Learn Something New Every Day

Today I had fun going around Chicago with Kelley and Dan for their engagement session. I have known Dan since high school, although we went to different schools, we lived in neighboring towns, about an hour outside the city.

After going to school at Columbia College in the loop and living in Chicago for more than three years I have learned a lot about the city and I love showing people around Chicago’s famous landmarks and hidden places. We wondered through Millennium Park and of course saw Cloud Gate also known as The Bean, we walked through Grant Park and saw the Rose Garden and Buckingham Fountain. I showed them the hidden colorful mural in the parking garage, that I had just a little trouble finding without Melissa (We stumbled upon it together about a year ago and have photographed it together twice now, its our little secret, including during our joint engagement session). I also showed them a hidden courtyard by Michigan Avenue. But my favorite part of the day was when they showed me something new. So while I am still editing the photos of today’s session, I wanted to share with you an interesting fact I learned today about a city I thought I knew a lot about. Every day you can learn something new.

Here’s a photo of Dan and Kelley in a doorway of the Tribune Tower. If you look closely at the stones on the right hand side of the frame you will notice something unique about them. There are a few stones that are actually from different buildings. The Tribune Tower contains over 120 stones or fragments from historical sites around the world. In this photo, taken in the Pioneer Court section of the Tribune Tower, is a rock from the Mt. Pentelicus Quarry, which is where the marble used in the Parthenon in 447 BC was found, and a rock from the Fortess Walls of Cartagena in Colombia. There are also rocks from the Alamo, For more information about the rocks, go see them for yourself or check out the report written about the rocks by Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park.

I can’t believe I didn’t know about these rocks and the history behind the pieces of the Tribune Tower. My fiance, Jon was excited about the stones too and we can’t wait to go explore them some more. Thank you Dan and Kelley for teaching me something amazing today and for so much fun in the city. I will post more photos from today soon. I look forward to your wedding in October!

Amanda and Nick Jamaica Ceremony

Wow where do I begin with Amanda and Nick, I have spent so much time with them over the last couple months. Its hard to begin their story and even harder to pick photos to show you. They are such a wonderful and beautiful couple I want to pick all the photos. However I tried to narrow it down there will be a lot and I will break it up for you all to try to make it easier to view. But for fun they are not going to be in chronological order, and in each post I will tell you a little bit about Amanda and Nick.

Well this past Saturday Amanda and Nick had their reception in the backyard of Nick’s parents home in Yorkville, the place and the reception was amazing, you would never guess it for a “backyard reception,” and I will post those photos after I show you all the Jamaica pictures. However, I wanted to start with something that was said at the end of the night on Saturday. One of the guests asked Amanda how we knew each other, if we were friends, we looked at each other and said “We are now.” After sharing the Jamaica experience together, two engagement sessions (yes we included a second to get shots of the dogs and better weather), rehearsal dinner photos, full day of wedding photos, an ever after session/trash the dress, and a great reception party back in the Chicago suburbs we know each other quite well. That may have been the most photos or days of photos I ever took for a “client,” and I wish I got to know all of them so well.

Amanda first found me on myspace-yes crazy as it seems. Imagine my surprise when I got a message saying I am getting married in Jamaica, I love your work and want to talk to you about photographing the wedding. -Yeah I didn’t think it was real at first either. But the minute I met Amanda and her mom Kathy for coffee I knew we would get along great and become good friends.

I finally met Nick for the engagement session many months later. It took me a little longer to warm up to him, but every day I spend time with Nick I liked him more and more, and I saw just how much love Amanda and Nick shared. Nick has a great sense of humor, but it took me a day or so until I got it, then I found myself just laughing and laughing. And I am sad that the wedding, the longest wedding as their friends dubbed it since it was 4 days in Jamaica and then 2 weeks later was the reception back in Illinois, is over. I enjoyed meeting their friends and family who welcomed me and my fiance and made us truly feel like part of the family. Jamaica and the reception in Yorkville was a great experience that I was blessed to be a part of and capture on film (well digital film). Thank you Amanda and Nick and to all your family and friends for allowing me to be there with you through it all. Best wishes to you!

