Happy Halloween, albeit a day early! I had the pleasure of recently working with Jennifer and Kyle on an engagement session during foliage week this autumn, before their upcoming winter wedding. After Jennifer and Kyle had hired me for their Rookery Building wedding, we realized that I was the same wedding photographer that her good friend Jessica had hired me for her rock ‘n roll wedding. At Jessica and Dan’s wedding, I ran into Jennifer! On the morning of Jessica and Kyle’s shoot, we had lots of red, orange, green and autumn colors to work with and incorporate into their photographs. Pumpkins, gourds, apples, all sorts of great fall stuff all around.

Todd and Megan were so fun to photograph. They had such strong magnetism towards each other. They came to the shoot with energy and excitement that really stood out. I am looking forward to being your wedding photographer next year!

Fog just outdid foliage. There are a few days for perfect foliage and you can never quite put a finger on when it is going to happen. Some years it creeps up early, and sometimes the rain sweeps away all the colors. I had scheduled to meet with Marta and Will early one morning for a shoot. Mornings are unpredictable sometimes, and often offer nice surprises. Marta wanted to capture the changing colors and try to get a shot of the skyline. It was a mysterious morning as the fog settled in, and as the shoot progressed, a hazy white blanket diffusing the light got thicker and thicker. Colors became increasingly muted and it was challenging to see anything more than a few hundred yards ahead. We were at awe at the fog, and the limitations that were instantly imposed upon us. There was no chance of seeing the skyline, but what we had was quite surreal and beautiful. I had so much fun working with Marta and Will under these challenging circumstances. We worked along the shore line, under trees, and in tall grass to create some great shots. Below are some of the best ones from the shoot. Toward the end of the shoot, the fog decreased a bit, but part of me wished it didn’t. After the shoot, I wondered if I would ever have such a dreamlike scene to work within. The only thing equally as dreamlike is probably Satie’s Gnossienne No. 5 Modéré. I’ll be the wedding photographer for Marta and Will’s upcoming December wedding so stay tuned for more of this lovely couple!

Garfield Park Conservatory couple Dan and Carolyn met in the dorm they lived in during undergraduate studies. They recently got engaged and selected the conservatory for their wedding venue. After hearing rave reviews from another Garfield Park Conservatory bride and groom whose wedding I photographed, they hired me as their wedding photographer. I had previously photographed several weddings at Bond Chapel and had done a previous shoot at Harper Library, so when Carolyn and Dan mentioned that they wanted to shoot on campus in locations significant to them as well as in a coop bookstore, I was thrilled.

A friend of mine mentioned how great this bookstore was, so I was really excited to see it. A massive, independent bookstore is such a great location for a photo shoot.

I learned a lot about my clients during the shoot, as we browsed through thousands of books. I encouraged them to pick books that were significant to them, or would be fun for a photo. They studied anthropology and physics but it wasn’t necessary to choose titles that were college texts, but they could if they wanted to.

After the book store, we walked over to the dorm that they met in.

Dan custom designed Carolyn’s ring using CAD software, and based his design off a ring that Carolyn’s grandparents had given her as a child.