Chicago Wedding Photographer

My cousin was busy planning her 2014 wedding when she asked me to not only design her wedding invitations, but to take her wedding photos. I graciously accepted the honor of designing her invitations….that came easy to me as a graphic designer, but I wasn’t sure about taking pictures for a wedding. I insisted that she hire someone with experience. Although photography classes were my favorite during my time at UIC, I knew that the pictures taken  on your wedding day are the most important photos you’ll ever have. After doing some research on wedding photography she came back and asked me again. She believed in my creativity and talent. I accepted and asked my brother (Isai) to join me. It was a nerve wrecking day, and I’m sure there were times my hands were shaking. I am the type of person that doesn’t know how I feel about something until the project is complete, but that night I felt like I did something great. I received a text message from my cousin when the editing was done. She shared with me how emotional she got, and how happy she was to relive the excitement of her wedding day.  My greatest joy from creating, whether it is in design, cake decorating, or photography, is knowing it brings joy. That’s when I knew I needed to give photography a try as more then just a hobby.

So that's my story. I am now a wedding photographer! It's so much fun to say that! I have at least 5 weddings I will be second shooting this year, and I am talking to a few others for a wedding I'll shoot on my own. This is totally nerve wrecking, but this year has been a true test. It's been hard. I am putting up my fists though and fighting for a better future. Fighting for my dream career. I can't wait to shoot! Check out my work here! 

*The first photo above was taken at the Abbey Resort and Avani Spa in Lake Geneva. That destination wedding was so much fun! The second one was taken in champaign Illinois! I love the vintage wedding theme! 

Engagement Photos & Location ideas

We booked AEphotography to shoot our wedding photography. With our package came an engagement session. I was so incredibly nervous. I am not a model! Eric (the E in AEphotography) shot our session. He told Joe to tell me things in my ear and make me laugh..and boy did Joe make me laugh. That was the key to a successful shoot.  The smiles below are real. They laughing is real. The love? Also real. haha We had such a fantastic time! I mean it had to be a great day, we did it on my birthday (April 20th)!

There were so many photos! Here are just a couple of my favorites....

Location 1: Wicker Park - We found a hidden gem behind an abandoned paper company. This was in the ally. We loved the rugged Chicago look and thought it fit in well with our urban wedding theme. The photos below were taken within a few blocks from each other! 

Location 2: Lightology! This was a last minute decision. Ok, they all were. They morning of the engagement shoot we drove all around the city looking for the best spots. I somehow bumped into this one online the day before, though. With the photographer, we decided to go here! We made it just in time. They were about to close, but let us go the their roof for a few minutes. How beautiful and diverse is this roof! It had a great view and it is so wonderful that Lightoloy lets you go up to take photos! They also have really fantastic light fixtures and lamps btw.

Location 3: Montrose Beach! This is a beach that Joe and I have great memories with! It was either this spot or the John Hancock. We were worried about traffic and that it would be overcrowded since it was Friday night. I am so glad we went here! Can I just mention that it was FREEZING! The wind was crazy and the sand was whipping at my legs. We got some amazing shots though. 

lake+wind+waves=this misty raining look. 

Our hazy city in the background. How perfect. 

Ahh, twilight. The best hour to be out taking pictures! 

I'd say that this was a successful day. A special thanks to Cristi for doing my make-up! :)

Photography Inspiration

I love seeing great work that inspires me. I was looking at fashion blogger keiko lynn when she mentioned a photo shoot she did.

http://www.shaedetar.com/ is the website she linked to the photographer she worked with. Her photos are breathtaking. So incredibly beautiful.

Here a couple of my favorites...

She paints on some of her photographs. 

I've never thought of painting on photos in this way. 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE her work. 

Street photography

There is a lot of magic in analog photography, but that all happens in the dark room. It's that moment when your image magically appears on the paper. It's frustrating at times, not knowing the immediate result. At the end of the day, I enjoyed that class, but digital is the way to go. You can take a picture and see the immediate results. I am currently in a digital photography class and for my last project, I originally wanted to do street portraits. I wanted to go out there and ask people to take their picture. I was inspired by Clay Enos from a youtube video my brother showed me. 

It was an experience. I'm too scared to ask people, so I got my assistant to go with me haha. Joe was amazing. He asked the people, and I shot the photos. It was not a good day to go out. It was drizzling and super windy on Michigan Ave. It was also very cold. Nobody wanted to stop and get their picture taken. A lot of them said no. The photo below was of someone who agreed. He called himself a space scientist director or something. He was an interesting character to say the least. After all the NOs, the day was well worth it after this man agreed. Here is one of the photos I am almost done editing. 

Who inspires you to shoot? Who are your favorite photographers?

Artist?

I always feel funny calling myself an artist. As a graphic design major, you would think I would be completely comfortable with the title. I am not though. I feel like calling myself an artist puts a
sort of expectation on me to be someone as great as Warhol, Winogrand, or Maholy Nagy (those were
just the first names that popped into my head haha). So what should I call myself?

On another note...Here is the work that I've recently done for class.

