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: Tiffany & Sebastian

Tiffany and Sebastian met through co-workers and friends, hanging out at bars and drinking.

What made this different though is that while everyone would be happy just chatting away with casual smalltalk and conversation, Tiffany & Sebastian would have serious conversations in the corner of the bar.  Nothing was off topic.  From Politics to Religion, the conversations they would have were not the usual barfare

Things blossomed on their own from there =).

It was incredible working with Tiffany and Sebastian.  They were so incredibly patient while I ran around and worked like a fool to set up my shots =)  Thank you guys so much!

Locations:

Harold Washington Library

Chicago Cultural Center

Chicago’s Shore

Gear:

Canon 5d Mark I

16-35mm f/2.8 L II

50mm f/1.2 L

85mm f/1.2 L II

Nikon D3

Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8

Onto the images:

We went first to the Harold Washington Library’s Winter Garden:

While shooting, Tiffany randomly found a Post-It note with the words “Smile:  =)” on them.

We put it to good use:

Since we were at a library after all, we decided to make use of the books also =D:

Along with that we did some fun things with the rest of the library:

Finishing up with the Library, we then went to the Chicago Cultural Center:

And finally to the shoreline in Chicago that could show a skyline at night =)

Congratulations again you guys!!!  I can’t wait for the wedding in September!!!

In The Still Of The Night….

“Inner Soul“

Camera:  Nikon D3
Lens:  80-200mm 2.8
Settings:  ISO 800 1/15

Fashion Shoot: Vicky

My friend Christopher and I scouted out and shot a more fashion-oriented style shoot this past weekend.  We scouted out the location/s on Saturday and proceeded to shoot on Sunday.  As half of the shoot was experimentation we definitely got to have fun and play.

Bodies:  Nikon D3 & Canon 5D Mark I

Lenses:

Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8

Canon 50mm f/1.2 L

Canon 85mm f/1.2 L II

Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L II

Some results:

And after showing her grace, the wind knocked it out of her =P

It started getting dark not too long after we finished shooting on the train tracks, so we found an alley and decided to experiment;

(Off Cam Lighting at Night!!!) =D

We snuck around and found another really neat location.  From there we worked more on some off-camera flash =D:

It was totally awesome shooting with my friend Chris and our model Vicky. We need to definitely do this again!!!

Let me know what you guys think!!!!

Liked this post? Add me to your reader!

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.

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.

I was greeted by beautiful Landscape Imagery when we reached Colorado:

Majestic views abound simply just driving down the highway:

Majesty

After a certain point it started snowing…the weather got rough, but the sunsets were equally as beautiful:

Going through Colorado, we eventually made it to Utah where the scenery was a little more arid:

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…

While In Utah we stayed at the Butch Cassidy Inn!

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:

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):

Grand Canyon Skywalk:

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….

Our last day in Arizona, I managed to grab a shot that felt fitting as we left and drove 4 hours to Los Angeles:

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.

Someday I’ll be back =)

Liked this post? Add me to your reader!

My Gear

“What Gear do you use?”

I get asked this question a lot actually, so I figured it was a good time to answer it along with several other questions I’ve gotten. I should have done this one a while ago, but unfortunately, I haven’t had time until now.

That being said, I’ll get the basic gear questions I hear a lot out of the way:

1. Which is better? Canon or Nikon?

Neither. I actually use gear from BOTH Nikon and Canon. There’s a saying “Different horses for different courses,” which I adhere to strictly. There’s advantages Canon has that Nikon doesn’t, and there’s advantages Nikon has that Canon doesn’t. In the end it’s a tool, and won’t improve your photography unless you already know what you’re doing and know how to use the tool.

2. I want to get ________ cus it’s the newest gear.

A good friend of mine actually said something like this the other day-he had just bought a new Rebel T1i and was now yearning for a 5d Mark II.  What I ended up telling him was that professionals are more impressed with what you can do with basic gear than what you can do with professional gear. The professional gear simply makes it easier to duplicate the great shot through easier access to buttons/settings and advanced menu systems.

Yes the new high ISO of 25,600 will help you get images that you couldn’t before, and upgraded AF will let you capture images faster then you could before. But what good is all that if you never saw the image in the first place?

Now onto the gear list and a little background story…
I started out with Nikon because of my father. When I was around 8 or 9, I remember seeing that he had a Nikon 8008 (Still has it!) and on it, there was a 50mm f/1.4 (That I now use =D). I was utterly enamored with the sophistication and how pretty the camera was. I also remember that I ruined at least 1 roll of film playing with his camera =P.
So I went with Nikon first, which is why I have a larger amount of Nikon gear than Canon.