And without further ado, I will start the photos with the happy couple’s ceremony barefoot on the beach in Negril Jamaica at Beaches on July 5, 2008.

Despite heavy rain showers all day, the rain stopped (as it always does for them) and the sun peeked through the clouds and Amanda and Nick got the wedding they dreamed of.

The wedding coordinator was all smiles as she held an umbrella and escorted Amanda and the girls from their room to Negril, Jamaica’s famed 7-mile beach.

Nick sees his beautiful bride Amanda for the first time.

Her father gives her away.

Amanda and Nick wrote their own vows which were so sweet and although there was talk of trying to memorize them, I was happy when they decided to read off their sheets.

“Amanda I love you so very much…You are my life, my rock…”

“Nicholas I love you. You are my best friend…my husband, faithful partner in life…I will lift you up, support you…encourage you in all the things you do…….today, and all the days of our life.”

And with this ring…

“Cmon man push,” says the marrying official as Nick places the ring on Amanda’s finger.

Amanda and Nick choose to have a sand ceremony, where they pour two containers of different color sand into one container. The flowing sand and blending of the colors symbolize the bringing together of two lives into one.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may now kiss…”

Congratulations Amanda and Nicholas!

Portraits, details, getting ready and reception photos from the wedding along with the other days of photos coming shortly.

“Just Another Day in Paradise”

I have been in a whirlwind lately, I don’t even know where to begin. My fiance, Jon, and I were talking today about the work I needed to do and I mentioned that I needed to blog more. Then he laughed and asked when the date of my last blog was, I didn’t really know I guessed a little while before we left around June 22 or so. He said that I didn’t need to blog more, I needed to blog period. So here I am beginning to blog (again) [period]

I almost don’t know where to begin, so much has happened. However, I will start with a song, a trip, an experience and a wedding rolled into one.

“Just Another Day in Paradise,” a song by Phil Vassar, was in my head the last two days in Jamaica. (July 6 and 7) It’s kind of an odd song to have in your head when you are actually in Paradise, as in the tropical form, because it really doesn’t have to do with that kind of paradise. But somehow throughout the day I said “another day in paradise” and it came out in the form of the melody. Although for two days I couldn’t remember any other the words other than:

“Well, it’s ok. It’s so nice
It’s just another day in paradise
Well, there’s no place that
I’d rather be”

And so in Jamaica that made sense. I was there for an amazing wedding-more of that in a moment, but running around barefoot in the sand taking photos of two wonderful people exchange their personal vows and sharing the love with their family and friends, there truly was no place I’d rather be. There are moments in your life when you stop and just thank the heavens that you are so blessed to live your life, and although I feel that way every time I photograph a wedding, this wedding was one of those moments and then some. It was one of those times you almost have to pinch yourself to know its real. Even Jon sensed it as he got to watch me work a wedding for the first time as he said, “You officially have the coolest job in the whole world.”

Well I returned home I found the song online and giggled at the funny video along with the other lyrics, as they now had another meaning. To me it was like that feeling that comes rushing back to you when you return from “vacation” or a “business trip” and realize its back to every day life and problems you have to deal with, along with extra ones that always seem to magically happen while you are away.

The song begins like this…
“The kids screaming, phone ringing
Dog barking at the mailman bringing
That stack of bills – overdue
Good morning baby, how are you?
Got a half hour, quick shower…”

Despite all the things that go wrong and all the day to day problems and daily life that you have to deal with, “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” After photographing two more weddings in Chicagoland this past weekend and get back to my day to day life, I realize how lucky I am, to live every day in Paradise.

So the reason I was in the tropical paradise was because two amazing people, Amanda and Nick got married! I think the deserve their own blog-and maybe a couple since we had a few days of photographs, but here is a preview of their ceremony on the beautiful beach of Negril, Jamaica. Here they are Just Married.

