Chicago Engagement Photographer: Andrea & Stan
Andrea & Stan were actually guests at the same table I was sitting at during Maria & Dmitry’s wedding reception, so I was totally flattered that they remembered me when it was their turn to get married.
Wanting to try a location I hadn’t shot at before, I asked them to meet me at the Art Institute of Chicago. Some of my favorite shots are below:
Portrait Shoot: Tiffany & Britt
With her sister Britt moving away to teach English in Chile, Tiffany and her sister decided to have their photos taken as a surprise gift for their Mom’s birthday coming up. =)
Taken at the Lincoln Park Conservatory, It was nice to be warm when the last few weeks haven’t given Chicago very much promising weather.
Some of my favorites:
The Best From 2009
It took me a little while, but I managed to put together a “Best Of” Archive from my 2009 weddings. Hope you enjoy and Happy Friday!!!
Engagement: Sara & Steve (My Sister!)
This past Sunday, my sister, her fiancé and I went out to the countryside -Sugar Grove, Illinois to shoot their engagement session.
I was nervous the entire time.
It’s one thing if you’re with a client when you’ve only just met them and they know you professionally…but it’s a different ballgame altogether when it’s someone that you’ve known all your life.
Someone whose shoe laces you purposely tied together cus you knew she couldn’t untie them. Someone that you’d say “EWWWWW” to when you were 8, she was 5 and your mom and dad would ask you to kiss her on the cheek for the camera.
In the end however, things worked out well and I got several sweet photos of Sara & Steve that I liked. I brought a Canon 5D Mark I and 3 lenses:
Here are my favorites and some stories behind them:
It's so subtle. It's Ninja.
Take 1: Steve was doing the sexy dance behind me while she was trying to get this right.
Take 2.
The Silly Gooses. (I know...I just don't like how Geese sounds...)
I think out of all the pictures, this one best describes Sara & Steve
The forest colors were incredible!
Then it started raining….
Fortunately it stopped and we managed to keep on shooting!
Congratulations again Sara & Steve =) I can’t wait for the wedding!
Love, Kuya
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Road Trip ‘08
Originally published November 20, 2008, I’ve re-updated this entry as I lost the original images when I changed imaging hosts…
After my last wedding of the season, my friend Joseph drove down from Lansing, Michigan to Chicago. He had quit his job and was moving to Los Angeles, driving the entire way.
This is my photography from that journey.
- Wheat Fields On The Way To Kansas
After spending some time in Kansas we then continued onto Denver Colorado, but not before seeing Giant Windmills for the first time in my life. At 4 stories high, they’re much more grand to see in person.
- Kansas Windmill At Sunset
I was greeted by beautiful Landscape Imagery when we reached Colorado:
- Colorado Landscape
Majestic views abound simply just driving down the highway:
Majesty
- Smokey Mountain
After a certain point it started snowing…the weather got rough, but the sunsets were equally as beautiful:
- Early Snow In Colorado.
- Sunset In Colorado
Going through Colorado, we eventually made it to Utah where the scenery was a little more arid:
- Utah Landscape
I decided to try and make a cool looking photo, but don’t try this at home…I was holding my D3 out the window of a moving car at 75 when I took this…
- Cool Moving Car Picture (Don’t Try This At Home!!!)
While In Utah we stayed at the Butch Cassidy Inn!
- Weathervane
Leaving the Utah Mountain Range and Going Into Arizona, I shot this out the backseat window:
We stayed in Vegas for a couple of days and while there we went to see the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon Skywalk:
- Hoover Dam
- Hoover Dam Statue
- Grand Canyon On The Way to the Skywalk
- More Arizona Landscape
For those of you that don’t know…I have a tremendous fear of heights…and a 20mm lens hides the fact that I’m actually 2-3 feet away from a 4,000 foot sheer drop (for reference…the tallest building in the U.S. – The Sears Tower, is 1,500 feet high):
- 4,000 Foot Drop
As much as I wanted to photograph the view from the skywalk, I wasn’t allowed to bring my camera onto the walk. Apparently according to the attraction heads, the glass floor is made up of several panes consisting of bulletproof glass. Made in Germany and costing $10,000 dollars per pane, the attraction didn’t want to risk someone dropping anything that might chip the the glass.
I got a picture of myself with Joe on the Skywalk, which I’ll add to this later. Let me tell you though that having a fear of heights doesn’t help when you’re on a platform made of glass overlooking a 4000 foot drop….
- The Skywalk at Grand Canyon
Our last day in Arizona, I managed to grab a shot that felt fitting as we left and drove 4 hours to Los Angeles:
- Leaving Arizona
I stayed in L. A. from Thursday to Sunday afternoon. One afternoon I got to hit up a Los Angeles Beach and see the Sunset.
- My First Sunset in California
Someday I’ll be back =)
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One Morning In Brooklyn
When you start photography (digital, not necessarily film), you shoot for numbers. The statistics are in your favor. You shoot and experiment and see what turns out. If you like it, you keep it. If you don’t, delete.
They say however that when a photographer reaches a certain point, they become one with their camera; they know their camera so well that the image is already captured and finalized before the camera is ever touched. That one image is all that they will ever need.
It’s a moment of clarity and inspiration that is a huge step in the development of a photographer’s abilities and career.
This was that image for me.
The very first image where for that split second before the composition and the click, I knew in my mind what I wanted in the image, and how it would look.
It is now one of my favorite images of all time, one of my inspirations to keep my photography skills going.
And I couldn’t be any happier =)
