Back to Work

The Thankgiving weekend is over and it is time to get back to work. As many of you know, I've fallen a little behind with my album design. There have been two reasons for this. First is the birth of my son, Michah. Babies do take up a lot of your time and it seems that even when he's sleeping, either he needs attention or I'm trying to keep the other two from waking him up.

The other reason for the backlog has been the change over from waiting for client to select their favorites and then designing the album to designing the album and then having the clients modify the rough draft. When I made this change over, I forgot to factor in album designs from last year where the clients provided me with a list of their favorites. Therefore, I seem to have twice as many albums to design as I expected this time of year. However, now that wedding season is over, I can give these albums my full attention (or as full as I can with a house full of kids) and catch up.

Here are three spreads from Heather and Ryan's albums which I particularly like.

First "Free" Weekend

I can't believe I have a "free" weekend. No weddings, No meetings, Nothing! Wedding season is finally over. While I love weddings, I do need a break to be able to recharge my creative batteries. I never want to get to the point where I dread going to "another" wedding. That would be like visiting Disney World and not being thrilled to be there.

Yesterday was Black Friday. If you were here in Chicago, you know the weather was absolutely gorgeous! It was sunny with the temps in the low to mid 60's. There was a slight breeze. Most likely the last nice day until Spring. I decided that since it was such a beautiful day and everybody would be at the malls, then nobody would be at the zoo.

Both Meghan and Mathew were downstairs watching TV. I got Michah ready, loaded the diaper bag and made his bottles for the day. Next, I packed our drinks and Zoo bottles up. I put everything in the car. No only did Meghan and Mathew have no idea what I was doing, they were still dressed in their pajamas! I put Michah into his car seat. Finally I called Meghan and Mathew upstairs.

They were reluctant to come but I told them I had something important to tell them. Suddenly Meghan realized Michah and I were ready to go somewhere. With a puzzled look on her face she wanted to know where I was going. I replied, "Michah and I are leaving for the Zoo in 10 minutes. You can go with us but you need to be ready when we leave." I set the timer for 10 minutes. I was amazed at how fast those two kids could move. They were ready in 9 minutes 30 seconds. They went potty and got themselves dressed in the allocated time. It just proved to me that when motivated they can move. On a school day, try telling me you can't get dressed!

When we got to the zoo, I discovered, I was right! The parking lot was nearly empty. We had a great day.






Leopard enjoying the nice weather.


I saw this in the Fish house and took a quick shot. It actually turned out better than I thought it would. Kind of looks like a spotlight.


Just a close up view of the Zebra.

Thanksgiving

Well here we are at another Thanksgiving. I have some great memories of Thanksgiving from my youth. We used to alway visit Grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner. Grandma was/is hard to describe. On one hand she could be very sweet and then next moment she would come out with a real zinger or two. I think she became "crustier" as she got old. Sheryl is convinced that it was an act right until she passed away.

Grandma and Grandpa, moved from Spring Valley, NY to the Syracuse area to be close to, at the time, their only grandchildren. Once they arrived in Syracuse, we would spend all of the major holidays at Grandma's house. Boy did she love to cook. Born in 1906, she relished her role as a homemaker and the holidays were her shining time!

No matter what time we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving dinner, the turkey was not ready. My brother, Rick, and I would alternately run around the house playing and then ask when will we eat. As the food started appearing on the table, we would try to grab a bite and be chased away. Finally it was time to eat. After feasting, Rick and I would play some more. Sometimes, we would play with the kids in our grandparents' neighborhood.

But time marches on and now I have a family of my own. Our family tradition is to meet my in-laws, at a restaurant in Gurney, Illinois, called appropriately enough, "The In-Laws" They have a nice buffet and it is half way between Schaumburg and Milwaukee. Melissa's (Sheryl's sister), family visits Melissa's mother-in-law for their Thanksgiving meal so neither Harriet or Sheryl typically want to cook. With the three kids, this works well. I expect that as the kids get older, we'll modify our tradition and go from there.

All in all it was an enjoyable day. There is much to be thankful for. That in itself is something to be thankful for! So I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving and don't be like a turkey and gobble too much!

Laura and Gene

What a great wedding to end the season! It was just one of those days that even though we had a slight hitch, both Laura and Gene had such a positive outlook the day could not help but be a success and laughed off the problem.

What happened you might ask? I was in the house when one of the bridesmaids told me the trolley limo was broken! Immediately I started thinking about how we could get the bride, bridesmaids and family to the church on time. I knew that with some rearranging of the equipement in my van, I could take 5 people with me.

I went outside to see what was happening and saw this amazing sight! Did I mention that Laura's dad just retired from Delta Airlines after 30 some odd years as an airplane mechanic and manager.



After a couple of minutes under the trolley, Joe emerged with the problem well in hand and the bridal party was ready to goto the church. If it wasn't for Joe's quick repair who knows how late this wedding could have been.


After the ceremony, we went to the reception site, Ruffled Feathers to take photos of Gene and his entourage. Since this was a 12:30 wedding, we did not have time to finish these photos at the church before the wedding. I'm glad we had the chance to get outside for this photo.


Later on, we all took a ride back to the hotel to rest for about an hour. I was invited to join the group and decided to accompany them to take some more photos. Here's the bride and groom sharing a Wendy's french fry.


