Laura and Matt at Starved Rock

What an incredible wedding! Last Friday, I had the honor of photographing Laura and Matt's wedding which was held at Starved Rock. Instead of using the Great Hall like many other couples do, they decided to have their ceremony at Council Rock. I've been to many outdoor weddings but this wedding was actually in the middle of the state park and away from everyday modern distractions. Laura and Matt met in the Peace Corps and like nature. Their wedding reflected this. Something about being in the middle of nature made the wedding special.

In a strange juxtaposition, I am currently reading "The Shelters of Stone" by Jean M. Auel which set in prehistoric era. In the book, Jondalar and Ayla have returned to Jondalar's home which is described as being part cave and part rock overhang. I could easily imagine prehistoric cavemen once living at council rock. Ayla and Jondalar "tie the knot" on a promitory overlooking the rest of the tribe. This was much the way Laura and Matt did too!



Laura getting a sneak peek at the cake.


Matt and Laura on the promitory overlooking the cavern during the ceremony


Everybody who attended the ceremony could fit under the overhang with plenty of room to spare!




I'm not sure why, but the feelings of love between Matt and Laura were amplified out in the forest. It just seemed like I was intruding on something special between the two of them.

A beautiful sunset capped off a great day!

Catching Up

Wow,

I can't believe that Michah is almost 4 weeks old already. Where does the time go? Somehow, I look back and realized I've fallen behind with all of my work. There is so much stacked up that I will just have to start digging and then one day I hope to be all caught up.

The day after Michah was born, I was scheduled to photograph Arianna and Tony's wedding. Arianna is a big Cinderella fan. So much so that her entire wedding was themed, Cinderella. The couple got married in a beautiful Greek Orthodox Church near downtown Chicago. There was so much to photograph. While I did visit with my family before the wedding, I owe a big thank you to Kelly Moore for giving me an after break for a second visit.






I did have a weekend off but there was still no time to get anything done. My family was in from Syracuse and Sheryl's family was in from Milwaukee to see the baby and celebrate Meghan's 6th birthday. Hard to believe she is 6 and going into the first grade. After my week off, it was time to celebrate with Courtney and Jim. Their wedding ceremony was held at the Naperville Settlement Church. The reception was at Mill Creek Golf Club. It was a long drive from the church to the reception. The golf club made the mistake of letting the groomsmen drive the golf carts to the photo locations. Here are some photos from Courtney and Jim's wedding.







The week after Courtney and Jim's wedding, I attended a 4 day Digital Wedding Forum (DWF) Photographers' workshop. Since it just so happened to be in Arlington Heights, I decided it was well worth the time and effort to attend. There were 4 different days with 4 different photographers. The first day was taught by Jeff and Julia Woods. In addition to talking about balancing our lives (Julia said "balanced" 38 times in 6 hours) they showed us how they photograph an engagement session. Then we got to try it ourselves with some models.

The next day, Cliff Mautner taught us about marketing and how to use difficult lighting conditions to our advantage. Once again, he showed us what he does then let us try it ourselves. The last two days were taught by Becker, workflow and Laura Novak, business strategy. It was an exciting 4 days with information overload. I wish I could have joined the group for the evening events but family responsibilities called.

Last weekend was a little busy as I photographed my first Indian wedding as a lead photographer. It was a major change from the weddings which I typically photograph. All of the women were wearing saris of various colors. It was actually quite colorful. The flowers which Alina selected were also quite beautiful. All in all it was a fantastic day. With over 500 guests, the wedding really kept me going.






Finally we have Amanda and Joe's engagment session. There is a nice hidden park at 115th and Harlem just beside the Cal Sag waterway. We were there just before sundown for this session. I really used the new skills and techniques I learned at my DWF photographer's workshop just the week before. Amanda and Joe were a lot of fun to work with and I think this is one of my best sessions ever.





Tuesday was Meghan's last day of summer vaction. We took the family to the Brookfield Zoo. As there are e-mails to read and reply to, albums to design and other work to get to, you will just have to wait a couple of days to see the photos from Michah's first outing to the zoo.

Sleepless

I'm sorry I have not had the chance to update the blog as much as I previously did. There is just so much to do and so little time to do it. Michah is keeping us awake all night long. Yesterday, I was working on some photos and had to close my eyes for a moment. Next thing I knew..... it was 30 minutes later!!!! I know this exhaustion will pass in a year or so. I hope I can keep going until then.

I have also fallen a little behind with the work from MMP. I just finished color correcting Arianna and Tony's wedding from July 29. I still need to design the album. I also photographed Courtney and Jim's wedding last weekend and I have another wedding coming up. So please understand if you do not see any photos posted.

Finally, if there was not enough to keep me busy, I am attending a four day wedding photographer's workshop. Of all the places in the US to hold the conference, it is being held 10 minutes from my home. With the caliber of speakers, I could not resist attending. If this had been anywhere else in the US, I would not have gone. During my conference, my niece, Samantha, is staying with us to help with the kids. It turns out she likes photography. Maybe in a year or two, she will work for me. Anyway, that's all for now.

Crazy Week

As you can imagine the last week has been quite crazy. We brought Michah home from the hospital on Sunday. Sheryl's folks have been staying with us since the baby was born. On Thursday, my dad and his friend Trudy arrived to visit the new arrival. On Friday, we had a full house as we had a little party to welcome Michah. We had some friends over and the Milwaukee cousins arrived. Samantha and Zach stayed overnight and will go back to Milwaukee with Sheryl's folks. Later today, my dad goes back home. We'll finally have the house for just our little (ok not so little) family.

Even though I have not been real busy with Magical Moments, there is also some exciting news there too. I have been invited to join a project to help write a comprehensive wedding photography question and answer article to assist couples understand the complex task known as "Finding the Right Wedding Photographer" So far over 100 questions have been submitted to the editor for inclusion in the project and more are coming in each day. Most engaged couples have never hired a professional photographer in their life. These questions and answers will provide them with the information to make a good choice when selecting a wedding photographer. When the article is published, I will let you know which section(s), I wrote and where to find the complete article.

Gotta run, Michah is crying....