Kristin and Galen's Wedding - Part 1

When Kristin and Galen's multi-day wedding was over, I asked Kristin if her wedding was the best wedding she'd ever been too. She emphatically said yes. And it's not hard to see why. This wedding was simple, perfect, joyous and a true celebration of the unity of this couple and their families.

I am honored that Kristin and Galen chose me to capture their wedding day. And capture it I did. I took close to 2,000 photos and when it's all said and done, I'll be turning most of them over to Kristin and Galen. I'm going to do my best here not to share all of them on this here blog. But since there is so much, I'll probably devote my next few blog posts to this wedding.

What follows are photos of the resort where everyone stayed, the rehearsal and a late night jam session on the beach the night before the wedding. It is my hope, that these photos truly reflect the happiness and joy that surrounded this wedding and these few days we all spent hunkered down in the north woods of Michigan.




























Normally I post a few photos in black and white, however, I just felt the color in these photos was generally too good to erase. These next two though, fit as black and whites.

Early on Wednesday morning Galen and Kristin headed down to the water to check out some visual of their wedding day set up. As they walked back toward the resort, they first walked side by side and then, almost as if magnetized, linked up and walked the rest of the way wrapped in an embrace. They were separate and then together. Rather symbolic of the journey they took that week.


Up next (hopefully soon) - the wedding day!

Editing

September and October are shaping up to be pretty busy months, photo wise and in my personal life. In the meantime, I'm working away at editing photos - lots and lots of photos. I'm really hoping I'll have some blog posts of the wedding up soon, but in the meantime, I am really enjoying the editing process. I'm enjoying it mainly because I'm coming upon photos that look like this.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. You can guess how I'm currently spending mine.

Putting My Skills to Good Use

Ever since moving to Chicago, I've been on the hunt for volunteer opportunities. Unfortunately for one reason or another, I never have volunteered in the city. That's not to say there aren't great non-profit organizations in Chicago. Quite the opposite. If anything, there are too many, and when researching my options I've become overwhelmed quickly. I've never gotten beyond that step. Well with a simple email exchange a few weeks ago, I think I'm now officially a volunteer.

When Mike and I fostered Taylor, we began exchanging emails with the rescue organizaton's owner, Bridgid. She was checking in frequently to see how we were all adjusting. During those first few weeks she became an invaluable resource as Mike and I tried to understand our new family member. In one of our email exchanges, of course, I had to send some pics of Taylor in his new home.

After one such email, Bridgid, complimented me on my photography skills. I thanked her and mentioned that if she ever needed a photographer that I was available. That's how I came to photograph four Project Rescue pups yesterday.

Project Rescue at any given time as at least a handful of dogs available for adoption. Bridgid and I worked together yesterday to corral and photograph four of them to put updated pics on Project Rescue's site. And surprisingly, I didn't take any of them home with me. It was tough though. Look at these faces.

I'm most likely going to start doing this once a month. And next Saturday, I'll be photographing an event they are having in the city. So just like that, I'm volunteering. It feels really good to be using my skills to help a great organization and sweet little puppy faces. And honestly, if any of my photos can inspire someone to go see one of these dogs, I'd be over the moon with excitement.

So of course, I have to say if you live in or near Chicago and are thinking about getting a dog, please contact Project Rescue. They do great things, like save my dog Taylor from a certain death sentence.

Little Boy Blue

I first met Liam about six months ago, and I was immediately enamored by his startingly blue eyes. I loved them so much that they are featured pretty prominently on my photography site. It wasn't just his eyes though. He had a sweet, jovial attitude and was content just to stare at my camera for minutes at a time.

Well in six months time, this little guy has learned to not only walk, but run. We hung out at Montrose Beach on a sunny summer evening. We explored the sand, played on boats and Liam did his best to rundown some seagulls. He didn't manage to catch any, but I certainly was able to capture him with my lens. And my lens, loves Liam.





The only problem I had with Liam's shoot is that he's at a stage where he sticks his tongue out a lot. I have several shots where his mouth is wide open in a grin and his tongue is hanging out. I called it his Kiss face, because it looks like this:







I would like to thank who ever named this boat and then left it sitting on the beach that day.



There were a few references to Liam's family in this shoot. The first is a wooden tug boat. It was Liam's grandpa's toy originally, and Liam is the third generation to play with it.







The other family item in this shoot was this Dr. Seuss book. It was a gift from Liam's grandma, who sadly passed away not too long before this shoot. I hope some day Liam looks back at this photos and thinks of a grandma who I am sure loved him very much.


Thank you so much Liam and Ellie. I'm already looking forward to our next shoot.