(click on image for larger view)

Email Issues and Meetings

Hey I have been having a couple issues with my email lately. Mainly I have got several inquiries from my website end up in my spam box. Still trying to figure out why that happened. I just wanted to apologize to everyone that has tried to contact me over the last few weeks (which is my estimate at how long the problem has been) and has not gotten a speedy response. I am usually very good at responding to emails within a day or two (unless out of town and then you should receive an away message), so if you have tried to contact me via email and have not gotten a response please email again or call me. I am now keeping my eye on the spam folder along with fixing the problem.

Thank you for your patience and I look forward to hearing from you all soon.

I am also on Facebook and Myspace for those of you that are into that also.

I will be in Des Moines, Iowa this coming weekend June 27-June 29 and I will be available for meetings much of the weekend. Please call me for available times. I may not return to Iowa again until September, I have Chicago weddings most weekends until Fall when it seems I will be in Iowa every weekend or every other for two months.

Please also note I will be out of the country July 2-July 9. I may have limited or no internet access, but I will return all messages promptly when I return. I will be in Jamaica for Amanda and Nick’s destination wedding! I am so excited!

Where have I been–What the Duck!

Some of my loyal blog readers may wonder “where has Tina been the last couple weeks, there are not any new blog stories, and there are probably some!” Well me and Mac have been having some bonding time lately. Maybe that is why so many people are so in love with Apple; they spend so much time with them. My facebook status (which I don’t usually update, but have been trying to lately) says, “Tina is still editing photos like crazy and beginning to think the computer is an extension of her body.” It’s so true!

Everyone always says it must be great being a photographer and working from home. While most of the time its true, I couldn’t be happier it is amazing–there is the other side to photography, the actual business side of photography that is far less glamorous but just as important and in many cases more so. Many times people will comment at my schedule, saying “oh must be nice not to work during the week”, or “must be nice working only a couple days a week”. But they don’t see or don’t realize that it is far more than that. -I think sometimes I don’t realize it either. There are many painstaking hours of editing, sitting in front of a computer, until you can no longer move your wrist and your eyes hurt. Burning the midnight oil until you realize birds are chirping. (see previous post) Last night as I had two programs running batches and doing their magic, and I waited for the computer to catch up with itself I kept myself amused by catching up on other blogs in my Reader, mainly my favorite, “a little comic strip about two naked eight years olds who are married,”–wait just kidding [that was a quote by Homer in the TV show The Simpsons about comic "Love is.." which I also love.] this one is a little comic strip about a photographer duck, “What the Duck”. It offered me a much needed comic relieve from my work and as usual I found myself laughing out loud as I completely identified with this little duck character again! So I wanted to share with you some of the cartoons that kind of fit how I am feeling or have felt in the past. Since the photo blogs will be another day or two, more about that after the cartoons. [I can't post them in here, so click on links]

What the Duck 339: Chilly Reception

WTD 485: “THE MAN in the Mirror”

WTD 486: “Flex Your Time”

WTD 498: “Son of a Bits”

That last one got me thinking a lot. What was it like to have a wedding photography business before the digital age? When I started in photography I learned on film cameras, I learned black and white film, color negative and transparency (slide) film, and even infrared film. I learned not only to take photos using film but I learned to develop all kinds of film myself and print in all mediums. It was a great experience, one I hope future generations of photographers do not miss out on. But as I finished school and began business for myself the world had changed and I changed with it. At the end of my junior year of college-in fact only a couple weeks before finals and when I needed the camera the most, my remaining Canon film cameras both broke-all cameras have only a certain amount of shutter life I far exceeded that. I needed a replacement fast. Since the photography world was changing fast I choose to get a digital SLR, with the help from my family, and I have never looked back. I often miss the film camera, but then I wonder how could I possibly do what I do with a film camera any more? I wonder how photojournalists worked back in the good old glory days having to run film back and send negatives via mail instead of satellite/internet. And wedding photographers had to stop to change rolls of film, and then there was only one set of negatives and how did they edit and store all the images. I know I know you had proof sheets with the cool red grease pencils to mark what you liked and cropping, and you printed proof books, and you put the negatives in binders and filed them. But really what was it like?