Finally we returned to the reception hall. There Laura surprised Gene with a cake which duplicated his airplane. She had taken a photo of it to the baker who created this edible plane.

Yes, this was quite a memorable wedding which ended the 2006 wedding season. I already have many 2007 dates booked and wonder what next wedding season has in store for me.

A Wedding Season of Change

It is hard to believe but my last wedding of the year is coming up. It seem like just yesterday, the season was just beginning. So much has happened. I've been as far north as Milwaukee, as far south as Lemont, out to Starved Rock and Madison, to the shores of Lake Michigan and many points in between. No matter where I've gone, I've truely enjoyed the time I've spent with my clients and been honored to be your wedding photographer.

In early June, another photographer visited me at one of my weddings and let me try his new lense. Well, after that, I realized my current set of lenses was holding me back and I invested $2,500 to upgrade my lenses. It was money well invested as suddenly, the images I captured were better than I had ever been able to photograph. I can't believe the difference Nikon lenses make over the Tamron, Sigma and Tokina versions.

Another major change this year, was the predesigning of wedding albums for the couple the week after the wedding. I was doing really well with that until Michah, my son, decided to be born. After that, I started falling farther and farther behind. While I was caught up, it really made a difference in the time it took to deliver a finished album to you. I was averaging about 4 months! Some people did not even have their thank-you cards completed by the time the album arrived! I'm going to spend the next several weeks catching up on my album design and preparing for 2007.... More detail to follow.

Jamie and Justin's Wedding

Today was Jamie and Justin's wedding. While all weddings are special, some have just a little more magic than others. This was one of those wedding that had that little extra sparkle. Not only that, but everything went perfectly.

As this wedding was in Madison, Wisconsin, I was a little concerned about the drive. Despite having furnace problems in the morning and need to wait for the repairman to show up, I still managed to get to the church in time to meet Jamie. Next, the Madison area had some pretty severe storms Friday night. The bridal party had to reherse in the dark. Therefore, the church lady wanted the bridal party to have one more rehersal before the wedding. Somehow, we managed to work around it with little disruption of the photo schedule.

The day continued to be full of magic. This was also a chance for me to take some photos which I could try some new techniques.




I also had time to use some poses with Jamie that I normally don't have the time to do at most weddings. And to end the day, I got some great emotional shots of Jamie during the day. Like her dancing with one of her two dads. Finally take a look at the bouquette toss. I managed to capture the flowers just as they were being caught. The other thing I like is the ladies on the right who are trying to avoid the flowers. All in all, a magical day.

Well I'm glad the elections are finally over. At this point I really don't care who won or lost just that they are done! I don't know about you but, I'm sick and tired of the daily mail attacking one candidate or another. And the radio ads were just as bad. Now I just hope that all the candidated pick up all the yard signs they left around town.

As you know, I've been using the view and order page of my website to allow my clients (plus friends and family) to watch the wedding album progress as each revision is made. It just seems like such a shame that once the album is finalized, to remove it from the website. So, once I have some time this off-season, I want to create a wedding album archive. This will be an on-line archive of all my completed albums available for viewing. I have no idea how this will work out, how long the albums will stay up or any other details. It is just something I want to try.

Speaking of projects for the off-season, I can't believe how many have piled up. There is so much to do, that I'm not sure I can get it all done before wedding season starts up again in the spring. Maybe one day, I'll get to the point where I have to hire an assistant. Wouldn't that be nice?

Shannon and Derik

I'm sitting here waiting for the photos from Shannon and Derik's wedding to finish copying to disk. I thought I would take a moment to congradulate them on getting married and reflect on the wonderful day I spent with them.

The day started with Shannon and the ladies at the hair salon, Scissor Happy. From there, I went to the church. Shannon and Derik's wedding programs were scrolls. They looked pretty neat all rolled up in the basket. But where were the guys? I finally found them in the gym, shooting hoops.

After the ceremony, we had a chance to finally photograph Shannon. The church had these really cool stained glass windows in a hallway. We had a couple of minutes to capture some cool images of Shannon in the hallway. See!

Finally at the end of the evening I had them walk downstairs and wave good-bye. After a few moments they did not reappear. What happened? I caught them having a private moment in the lower hallway. It was a great evening and I wish Shannon and Derik all the best.

Halloween

The kids had fun. Dad had fun. I walked from house to house and the kids ran. Meghan caught up with her friend Kaylie and they trick or treated together for a while. I talked with Kaylie's mom, Tracy as we watched the kids go from house to house. Sometimes, we had to ring the door bell because the button was too high. Now that Halloween is over, I think we have enough candy to last until Christmas.

During the day, I played room dad for Meghan's class. During the school costume parade, I setup the room for the party. I got there a little early and the teacher asked me to take a photo of the class. For once I didn't have my camera with me. I thought it would be too much to bring the goodies, Michah (yes Michah attended his first party) and the camera into school. Of the three, the only item I could leave home was the camera.

After the parade, the kids came back into the room for the party. I team with Mrs. Weirs as room parents. She had some styrofoam pumpkins which the kids decorated with glitter. It was a big hit. Then we fed them all sorts of sugar ladden treats and then played a game. All too soon it was time to clean up and send the hyperactive kids home to their parents. It was a lot of fun.

What about Michah you ask? Well he slept in his car seat through the whole party! Anyway it is back to work.