Playing in Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds // Grace Turns 4

Silver Balloons Make Me Happy

A good time for me involves a few things: cool balloons, a beautiful afternoon, good food, and taking portraits of a 4 year old full of energy. Thus, this shoot was a good time indeed.

The portraits took place in Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology - I love the IIT campus! It's a great place to take portraits - it's peaceful and full of locations and amazing backgrounds. The coolest part of Crown Hall was Andy Worhol's "Silver Clouds" exhibit, as well as the Lego City exhibit. This made for an amazing and interesting photo shoot. Running through and around the silver balloons was a blast, and almost surreal. I could feel my imagination running at warp speed.

The portrait session ended at Pompei on Taylor street. I hadn't intended on shooting there, but the location and lighting was perfect for some candid and posed portraits of Grace. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the day:

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Check out more of Crown Hall and the IIT campus.

Set-Up

Nikon D700 - shooting in RAW

Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8

Nikon 50mm f/1.4

Tamron 12-24mm f/4.0

Nikon SB-800

Nikon CLS for OCF

30" Umbrella

Adobe Lightroom 3 for editing

By The Way: Be a kid in order to take some fun photos of kids. I had a blast running though the balloons, and I am sure that Grace noticed my willingness to be a kid.

Laughter & Love // Elysia + Donny Married

Donny The iPod Guy

It's an honor doing what I do. Photographing my bride and groom is something I never take for granted. Elysia + Donny's wedding was particularly an honor because they are my friends - and they are totally into each other :)

I met Donny back when I was a student at The Illinois Institute of Art - Chicago where we were both Visual Communications (graphic design) majors. Donny was the first person I ever met that owned an iPod - remember how big and monochromatic they used to be? That pretty much made him the coolest person I knew at that point in my life. As time passed I got to know him and had the chance to work on a few jobs together. He's a brilliant person, and both compassionate and crazy talented. Yes, he's one of "those" people, the type that just get things so much quicker than most. Oh, my daughter loves him and he introduce me to Penny's Noodles. What more can I say?

So one day I hear that he and Elysia are getting married! My wife and I flipped (not literally). You see, we had secretly been hoping that they would wed. I totally wanted to shoot their wedding and was so glad that he and Elysia felt the same. They are amazing people, the kind you just want to hang with, chat, laugh, and have meals with.

Awesome Chicago Wedding Vendors

Weddings are all about collaborations. And when each do their part, amazing things happen. These Chicago wedding vendors rock:

• Floral arrangements by the amazing fleur - Kelly and her crew did an amazing job!!! • Elysia's dress was custom made by Dame Couture in Evanston. • Location: Glessner House Museum and Woman's Park and Garden in the South Loop.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from Elysia + Donny's wedding:

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Elysia and Donny: thank you again for having Christina and I be a part of such an amazing day in your lives. Seeing you guys make your vows was so inspiring. I hope that you have amazing futures and that we have many more dinner dates. You guys rock!

My thanks also go to my friend Nick for assisting me. You rock Nick!

Glessner House Museum 1800 S. Prairie Avenue Chicago, IL. 60616 312.326.1480 fax - 312.326.1397

By The Way: I always listen to and enjoy the vows made at the ceremony. This is what the wedding day is really all about! I know as photographers we want to capture those really cool and sexy photos after - but let's enjoy all aspects of the wedding day.