Christine & Ronnie

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of tagging along for the roller coaster ride that was Christine and Ronnie's wedding :) Never before have I seen two people so passionately in love with each other - the pictures really showed it!

I first met Christine at her hotel - the Hilton Garden Inn in Des Plaines, IL. I made sure to get candids of her getting ready plus some shots with her and the girls. I was also able to meet her mother and father, both of which were very kind and welcoming. After a quick session at the hotel, I headed off to the church to meet the guys.







Ronnie seemed to be rushing around a lot when I got to the church. I'd never before seen a groom run around so much, and couldn't exactly quite pinpoint what was going on. Ronnie pulled me aside and explained the situation. Because of the crazy storm we had gotten the Thursday before the wedding, all of the flooding in the area caused their original reception hall to be without power. They were given phone numbers of other places, but had a difficult time finding one because of power outages and flooding. A hall was secured, however, and the lovely couple was going to have their reception at the Crystal Palace Banquets in Park Ridge, IL.

Here was the catch: the bride had no idea any of this had happened.

We went ahead and took pictures with Ronnie and the guys, but found that there was little time left before the ceremony to take group pictures with them. We opted to take these pictures later on.

Christine arrived and looked even lovlier than when she did at the hotel (if that's even possible). Her smile seemed to have grown since I left the hotel :) The ceremony, I must admit, gave me chills. I think they did a fantastic job choosing the music. Christine walked down the aisle to a different version of "Come What May" from Moulin Rouge, sung by Ewan McGregor. The minor key arrangement of the song was the perfect touch, in my opinion :)





After the ceremony, we took family group shots. I was informed that Christine had been told about the change in plans, and that she took it rather well. In fact, she still looked just as lovely and happy as she did walking down the aisle. It seemed as though she was just happy to be married and to have Ronnie by her side (made me think a little "awwwww" to myself). After finishing the pictures, I followed the newlyweds over to the fountain located at the intersection of Higgins and River roads in Rosemont, IL. I couldn't have been more excited about a location, and have to admit that I had a little bit of help from mother nature with the sun beginning to set.

My only wish is that I could post all of the pictures from this session! Christine and Ronnie had such chemistry and personality that it made it extremely easy for me to capture fantastic images of moments that they shared.











The videographer and I took a route to the reception hall that was recommended to us - River road to Dempster (and that's it). Unfortunately, River road had since been closed (I'd driven down it in the morning without the issue), and the detours had unmarked detours. Needless to say, we ended up getting lost. I grabbed my emergency phone numbers list and immediately started calling every number on it. Nobody answered. Yikes!

Eventually though, I received a call from Janice, Christine's mom, and she helped me find the hall. She told me that I had arrived only about five minutes after Christine and Ronnie. I left my car sitting in the front of the restaurant with the intention of moving it later. Christine's friend, whose name escapes me (she was so sweet!), was kind enough to take and have my car vallet parked for me. Thank you again!!

The rest of the evening, while it wasn't what was originally planned, went smoothly and beautifully. Christine and Ronnie had fun from what I could see, as did their guests. The night ended with the couple changing clothes and having a sparkler send off.










Congratulations, Christine and Ronnie! Thank you so much for having me be a part of your day. I truly hope that the rest of your lives together continues to be as exciting as your wedding day was... though perhaps a little more relaxing ;)

Moving forward

Today was somewhat of a landmark day in a way. First thing I did was open up my very first business banking account for my company!!! Next, I received my paperwork for my business insurance, which includes overseas traveling and such... this means that next year for the wedding I'm scheduled to shoot in Puerto Rico, I'm covered!!!! Hopefully the wedding in Jamaica will be a green light - I'll find out for sure in a couple of weeks :)

Anyway, things are continuing to go well for the business :) I couldn't be more excited, proud and eager to continue working my butt off. Hopefully though, I'll manage to fit some kind of a vacation in somewhere along the line - I could really use one ;)

Theresa & Victor

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of doing the photography work for Theresa and Victor. I arranged the photo session with Theresa through Wedplan.