The list:

Nikon Bodies:

D3 (Two Bodies)
D200
F6 (Two Bodies)
F100
FM

Nikon Lenses:

20mm f/2.8
35mm f/2.0
50mm f/1.2
50mm f/1.4
85mm f/1.4
80-200mm f/2.8

Canon Bodies:

5D

Canon Lenses:

85mm f/1.2 LII

Here’s where I tend to get my next question.

Why don’t you have more zoom lenses?

Sheer, brutal, unadulterated weight.

I normally use digital bodies (D3, 5D) when I do my wedding and portrait work. I also used to own the 70-200mm f/2.8 and the 17-35mm f/2.8.
The sheer weight of those two lenses when combined with my D3 bodies (I’m a dual body user) would weigh close to 15-20 lbs.

15-20 lbs all day back and forth can really tired someone out.

And having to travel and lug all that gear around in a Thinktank bag between shoots was honestly not something that was easy to do for mere mortals.

So I went the route of prime lenses. In general Prime lenses are more clear, accurate, and contrasty than their zoom brethren, and they tend to weigh less also. (Sole exception being Nikon and Canon’s 200mm f/2.0). This is something that definitely mattered to me at the level of photography that I wanted to go for.

That, and the weight difference singlehandedly saved my back. =P

Feel free to ask any questions or leave comments about gear. I’ll be more than happy to answer them.

Day & Night: Engagement Shoot – Gan & Putt

Has it really been 10 years already since I first met you two?

I first met Gan & Patrin both before they even started dating each other.  Gan in 1999, and Patrin a few years later; we were all in college at UIC during the time.

This was roughly the first conversation I had with Patrin:

Patrin: ” Call me Putt.”

Me:  “…”

Patrin:  “Yes.  The Golf term.”

And I’ve been calling her Putt since. =P

They started dating in 2003, and this past November in 2008 Gan proposed to Putt at the River Walk by AMC River East by the Chicago River.  And before Putt left for Medical school IN GRENADA (How cool is that!?!?), she wanted me to photograph her and Gan together =D

What makes everything so much more worth it is how Putt has seen my photography evolve – from a random idea I had in my head, photographing birds outside my window with my FM10 + 70-300mm combo on Walgreens Kodak film:

To where I am now; photographing her engagement with Gan:

Many Many Congratulations to you guys!!!

Day & Night: Engagement Shoot – Paul & Linda I

I had too much fun on this shoot with Paul and Linda!!!!

The first Day & Night shoot I’ve ever done, I had thought of this shoot before and had offered it to previous couples, but Paul and Linda were the first couple willing to do it. I knew for sure then that this shoot was a thing meant to be =D

However to be honest, I was somewhat apprehensive with this shoot at first.

I know that being a wedding photographer, one is supposed to be naturally inclined to the social side of the scale, but I had never spent and entire day with a client up until now…What lay in store for me? Would Linda and Paul become bored to death of my type of photography? Would the images become lackluster and repetitive? Would Linda and Paul rebel??? Would they fire me and simply just “Decide to just go with video.”????

I know I’m getting out of hand, but these were serious thoughts that I was having on my way to their place!

The images thankfully turned out to be incredible! I ended up having so much fun with them and I totally wish I could have more clients come my way with personalities like theirs! I totally can’t wait to photograph your wedding next year guys and look forward to hanging out with you guys in the future =)

Please click on the small image for the slideshow (There’s more images than on the blog =D):

Now onto the blog =D

While I loved all these images, I knew I was in for a good time when I saw this:

The shoot is continued here:

Part II

Day & Night: Engagement Shoot – Paul & Linda II

(Apologies…this would have been one post…but wordpress is being a pain…so it’s in two parts) You can find Part I here:  Part I

Please click on the small image for the slideshow (There’s more images than on the blog =D):

I don’t know whose idea it was to do this one, but it was pretty awesome:

After this we took a little rest and then went off to Naperville:

After this shoot, we went back to Evanston and waited until nightfall for our last shoot at night in Chicago:

And my personal favorite from the shoot:

Let me know what you guys think!!!!

Destination Wedding: Maria & Dmitry – Dominican Republic: 6-29-2009

Click here for Slideshow

Click here for Gallery

This past June 29th of 2008, I flew out to the Dominican Republic to photograph the wedding of Maria & Dmitry.

The wedding was gorgeous, the scenery-beautiful. You couldn’t ask for anything more!

Though there was a little bit of worry about the weather for the ceremony as the predictions were cloudy with a chance of showers, but in the end everything turned out well and the sun came out to play on their wedding day.

Onto the pictures:

The resort:

To Maria & Dmitry,

thank you for allowing me the privilege to photograph your wedding. I wish you both the best!

with love,

Marc

Liked this post? Add me to your reader!