Saturday in Chicago (recap of the day)

As I proof zillions of pictures, I must take a break to share some of my favorites.

Saturday in Chicago, Johanna met me at the apartment at 8:30 a.m. We took a taxi to Millennium Park where we met our first family at 9:00. It went awesome despite the no clouds and very hard morning light. It's hard to complain about beautiful weather, but for perfect-o photos, you really need some overcast. Ah well, at least we had the sunny warm day. It all went perfectly regardless because that's where the sun filter came in that Jo got to hold. (After an incident, the "demon filter", as we ended up calling it.)

At 10:30 the 2nd family arrived. At 12:30 our 3rd family arrived with lunch for us. (Thank you again, Katie and David!) We sat and had a picnic with them and then I shot 'em at 1:00. At 3:00 was my final family. When Johanna and I were finished, my hubby and kids, along with Johanna's hubby, Jason, came out to meet us at Millennium Park. If you have never been to Millennium Park and you have a chance to go to Chicago, you must go there. It's just a really phenomenal place no matter what season.

After walking all over the shoreline of Chicago, Grant Park and Millennium Park for 8 hours, Johanna and I were pretty tuckered out. We thought playing in the fountains at the park would be a great ending to our day. (We both worked so very hard. She was the best assistant in the world and we had just a really wonderful time working together. Oh and we were red. Very red. We totally forgot that we'd be in harsh sun all day long, therefore, we forgot the sunscreen. Our bodies reaped our mistake!)

Jason, Neil and the kids arrived. The kids with their swimsuits on, and the big boys just looking their always cute selves. The kids (Noah and Maia) weren't hesitant at all to join in all the fun. They did and it was just the cutest thing for this mommy to see. Here's some pictures from our evening.

Thank you again, dear Johanna. Love you!

Here's the beautiful view we saw part of the day:

Our cutie boys:


Jason and Johanna still dry in this picture. You can see the whole series from dry to soggy wet at my flickr site. They're cute pictures that you must see :)


And after:




The kids try out the water, and as you can see on their faces, loved it.

We never have family pictures. Jo shot it, and I love it, despite the fact that I think Maia has to pee :c)


I love this one, too. Jo also shot it. Way to go, girlfriend!

This is also a favorite because of the kids' expressions and their reflections in the water. This one merits being printed! (Jo again!)


After playing in the water, we went with Jas and Jo to their house in Lincoln Square area (still the city of Chicago . . . just a "neighborhood" that is super cute and trendy). Then we walked to dinner at The Daily (in Lincoln Square)


and had the opp to shoot some cute pictures there and eat some rockin' food. I love my Jo:



Our feet which were dressed alike (unplanned). I don't even hesitate to take shots like this with Jo because we are identical in how we think so taking odd pictures like this one comes au naturale to us.


As does this one:

Yes, it's a tot to go along with my ketchup :c) Only you all would understand :c)

The kids were SO hungry because by the time we ate it was like 8:00 or something. Noah was so patient. SO patient. I love how (most of the time) this virtue sticks with him.
I love his freckle. His little signature birth mark :c)

And to end . . . Maia and a tomato. I think I've mentioned before that this is her favorite food. She'd eat it at every single meal if I had them on hand all of the time. Watch out if you have one on your plate because you'll have no choice but to give it to her.


Many more posts to come about Chicago (as I get through proofing all the sessions) along with my wedding over the weekend. Which, thankfully ended up GREAT! The weather was perfect and I haven't had such a great time at a reception in a LONG time.

Oh, and I have some exciting news to share tomorrow. Stay tuned! :c)

Rainbow in Millenium + Good Friends = Hope

While downloading pictures from last weekend, I came across this one of my dear friend, Johanna and her husband, Jas. Jason did NOT want to do this picture, but once he was in the water, I think he was really thankful we (Jo and I) forced him to. I love this picture because of the rainbow and because of the expressions on their faces. It couldn't have turned out any more perfectly. What a fun day, and a great ending to hours of shooting in Chicago. It was a dream for me, and having Jo there with me made it even that much better. We had a blast. So today, as I leave for my wedding and it's STILL raining after having rained all night long, this picture gives me hope that even when you're wet, you can still get a good capture :c)

Proofing done! Chicago here I come!

This time of year is so busy for me. Wedding after wedding, shoot after shoot. It's never-ending. I love actually going out and photographing and I love coming home and post-processing on my computer, but I really don't like the time it takes me to post-process. Man oh man oh man. So while I have been down one computer and online a ton less, I'm still attached to my other computer as I proof away. I pushed myself incredibly hard this week finishing up 2 weddings. One I proofed over 1,000 photos (yes, that many), and the other, being just a reception, I proofed about 500. I figured I spent about 50 hours thus far this week post-processing. I've learned this week that I am not charging enough for the time I put in to my work. ((sigh)) At least I enjoy it. Now if I could only figure out how to balance that time between home/kids and work. (As I work I always am thinking "how do those other women do it?". I wish they would tell me.)

The good news is that tomorrow morning we're packing the kids in the car and heading to Chicago for a long weekend. Saturday, my beloved Johanna, is assisting me in photographing 6 shoots. All downtown Chicago!! How incredible it that?! I'm very much looking forward to this experience. It's something I have always wanted to do, and now unbelievably I am! The day is suppose to be gorgeously perfect and I think (no, I know) Jo and I are going to have an amazing time.

The rest of the time I am spending it solely with my family. Neil and the kids will be with me. We have no plans. We like to go places without plans and do everything spur-of-the-moment. That's a true vacation, when there is no thought processing involved!, for us. We've talked about the Chicago Children' Museum, Lincoln Park Zoo again, we don't know. But it's Chicago, and where we stay each time we're up there, we're within walking distance to everything. So we have the Windy City right at our fingers :c)

So with that said, I'll see you all Tuesday! We are coming home late Monday. Hope you have a great weekend. Think of me Saturday and send me energized thoughts as I have a feeling come lunch I will be exhausted. I'm shooting till 7:00. Yeah, I'll be tired.This is where I'm shooting. And maybe here where Buckingham Fountain resides. (Katie, yes we would LOVE lunch!! Thank you for the offer -- incredibly thoughtful.)

Here's a peak into the last two weddings. More, as always, can be seen at my other blog or flickr.








p.s. I haven't received my new laptop yet. I'm thinking if I don't, it's actually probably a good thing. It means I won't have a computer to take with me and I can't work on anything photo-wise no matter what. What will I do with my time after the kids go to bed? Talk to hubby? Read a book? Watch Joel on The Soup? Watch the Ferris Wheel turn with it's beautiful lights at Navy Pier from the balcony? All sounds heavenly. ((happy sigh))

And I forgot I had this one. Myself in action doing that photo up there. (Wanting to draw an arrow right now to that picture.) Heather shot it. She's so funny. It's kinda fun, though, to see what I look like. One thing I learned by seeing this picture is that I won't be wearing that dress again. It looks like a Moo Moo. Ha :c)