything from the people to the weather were perfect.

You have to enjoy working with people that are there to have a good time. Both groomsmen and bridesmaids were just looking to have a lot of fun.

Probably my absolute favorite image from the wedding thus far.

Gorgeous church might I add.

Gorgeous bride as well. Amanda and Brian were so laid back and easy going it made the day great. Can’t wait to have them back in the studio for a full viewing in the next few weeks or so.

Head on over to Flickr to see a few more photos or check out our Facebook page. We’ll be adding some as we go.

I posted a few preview photos of Tye & Sarah’s wedding awhile back, but since I’m actually editing everything finally, I thought I’d post a few more. And this time they’re from my collection instead of Steph’s photos.

I never miss a chance to get a good rings shot. It’s sometimes hard coming up with ideas for the rings, especially when I feel I’m forcing the idea, instead of just letting it happen, but this one was easy to spot.

And the previous photo couples well with this one.

This was a great way moment from the wedding. Sarah and her friends have a whole backstory with this garbage can, but I imagine she’s want to tell you about it herself.

There are a few more photos over on our Flickr page if you’re interested in taking a look. It won’t be terribly long and we’ll have their phtoos edited up.

Every once in awhile you get to meet someone so fascinating you could literally spend hours just talking to them. Dr. Neulip goes in my top 5 most interesting people I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking to. There are so many stories he shared with me in the short 45-minute span I was at his office for. There was the time he ‘played’ doctor as an intern because his boss had to leave the country. There was the time he had his foot crushed by a cow. And I can’t forget about the time he told me he tried shaking a snake to life. Such interesting stories from a man who lived a good yet simple life.

I think the most fascinating thing about him is simply his personality. He’s grateful and unabashedly forgiving. One of his quotes I got while talking with him was, “People have been so damned nice to me. I just don’t know why.”

I thought about this for a long time and think I might have the answer. It’s because he subscribes to the Golden Rule. He treats everyone and every animal with respect. He’s not afraid to do the right thing or at least try to do the right thing. And more importantly, I don’t think the man has ever harbored a grudge.

While my parents have always taught me never to let money be my God, Dr. Neulip gave me a stark reminder of that during the interview. If he could give one piece of advice to anyone, I think it would be that. He’s never let money guide him through anything.

“And look at everything I’ve had,” he said.

While it may not look like much to the average person, he was unbelievably proud of his business, his office and all he worked for.

Not bad for a guy who used to troll the alleys of Chicago Heights looking for broken toys to fix after Christmas. Those were his Christmas gifts.