The wedding ceremony for these two very kind people was held at the Lincoln Park Conservatory in Chicago. When I arrived, almost nobody was on the grounds where the ceremony was to be held, and the sky was rather overcast. Actually, it looked as though it were about to storm. In the middle of setting up for the wedding, suddenly the clouds cleared, and I had a very harsh 11 o'clock sun to battle with.

Regardless, I was able to obtain some very lovely shots :)

Victor introduced himself to me as I stood and studied the group of guests around me. I took him off to the side and began his portrait session. I managed to catch a few shots of other guests around as well, though my favorite pictures were of the adorable flower girl.








I found out that Theresa had arrived, and so I went over to a group of trees that hid her to take some pictures before the ceremony. I told her that we would take some more solo pictures after the ceremony finished when there was more time.

The ceremony flew by, and I did my best to get as many interesting shots as I could, while also capturing the important parts. We gathered everyone together afterwards to get quite a few group shots, and I have to say, the entire group seemed to have had the grouping thing down pact. I barely had to do any people arranging!

We sent everyone on their way, and took Theresa, her sister, Victor, and his best man to take some pictures together. Before I knew it, we were finished, and everyone would be on their way.

Congratulations, Theresa and Victor! Thank you very much for making me a part of your day, and the best of luck to the two of you in your new life together :)

Amy's Trash the Dress Session

Before Starting the topic of this blog, I wanted to say that I shot another wedding this past Sunday that I have not edited together yet. To Theresa and Victor - congratulations, and I'll have some pictures to share with you very soon!!!

Monday, I did a trash the dress session with an old high school friend of mine, Amy, who just got married this past May. Amy's mother came along for the session, too. I have to say, I laughed harder than I've laughed in a long time. Amy was such a wonderful person to work with for this project, and I'm so glad we had the chance to do this before she moves to Spain for good.

The shoot took place in Chicago around Navy Pier, State Street and the Ohio Street Beach. While the session is titled trash the dress, it was more of a wet the dress and pick trashy locations to shoot any wearing the dress. She was a trooper though :)

Congratulations on all of life's changes, Amy. I truly hope you enjoy your photos!

Jolene & Mark

Yesterday, I worked for Essence Photo and Video for a wedding. The biggest bonus of my day yesterday was the fact that everything was 5 minutes from my house :) Everyone was a lot of fun, easy to work with, and very helpful.

For a bride who claimed that she wasn't fond of taking pictures, I must say, Jolene was quite photogenic and beautiful! Her bridesmaids were all lovely as well, and had wonderful personalities :)








Mark, the groom, and the groomsmen were all a lot of fun to work with too. I tried to make the whole picture process as quick and painless as possible for them. Hopefully it wasn't too bad for them. The humor that came from the group made this mini session very enjoyable.






On to the ceremony. The ceremony and reception both took place at the Klein Creek Country Club in Winfield, IL. The grounds were lovely, and the sun lit the altar area perfectly (although it did make the temperature MUCH hotter). The ceremony was short, but I could certainly tell how much Mark and Jolene truly cared for each other. I managed to capture Jolene's dad in a particularly emotional moment, too.






Because of the heat and the brightnes of the sun, I did my best to take as many pictures in the shade as possible, including one of the bridal party immediately after they all met at the end of the aisle at the ceremony's end.




The rest of the night was a great time filled with laughing, dancing, drinking and hugs. Jolene and Mark, I wish you the best of luck in your new lives together!

News from behind the camera

I've been doing a lot of writing about the shoots that I've done after I've finished them. It's been a while since I last wrote about things going on in my career. I just sold my first art print last week! The woman who purchased it told me that it was going to be an auction piece to help raise money for charity. It really made me feel good to have my work go towards a good cause. Thank you, Karen, for thinking of me so highly!

This week coming up is going to be a busy one for me. I have two weddings this weekend, followed by a trash the dress session on Monday. I've booked a photo session with a local band for next month, and am really pressing forward with my L.L.C. It's a very exciting time for me right now.

So when I'm not working on all of this photography stuff, I'm working the chopper job for ABC. I still absolutely love it after 5 months of being here :) I have to say though, as neat of a job as it is and as people perceive it to be, it is rather trying at times on my emotions. We rarely fly over anything that has a positive outcome. We oftentimes serve as an airborne news truck because we can oftentimes get to the scene faster while staying out of the way of authorities.