And what will the future of our profession be like? I sometimes think about the future and what legacy I will leave behind and who will look at my older work, how will they even find it. Will it be left on some abandon hard drive that someone still happens to have an adapter too, will it be a forgotten online gallery that someone stumbles upon when they do an online search or are following links somewhere, or will it be those few prints you got around to actually printing that you gave your family and happened to sign and they are uncovered in a box in a distant relative’s attic, or a client’s wedding album that’s past down from generations. I have heard when you become a “famous” photographer that people start looking at all your work as a whole, even your early work, and that is part of the genius of an artist, the learning process. I always found it odd in art history looking at a photographer’s or artist’s early work, that often didn’t seem like anything special at all, but because they went on to create masterpieces, then everything they produced became like a piece of history, a piece of that final masterpiece. Maybe in some small way that’s why I have a hard time hitting the delete key, even when its a photo I know didn’t turn out, its out of focused, exposed wrong, etc. I guess in some sense I think some day I or someone else will look at the mistakes and learn from them. I have always believed that the photos that I take will be for future generations in one sense or another. Before there was no delete, and besides cutting a negative out of the strip, which why would you do that, there wasn’t really a way to delete or throw away the bad photos unless you destroyed the whole roll of film or a series of the negatives, but they would still be numbered. So if a photographer did give the negatives to a client-which was far less common, then all the mistakes were seen. Now it is rare that anyone ever sees our mistakes, so are we still learning from them and will future generations still learn from us, if they can’t see how we got to the masterpieces?

Recently, I let a family member look at the back of the camera-well not by choice she was playing around with it, I let her take some photos and then she decided to look at everything on the card. There happened to still be an engagement session on there (even though I downloaded it, and backed it up, it was still on the card temporarily until I backed it up twice) and after viewing only a few images she mentioned she thought I “was losing my edge.” I was very hurt and offended at first, I mean after all I didn’t ask her opinion. But in the end I knew she was right-about those few she was talking about. It turned out the ones she was speaking about were ones that someone asked me to specifically create, they were not my vision but someone else’s and therefore not my style. A couple images later I took the same situation and made it my own, my style. After my sister looked at the whole shoot, she then said well actually it was quite good-I was actually very proud of the shoot and despite just a few images that didn’t work-as there are some with every shoot-I thought it was one of my best overall. My sister’s comments reaffirmed the fact that I have a distinct style and vision that I have come into my own and there are photos that you can tell were created by me. This style is ever growing and I wonder if you looked at my work when I begun would you know it is the same photographer I am today or ten years from now.

At Columbia College in one of our art or photo history classes I remember the most interesting fact, when Garry Winogrand, a street photographer known for his portrayal of America in the mid 20th century, died he “left behind nearly 300,000 unedited images, and more than 2,500 undeveloped rolls of film.” That’s amazing!!! –Ironically when I was searching for his name and a link to the story I came across a more recent and probably more famous example in famed war photojournalist Robert Capa. A suitcase containing “thousands of negatives of pictures that Capa took during the Spanish Civil War” before 1939 was just discovered in Jan. 2008. For more on the story check out the full article by the New York Times online.

Well since the beginning of the month I have photographed the following: A college graduation, a car accident, a newborn baby, family portraits, the amazing wedding of Kathleen and Richard in Waukegan, my puppy’s first birthday, storm damage, an engagement session, another wedding this time in Peoria with the lovely and talented Melissa McClure oh wait another engagement session–WOW! And there are still two weeks left in the month!!! Anyway these photos will be coming to you soon, but first comes the editing. I promise I will sit down and blog soon, but not until I have finished completely editing them all. I just wanted to give you an update on where I have been-if I am not out taking pictures, I am probably staying in with Mac.

Coffee after midnight?

