Leslie & Jon Engagements

February 20, 2010

I met up with Leslie and Jon on a mild day in February and shot their engagements. This was an extended destination engagement package so we had time to drive around and find different locations.

I was delighted to find a fire escape as this is almost become a trademark shot of mine. Leslie and Jon are a delightful couple and troopers as we worked hard to get some fun shots. We started by vaulting the two of them up on a Bridge Support about 10 feet off the ground. Later we tried to get the sense of the "water fall" coming off a building but only ended up getting them a bit wet.

We moved multiple dumpsters to improve the shots. After all urban grit is one thing but dumpsters are hard to excuse in an engagement photo or any photo for that matter.

I brought along a fish eye lens and we had some fun playing with that to get some creative and unique photos.

May I shoot your dog?

February 13, 2010

I met with Mike and Kelly today at their home in McHenry today. They are getting married on October 1 and they introduced me to their adorable little dog (Boston Terrier) named Sophie. Sophie could do tricks, understood spanish and was as cute as a button! I couldn't resist taking some shots to show you.

Lake Geneva Ice Sculptures - Winterfest 2010

February 8, 2010

The intricate designs and careful tedious work produced by the sculptors is a site to behold. However, I was also drawn to the mass of humanity mulling around the frozen treasures and this piece I think tells the story of Lake Geneva Winterfest by combining the two. No person was harmed, drowned, or mutilated in the making of this short film.

Bridal Fair Extravaganza

February 2, 2010

Three wedding shows in seven days! I had the opportunity to meet lots of couples and booked several weddings. What a blast! It is always fun to be around all that passion and new love. I also really enjoy re-connecting with all my friends in the wedding industry. Kris from Evergreen golf club, Martha and Sherry from Kirsch's, Becky from Hawk's View, Jenny from The Lodge at Geneva Ridge, Kelly from Creative Element, Bob from B.B.'s Best, Mick & Joanne from Lily Pots, Tom from Lake's Area Rental, Adrienne from Lakeland Bakery, Reverend Marcia Boyd and many more.

I shot some fun videos of each of the shows.

John Krolow Senior Photos

January 28, 2010

Wednesday marked the first day I was able to shoot in my new studio location. The Veteran's Terrace in Burlington, WI. What a delight to work with the Krolow family and specifically to shoot John Krolow's senior photos. Here is a sampling of his images.

The latest Fusion Video

January 25, 2010

Here is an update to my last blog with Ryan Bock's senior photos. I shot a Fusion Video and tonight I finished editing. Here is the result:

If you want to view Ryan's Fusion Video in the highest resolution click here.

Just glad I am not a BOTWOKER! - Images of snow tricks at Wilmot Mountain

January 22, 2010

Ryan Bock is cool. I like him a lot. Today I had the honor of shooting his senior photos and it turns out he is very talented at skiing and especially tricks and things. So we went to Wilmot Mountain to shoot photos and tricks of his favorite sport. Of course, while I waited the 5-7 minutes between his jumps I shot the other snowboarding, skiing crazy people all around me. So here are the photos I captured. Video and senior portraits to follow. By the way, do you know what it means to "pull a 3?" I didn't either at first. Ryan let me know that it was short for a 360. 5=540, 7=720 etc etc. (I should study the language before I go to these things so I don't look like "that old dude." Even though I was in the skateboarding scene like a hundred years ago I wasn't getting all the lingo. The good news is my ego can handle it. Here are some pix

When we were shooting video we actually caught a "yard sale" as Ryan's helmet went flying during one of his tricks. Anyway this shoot was "Sick Nasty!" If you want to see all the images in all their higher resolution glory follow this link.

I'd love to hear feedback and more "clean" ski hill lingo!

http://bit.ly/wilmottrix

I shot Bill Gates in Milwaukee

January 21, 2010

This morning came pretty early at 5:00am to get to Milwaukee for the Social Media Breakfast. But little did I know I would be shooting Bill Gates in person. Well actually a Bill Gates look alike! Jeff Larche is an incredibly personable and engaging speaker. I was blessed to sit under him as well as Matthew Olson, Tom Snyder and Kim Nielson. The breakfast was held at Moct "MOCT, pronounced "MOST," Serbian for "BRIDGE" is more than a bar." While the building is pretty cold that early in the morning the people are warm and friendly and I think we all benefit from the sharing of knowledge and enthusiasm for getting our brand message out there in a socially relevant way. Here are some photos from the event.If you want to see more photos here is the link whose who at the Milwaukee Social Media breakfast.

Jen & Zack Engagements - The "High Risk" couple - Harvard, IL

January 19, 2010

Jen and Zack are easy going and fun to be with. We met up Sunday in Harvard, IL to take some off-beat, fun and different photos. Just my style. On my way into town I spotted a fire escape and was immediately excited. I love urban grunge especially with cool subjects like this couple. So we started out shooting on train tracks (risk number one.) I don't know what it is about train tracks but I just like em'! Then we jumped in the car to warm and found the fire escape (risk number two.) This was the best fire escape I have seen yet because there was a fire escape right across the street where I could shoot at the same level from. Very nice. Then we found a cool alley way with the largest ice cycle I have ever seen and I realized that Zack was the kid on the playground the other kids would always dare to lick the ice pole in freezing weather. I asked to confirm my suspicions and he admitted it. Risk three was trying to make that photo work and it didn't really make it into the top 50 photos for the day.

Next stop was the transition from urban grunge to rural grunge in an abandoned barn. (risk four) I LOVE abandoned buildings! Something about them draws out the kid in me. So we traipsed around looking for cool things to shoot. I found a tire and laid down in the snow to get the shot. (Dropped my stupid keys and we had to come back and find them later!) Then (I couldn't believe it) but Jen and Zack agreed to go up on the hayloft and shoot. There was actually a shaky broken ladder and evidence of animals living up there (use your imagination). (Risk five and six)

Then to top off the risk chart they climbed up on rafters and "skooched" on their rears to get in the right position for the shoot. (risk seven)

So Jen and Zack win the award for the most number of risks taken in an engagement session. Thanks you two for indulging my inner grunge. I hope you like the photos as much as I do!

Here are some images from the risk taking Jen and Zack engagement session.

Engagements at Veteran's Terrace in Burlington, WI

January 18, 2010

This weekend I had the opportunity to shoot engagement photos for Ashley Milatz and Tim Cates. What a riot? I love how in love they are. They are getting married in Burlington, WI. We met up at Veteran's Terrace where their reception is going to be held to start the photoshoot. Veteran's Terrace is an amazing new reception building in Burlington that can seat up to 420 guests. It also has many smaller rooms that are available for weddings as well as small groups. Burlington is a charming redeveloped small town with lots of fun places to shoot.

It was a cold morning so as we drove around Burlington looking for cool and rustic locations to shoot we kept blaring the heater to warm up. We shot at the train depot. Here are the photos we made.

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