Last week, though, I realized that we can be so much more than that. We were called to a water rescue search at Lake Michigan downtown. A little girl was swept out by the undertow, and the coast guard had been searching for at least an hour by the time we arrived. We started out by getting a few shots of the scene, and then tried to help the coast guard find the little girl. That day, I had two pilots rather than just one. The lead pilot spotted something red in the water. We notified the coast guard, and when they got to it, it turned out to be a large red shirt. Shortly after that, I saw something large and blue in the water that looked like a body to me. The three of us talked about it, and decided that the figure was too large to be a 6 year old girl. The lead pilot told the coast guard about the find anyway, and we continued our end of the search. Ten minutes or so later, the coast guard went to the figure we found, and it was the little girl.

They rushed her body to shore, administering cpr all the while. I had absolutely no control over the tears that streamed down my face, and hoped that by some miracle, they could revive her. I saw the rescue team rush her body to the ambulance that sat nearby. After they closed the doors, the ambulance didn't budge. I figured that they had pronounced her dead on scene.

The three of us (me and my two pilots) made our way to a nearby airport to refuel so we could return to base. None of us said too much on our way there. We saw the coast guard at the airport, and talked with them for a while about the incident. We found out more about it, but also were able to change the topic and feel better about what we'd just witnessed.

In the end, the little girl did die. Another little girl was rushed out of the water and died a couple of days later, too. It was said that the beach this happened on was a restricted beach because of the strong undertow that was common there.

On a lighter side of things, I just met with some of the management from the studio for lunch yesterday, along with my base manager and ther other camera operator for the chopper. It was definitely an honor to get to meet them and to talk to them about the way that things are going. Sometime in the near future, they'd like us to come into the station to meet everyone that we talk to on the radios everyday.

Anyway, that's my professional life at the moment. I have to say, I'm pretty excited with the way things have been going, and definitely proud of everything I've accomplished in such a short period of time.

Kristen and Tad

When I walked into Kristen's house yesterday, she greeted me with a bright eyed smile and a very happy "hello." I instantly knew that she would be a very beautiful bride. Her mother greeted me with a warm hug. Something told me that this wedding would be different from all the others. It was.

We began the day with some detail shots, a bridal session, and shots of the girls. Kristen's mother had a photograph from her wedding day that she asked me to replicate. I did my best, and hope that they are happy with the results :)








I made my way to the church, St. Joseph Church in Addison, IL (which is also a school), to get some pictures with the guys and also of the church. The priest really rushed me, which kind of stinks. He also placed quite a few restrictions on me that really prevented me from getting some of the shots I'd have liked to have taken, but to be honest, I did expect it. These rules are pretty common in a Catholic church.






The ceremony was very nice though, and ended before I knew it. We took our pictures at the altar as quickly as we could, and headed off to a nearby park.

When I got to the park, I thought that I had miscommunicated with Kristen - they weren't there! I called Kristen's maid of honor (her sister), and asked if I was in the right place. Kristen talked to me on the phone and told me I was fine, and that they'd meet me there shortly, which they did.

I have to say, never before have I had such a lively bridal party. Everyone was so full of energy and FUN! :) They really helped make this part of the day go by much more smoothly. Thank you, everyone!!!








The reception was held at the Empress Banquets in Addison, IL (sorry, there's no web page for this hall). I'd never shot there, and I knew that I had an upcoming wedding this December at this hall, so I was pretty excited that Kristen and Tad's reception was there.

What a beautiful reception! Kristen and Tad's room was just beautiful. The hall surprised the couple with complimentary chair covers which were all white. It made the entire room have this incredibly elegant feel to it.





Before we knew it, the night was over! Everyone had so much fun from what I could see. After I put my equipment into my car, I made a round around the room to say goodbye to everyone. Sadly, I wasn't able to find Kristen's mother or Tad's father to say goodbye. If you both are reading this, thank you so much for your kindness, and congratulations to you, too!

Lastly, congratulations, Kristen and Tad. I truly hope you both know what wonderful people you both are, and how truly wonderful you are together! The best of luck and happiness to you both, and of course, CONGRATULATIONS!!!