What was I thinking?! Well I made it before midnight, but some how was still sipping it after midnight. Why did I do it? I can hardly remember.

Well today was the start of Summer in Chicago, maybe not officially, but it was the day the air conditioner finally got installed and turned on; the day were I actually wore shorts-didn’t even think I owned any that fit. (Makes me laugh cause I just realized these are the ones I almost destroyed in Hawaii. I bought them there since I was lacking in the shorts department, and I wore them the day we decided to hike in the rain, and not just trail hiking, but the kind where you just start wondering and seeing where barely there paths take you. Did I mention we hiked up a mountainous area and although we were covered with a thick canopy of trees, it indeed was raining hard. So the path we climbed up was no longer there when we climbed back. At one point I just decided it was much easier-and more fun to slide down the mountain instead of walk, it was like a fun mud slide. I barely had the shorts a day when I thought they were trashed, but looking at them today you would never know).

So anyway with Summer beginning also means the real beginning of the busy wedding season. I have had a few weddings already this season with other studios, but Saturday really marks the beginning for my studio’s season. I am so excited I can hardly sleep-oh wait that’s the coffee, but I am very excited! Well before the wedding I wanted to finish a few other things, some last minute portrait sessions that came up-I can’t wait to share them with you, but they are a gift so I have to keep it a surprise for now, and a long list of paperwork I keep putting off. So at some point in the night I thought it was a good idea to drink more coffee. Well its “coffee drink mix” really, the powdery stuff that comes in a tin with the red top, in flavors like Swiss White Chocolate and French Vanilla Anyone that meets me quickly learns I like my drinks sweet-ridiculously sweet, its always a joke how many sugars I put in an iced tea!….

Ironically “If She Couldn’t Sleep” on Blessid Union of Souls’ “Walking Off the Buzz” album just came on the party shuffle on iTunes. How funny!
–Okay I can’t make this stuff up now! Next song on party shuffle started like this…
“late night, long day, somehow it’s never quite enough……so now i’m staying up all night
cause i’m trying to understand” Yep that’s Allister’s “Stuck”

Now I am beginning to think iTunes secretly reads your mind and plays music according to your mood or something. This is not the first time the songs just started to randomly go with my mood or what I was thinking.
So the third song was Jack Johnson’s “Dreams be Dreams.”

I wonder were these kind of songs playing all night or did I just start listening? I have had my headphones on all night-well except for about tens minutes when I first turned the music on about 1am. I put the headphones in my ears and was jamming out for a while, until I looked down and noticed they weren’t plugged in all the way, sorry neighbors, hope I didn’t wake the new baby. Okay that is one reason not to drink coffee after midnight! Another is because when its 4am and your work is done, your mind is mush, but you still can’t sleep, what do you do? blog of course!
So finally I catch up on my blog. No photos tonight, just thoughts, random, babbling thoughts.

Here’s some things that either happened too fast to blog about or I just didn’t get around to it yet…

Today (still Thursday June 5 to me I haven’t gone to bed yet) my fiance, Jon, and I were walking our dog Bailey. It was hot and sticky and we had gone on a very long walk we were one house away from home and Jon gets this really weird look on his face and starts shaking his hand and holding it in the air oddly. I ask what he is doing, his response still makes me giggle, “I think a bird just pooped on me!” Sure enough I looked up and there was a big white spot in his hair. I couldn’t stop laughing. He handed me the leash to the dog and ran upstairs. I would have loved to take a photo of it, but I had never seen anyone jump in the shower so quickly! It was so funny.

