Being second = awesome

Hey there! Sorry about the awkward silence. You know how winters are though, right? Anywho, thought I’d throw a couple pictures up here since it’s been awhile. This past year I shot a couple of weddings with my friend Gail as her second shooter. It’s the first time I’d ever done that & oh man, it was so much fun. It’s kind of nice to just enjoy photographing a wedding without the pressure of being in charge. Who knew? She’s kind enough to allow me to post any pictures that I shot, so I thought I’d show you a couple here. These 2 couples were so great &  I can’t wait to work with Gail again this year.

Lauren & Ben

One of my most favorite ring shots ever was taken at their wedding

Jennifer & Chris

The Sheets Family – Preview

The day after Thanksgiving was sunny & beautiful, albeit a little windy. It was the perfect weather to photograph one of my most favorite families ever – the Sheets Family! Here’s a little peek at their 3 sweet daughters, who actually only represent a third of their family. Enjoy!

Self Portrait(s) – October

After so many months of half hearted self portraits, I finally went all out in October. It was without a doubt the most eventful month I’ve had in a loooong time. It all started with a trip to NYC, pretty much my most favorite place on earth. Actually, there’s no pretty much about it, it IS my most favorite place. Right before I went, I bought a new camera bag that does double duty as a purse and it’s made all the difference in how often I bring/use my camera now. I’ve always had a shootsac, which is a great bag to use while shooting weddings & such, but not so great for personal use. I’d been looking at Ephiphanie bags, but wasn’t sure I could bite the bullet or not. About a week before I was set to leave for New York, they came out with the perfect bag for me & I went for it. I haven’t regretted it once. Seriously you guys, it’s such a great bag. Plus, it’s a cute purse too! You wouldn’t believe how many compliments I’ve received on it already. So, cute new camera bag + lots of adventures = a bunch of self portraits! Why not? It’s my blog & my project, right?:)First up, of course, New York…

I went to New York the first weekend in October & stayed at the amazing Nolitan Hotel. The service there is beyond stellar & so was the view from my room. (Here’s a great little article & pictoral about the hotel.) I actually didn’t intend to do my self portrait in the hotel lobby on the last day of vacation, but you know how it goes with things like that. I’m actually waiting for the car to come pick me up & take me to the airport – talk about procrastination! This was actually intended to be my only self portrait, but you can see how that turned out;)

Just for fun, here are a couple of pictures that my sister, Courtney, took of me the day before. The first one is in Central Park & the second is, obviously, Times Square. I’ve actually been to Times Square a lot, but never at night. It’s pretty amazing. Definitely somewhere you want to see & then get in a taxi & drive away from quickly. It’s a little intense. When I go to New York I prefer to wander around the smaller neighborhoods & shops, but it’s fun to see the touristy stuff too. Oh & yes, that bright yellow bag is my camera bag. Pretty great, right?

I got home from New York at midnight on a Sunday & at 10am that next Tuesday I was driving with my friend Hollie to Chicago to go to the Design Sponge book release party. I’d post our picture from the photo booth, but even after 3 attempts, they were still pretty tragic looking. So, photo booth having failed us, we pulled out my camera and took a picture of each other with the Chicago Theatre in the background. Why not, right? Oh & as a bonus, a Magnolia Bakery had just opened a few doors down from the Anthropologie where the book party was held. That worked out great for me because I didn’t have a chance to go when I was in New York. Sweet!

Once I was done with my big city traveling, we took our annual trip to Exploration Acres. It was pretty chilly this time around, but the sun was out & the leaves were beautiful. We made the big mistake of letting Jack lead us through the corn maze, which ended up with us getting lost, something I’m not proud to admit. We finally found our way out & took a quick little family portrait along the wooded trail. I only took one shot & it turned out. Trust me, that’ll never happen again:)

And finally, what would October be without Halloween? I’d actually painted a nose & whiskers on myself, but Finn didn’t dig that at all, so I had to promptly wash them off. Man, I have some cute kids, even if they do make it obvious they’d rather not have their picture taken with me;)

Thanks for indulging me in my overabundance of self portraits. Like I said, there was a lot I wanted to remember this month, so I decided to just go for it. I’m trying to get better about inserting myself into pictures too & I think I did a pretty good job this month. Also, did you notice that my new camera bag was in every shot but the last one? Totally unintentional. Hope you all had a great October too!

Gail - What an awesome October! Loved seeing those NYC shots! Exploring that city with you would be SO fun! I love it too!November 15, 2011 – 5:00 pm

Betsy! - Yay!!!! I love them all!!!!!!November 16, 2011 – 9:53 am

Hollie - ha, yes – tragic does not begin to describe our photos! :) ah well, we had fun…love all your portraits here!November 16, 2011 – 11:44 am

Courtney & Jon – Engagement

Here’s another session from last fall. I couldn’t let this one slip through the cracks – I love it way too much! Courtney & Jon were SO much fun & up for pretty much anything. The best part, though? The fact that all I had to do was give them basic pose ideas & they took it from there. I love how happy & in love they look (& are!) in all of these pictures. There’s a comfortableness & ease that they have with each other & I think it’s obvious to everyone around them. They’re truly a great match!

Starting off with one of my all time favorite engagement pictures. This had to be timed perfectly as not to get any random bikes/dogs/pedestrians in the shot. Score!

I mean, c’mon, how fun are they together?

The light in these two is just killer. Oh & Courtney? You’re whoa pretty.

Love it, love it, love it.

I love fall. And love. And cool couples. And my job…..

I’m not going to lie, I’m completely in love with these final two.

Self Portrait – September

Oh man, I’ve seriously slacked off on this self portrait thing. That’s ok though, right? I actually didn’t think I had anything for September & then when I went searching I found 2 pictures. Neither was my official self portrait by any means, but hey, it’s better than the computer portrait, right? Maybe. Anyway, these pictures may not be wonderful, but they do actually commemorate 2 things that were a big deal to me in September. In that case, mission accomplished! My whole goal with this series has been to capture what was special in each month & although these aren’t perfect, they both do just that.

First up, is the traditional “hold your point & shoot out & take a picture of yourself” portrait. For the past 10 years we’ve had this big outdoor party with some of our best friends on Labor Day weekend. It’s SO much fun & we look forward to it all year. This year marked the first annual make your own fishing boat competition, which was entertaining. I didn’t participate, but Dustin did, of course. Sadly, he didn’t win. Not that there was actually a prize for the winner, aside from pride;)The first night of the party it rained a lot, which sounds miserable, but wasn’t really so bad. We had a couple of canopies, so we survived. My hair & makeup were wrecked, but I think it’s obvious that I was still having fun. I hope we’re still having this party 20 years from now…

The next big deal in September was that Dustin got to drive & ride in an IndyCar. I actually want to do a separate post on this in the near future so I won’t say too much about it. Suffice to say, it was amazing to see him all suited up driving around the Indy 500 track. Although, in light of the recent tragedy with Dan Wheldon, I thought numerous times how glad I was that he never decided to pursue racing farther than he did. We actually took Jack out of school for the day so that he could go with us. I gave my camera to our friend, Nick, so that he could get a little family picture for us. Such a great memory.

Just a quick FYI… I actually already have my self portrait shot & edited & ready to post for October. Finally, I’m on top of it again!

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