Photography. Earlier I posted my first project. Below is my second project. I always thought thrift stores were interesting. You always find the weirdest stuff, and some stuff is just sad. So I went and explored a few different stores. I tried to pick stuff that was weird or that triggered some sort of emotion. I could go on and on, but I'll just post the images. I'm not sure how successful this project was, and some images are better then the rest. :)

The photos below are from the third and most recent project. The assignment was appropriation. I decided to copy famous abstract paintings from the past. I took them from online and traced over them in Illustrator. I think copying or appropriation is kind of silly. Sherri Levine directly copied other's work and reprinted them. I think that is outrageous. So I wanted to start a similar conversation. On the other hand, as a student, It can be very beneficial. By appropriating you can learn about another artist's style and technique. The following before are from 3 different artists. Throughout the process of copying and drawing them out. I started off thinking it was their work, and then I started calling it my work. It took time to draw and then print it all out. Funny how appropriation works. Again, I could ramble, but I'll show the images below along with the original artist. 

It wouldn't let me upload the images. I am not quite sure why. I don't know how to make it work! For now, here is a screen shot of my? work. There is more, but these are the ones I presented. 

School!

School has been super overwhelming. I'm taking five classes which is no big deal. It's the two management classes that are killing me. I've decided, for now, to have a business minor in managerial skills. I've struggled with this decision and almost dropped those two classes. I decided to keep with it this semester and see how it goes. For now, I have a full load. If I'm not at school, I'm doing homework. If I'm not doing homework, I'm at at work. Its only the beginning of week four, and I'm already a little overwhelmed. Thank God for Sundays. It is literally my only day of rest.

Here is a preview of my work so far...

This was for my Digital Photography II class. The assignment was abstraction. I chose abstraction through architecture as my inspiration.

I didn't turn this series in, but it was also for abstraction. 

The following posters are for Graphic Design IV. This is a work in process... so don't judge me. haha. It needs a lot of work, but why not post it? The project was to go out and take pictures of letters! A type scavenger hunt. I edited the photos and then made the following posters. I wasn't able to upload them, but here is a screen shot of my work in progress in Illustrator. 

School is taking over my life, just as I thought It would. I am sooo happy I accomplished so much for the wedding before school started. I have done very little when it comes to the wedding. The only thing I've done regarding the wedding is jewelry research. I fell in love with a Vera Wang necklace. That comes with a hefty price tag. It'd not affordable for me, but I'm hoping to make the necklace. How cool would it be to say I'm wearing my own necklace inspired by Vera Wang on my wedding day?!?! Love it!

What do you all think about my work? Would you try to make your own jewelry if you couldn't afford it? 

What I've said yes to!

My goal was to get the major parts of the wedding booked before school starts. I know that once school starts, wedding planning will be harder to do. So here is what I've said yes to.

1. Kitchen Chicago! I'm still very happy with my choice. If you google "Kitchen Chicago Weddings" it now comes up in a google image search. That made me so excited to see two/three other weddings there. It made me go crazy with ideas on how to decorate the space. 

(screenshot of a google image search)

1. I said yes to the dress! After going to a total of three bridal shops, I had to go back to the first one and try it on again. It felt very Melissa. That dress described me perfectly. I must say that I went to another bridal shop which I will do a review on, and it came close. It was so close that, like I said, I had to go back to the first place to try it on to compare while everything was fresh in my mind. A week later I purchased my dress. I'm so silly. I have no idea why it takes me so long to make up my mind. I rang the good luck bell that every bride rings when they've found their dress at David's Bridal. It was a good feeling. I said yes to the dress! 

1. Photography is very important to me. After a lot of drama with the photographers of my dreams, we worked everything out and I signed the contract. Yes, you heard me drama. We had a bump in the road. I have to suggest that when e-mails start getting lengthy it is best to insist that you call them. I had asked to, but she kept e-mailing and it came to a point where she misunderstand me and things got a little bit crazy. I still don't know went wrong exactly. Anyway, we "hugged it out" as my brother would put it. I called the husband (in the husband and wife team) and went over the package. I e-mailed her. She seemed very friendly towards the end, and we booked them. It will be a huge relief when I get the hard copy of the contract. They are amazing though. I love their work. I am excited to work with them. I get an engagement session as well, which I am stoked about. 

1. DJ! We just met up with a DJ on Friday. I am about to e-mail him to see when we can sign the contract. I love the price and the fact that he is going to give us a discount if we pay in full! He looked like a DJ (haha) and has been doing it for 18 years. With the company he has, it's been 5 years. He is all about customer service and making sure the wedding runs smoothly. If the kitchen is dragging and the timeline seems off, he is more then willing to talk to the kitchen. There is no extra charge for us if we need ceremony help with sound (since the reception and ceremony are at the same place). I'm so excited. There is always a back-up DJ on call and equipment. They have insurance and the price just seems right. The DJ I met with the be the DJ on the day of the wedding and he is hispanic! It is important to me that he is bilingual with his mom and some of our guests that are spanish speaking only. I need somebody who can play spanish music without me holding their hand on which songs to play. I'm going to e-mail him right now I'm so excited! The price is way under $1000 which is hard to find in the wedding world. If the reception is 4 hours or 6, there is no extra charge! If you are interested the website is www.windycitymix.com.

This was too cute to pass up.

I'm so excited that I've gotten so much done. Despite the fact that I hate the fact that I start school next week, I feel ready-ish.