Maybe the birds pooping on his head had something to do what happened on Monday…

We have a large covered porch (we are on the second story of a two flat) and Bailey loves to sit out there, we put a futon out there. So we often leave the door open so she can come inside when she wants. There isn’t much out there, some old potted plants that died over the winter and some leaves that had blown onto there. But there wasn’t too much she could get into so we usually pay no attention to what she is doing, usually she just sits there and looks out and people on the street or chews on her nylabone. Every once in a while she’ll grab a stick or leaf, but we usually can tell and catch her. So Jon was playing video games and I was on my laptop working in the living room. Bailey waltzes inside right past Jon, who hardly gives her a second look, and she jumps up onto the couch three cushions away from me. As she walks by Jon laughs and says, “what does she have now, I think its a whole branch!” I look over and there she is happily chewing a dead bird on our couch! Gross! Jon and I just laugh, as I make Jon take it away from her and dispose of it. I cleaned the area and brushed Bailey’s teeth. Bailey was so cute, even causing trouble. I thought about taking her photo, but we also wanted to get the thing away from her and out of the house as fast as we could! (today I took away all her fun and swept the porch and disposed of the plants-don’t worry it’s all going to my mom’s for compost.) Jon has been repeating the line from Family Guy, when the family talks about the time Brian (the family dog) brought them a dead bird. Brian responds (yes the dog talks) with, “that was a present for the family!” Some how if Bailey could talk I think that’s how she would look at it too. She has the cute and innocent act down pretty good.

Okay birds are chirping, always a sign that if you still haven’t gone to bed from the night before you are in trouble!

Congratulations!

It has been a long weekend, and I was hoping to write tomorrow about Kira’s graduation from Elmhurst College and post photos. However, it may be a day or so now, as I happened upon some spot news (I freelance for Pioneer Press, so if it happens in a town we cover, I feel its my job to stop and photograph it.) as Jon and I arrived in our neighborhood after the graduation and a lovely dinner. -I know its like the spot news finds me! That’s another story all together. Well as a result of the news it has got be thinking. Right now I have to finish editing the photos for publication. But some time tomorrow I will post about it.

So before time escapes me, as it often seems to, and I don’t get around to the personal stuff, I wanted to send a big congratulations to Kira Chard who graduated from Elmhurst College today with a Bachelors in Sociology! I wish her the best of luck in the future. May she be become a rich social worker (as she likes to joke). It was really great to spend time with her and her family [oh by the way she is my fiance's (Jon) cousin].

Also last weekend Jon’s brother Ben graduated from Dowling High School in Des Moines, Iowa. Congratulations Ben! Good luck at Kansas City Art Institute. You may remember my post “Art and Fear” about what to get him. We attended his party two weeks ago and had so much fun!

As I spend more time with Jon’s family, lately I see them once a month or more it seems, I realize how they are becoming my family as well. And not because they will be-in 2011 officially, but because they all make me feel like family. It’s that kind of comfort level that no matter what you know they’ll still love you. I am blessed to have great future “in-laws” -what a silly term in-law how did they come up with that one? And why is it always seem that term has some negative feeling with it? And you have to say that little phase when describing the “other” side of the family. When really they are just family. Once you get married-and often long before, it seems you don’t really need the in-law added they are simply your family too.

And so to my future “in-laws” thank you for being you and welcoming me into your family. Its great to have another sister, a brother, another mother, another father, more cousins, more crazy aunts-you three sisters remind me of my mom and her sisters and me and my sisters. Aren’t three girls fun?

I look forward to many years of milestones and celebrations together!

Coming to a town near you

Wow I just looked at my calendar! I have a busy summer and fall coming up. I will be traveling A LOT. So please be patient with me when it comes to responding to email and phone calls. Please note if you call or email between Friday and Monday, there is a good chance I may be out of town. And I will return your message as soon as I can, but it may be more than the usual 24 hours. Best time to reach me will be Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays.

Since many of you live in different cities I am posted a list of my travel dates so you know when the next time I will be in a town near you. This will help with scheduling meetings, engagement sessions and portrait sessions-I am now offering all kinds of portrait sessions, baby, family, high school seniors, couples, children and more! Please contact me for further details.

