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:

Newly Updated Slideshows

I’ve revamped and updated my slideshows page which you can view here, or on the right now =)  Enjoy.

Linda & Paul | Engagement

Kat & Rob | Charlottesville, VA

Maria & Dmitry | Dominican Republic

Cathy & Leo | Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Engagement: Sara & Steve (My Sister!) – Part II

It is with mucho mucho fanfare that I worked with my sister and her fiance again.  This time, Sara and Steve chose to shoot at the Garfield Park Conservatory:


Congratulations Sara =)

-Kuya

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!!!

TGIF: Request Day

The Proposal.

This is for Emma who requested an image of Millennium Park’s Cloudgate, better known as “The Bean” to Chicago locals.

This is from the same shoot as “Nothing Else Matters.”

Camera:  Nikon D200

Lens:  18-70mm f/3.5-4.5

For those of you that want me to photograph something for them please leave a comment below!!!

=)

Wedding: Jeanie & Richard – Galleria Marchetti | Chicago IL

Jeanie & Richard without a doubt are the two chillest, down to earth people I ever met. Jeanie is unflappable in the face of pressure (especially crazy Chicago traffic) and Richard’s family are awesome.
Therefore I was thoroughly excited when I got to photograph their wedding this past October 10th.

Some details:

Venue: The Galleria Marchetti

Hair:  Christina Rascon

2nd Shooter: Sam from Samantha Photography.

Thank you so much for second shooting Sam!  You were awesome this wedding with the kickbutt formals and pj shots!

Onto the slideshow:

Some of my favorite images of the day:

Awesome shoes no?

I loved the details and arrangements =)

My favorite action image.  EVER.

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Image of The Moment Monday: “Nothing Else Matters.”

Nothing Else Matters.

Camera:  Nikon D200

Lens:  Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR

Another old image of mine, I was pretty nervous about this one as I believe it was my first engagement session.  I totally did not know what I was doing back then nor did I know what to do with the couple.

One thing I eventually learned is that personally for me, the magic happens when you let the couple interact with each other and have fun with the shoot.  After talking with this couple for a while, they eventually relaxed and started joking around, having fun.

I was still in the same situation however; I wasn’t sure about what I was going to do for the shoot.  The couple was standing there waiting for me to tell them what to do.

And I was on the verge of a meltdown.

To give myself more time, I told them to hold each other’s hands while walking away from me.

Saying a quick prayer to the big guy up above for inspiration, I put the camera to my eye and hoped the shot would turn out.

And this is what I saw in the lcd.

=D

Image of The Moment Monday: Throwback

I took this shot about 1 year ago in Lake Michigan.

Working in the South Side of Chicago, I hired a friend to model for me and decided to try something different -

A Trash The Dress at Night.

It took almost 10 tries to get it right as it was pitch black and my D3 wasn’t focusing all that well in pure dark, but the final shot was definitely worth the time spent and preparation =D

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:

16-35mm f/2.8 L II

50mm f/1.2

85mm f/1.2 L II

Here are my favorites and some stories behind them:

It's so subtle. It's Ninja.

Steve was doing the sexy dance behind me while she was trying to get this right.

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 dont like how Geese sounds...)

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

I think out of all the pictures, this one best describes Sara & Steve

Tease

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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