All Dates 2008

I will be in Des Moines, Iowa (and also available to meet at cities along the way from Chicago to Des Moines or nearby) on the following weekends (most weekends I have a wedding scheduled on Saturday, but I am usually free the other days)…
June 27-June 29
Sept. 19-21
Sept. 26-28
Oct. 2-5
Oct 16-19
Nov 26-30 (Thanksgiving)

And possibly July 12 in Lone Tree, Iowa outside of Iowa City (for Camp Euforia check it out! 2 Day Music festival click on link)

I will be in Galena, IL (next to Dubuque, Iowa)
Oct 10-12 (wedding on Saturday)

I will be in Jamaica (Negril area mostly)
July 2-7

And I will be in Florida (Orlando area mostly)
Sept. 5-Sept 10

Wow it may have been easier to say when I will be home.

Well if you are interested in a portrait or engagement session or would like to meet to discuss your upcoming wedding or event and I will be in your area please let me know.

I may also make a trip to Colorado again for some Ever After sessions (4 of my 2008 couples will be living there after August 1). I will keep you all posted on upcoming plans.

I am planning also to travel to the following in 2009… San Diego, California; Melbourne, Florida (winter possibly); Kansas City, Kansas; Tennessee (March); Iowa; Colorado; Hawaii (late 2009/early 2010 to plan our wedding)

I am always willing to travel to more places! So if I have not listed your location and you are interested in me photographing your wedding or having a portrait session please let me know. I have a current passport and I am excited to visit anywhere in the world.

Julie and Mark Got Married!

Over the next few weeks I will be revisiting some photo shoots that I didn’t get a chance to publish when they happened for whatever reason. Often times I was the second photographer, as was the case with this wedding. I am sorry for the long post, I am working out a slide show feature to put in the blogs. But until I find one I really like I will continue to share many images with you all. Enjoy!

On Saturday, May 3 I had the pleasure of working with photographer, Joe Gallo for the wedding of Julie and Mark. The couple got engaged at Walt Disney World in front of Cinderella’s castle. Julie was there with her family and had no idea Mark was going to be in Florida even. He surprised her by showing up and getting down on one knee. So their wedding had a fairytale theme, complete with a pumpkin coach! I was so excited to photograph their love story! (As you all know I am a big fan of Disney!) Julie really looked like a princess, she was stunning. It was a chilly Spring day, but the flowers were in full bloom and the weather was no match for Julie and Mark’s storybook day.

I started my day at Queen of Martyrs church in Evergreen Park, as I waited for the guys to arrive I took photos of the details (like the apple blossom in previous post). The programs were beautiful. I loved the design! And the colors what a great coral/orange color. -In fact I have a spring coat in the same color, which I happened to be wearing that day

When the guys arrived I knew right away they were a fun bunch. And so I asked them to jump for one of the group photos. I have wanted to try this for a while. Thanks guys for giving me so much personality! I love how everyone jumps differently.

I always like to look for reactions and emotions. I like to keep an eye on the groom as he sees his bride for the first time. And since I watched “27 Dresses” the night before, I knew this is some people’s favorite part. You can just see it in his face, Mark is madly in love with his Julie.

And during the vows you can see how much Julie loves Mark

One of my favorite moments of the ceremony was when Julie went over to the Virgin Mary with her mother. It was an emotion filled moment between mother and daughter and I even got choked up behind the camera, when she told Julie, “she’ll always be there for you.”

“My lady, your coach awaits”

This pumpkin coach was so cute! I couldn’t get enough of it. [As with all photos on my blog, click image for larger one]

Between the ceremony and the reception we went to take photos at one of my new favorite locations,
Lake Katherine in Palos Heights. The sun even peeked out from behind the clouds for the first time all day, just for Mark and Julie.

Here is one of the classic Tina Jean style photos, laying on the ground, looking through the grass!

Most times my favorite portraits are not the ones set up or posed. They are the ones of people relaxed, just standing as they normally would. These were all taken unexpectedly as “posed” photos of other people were been taken, I turned my camera on those that were patiently waiting.

And sometimes its the moments before or after the “posed” photos that are fun!

I love this photo. Julie makes such a cute pouty lip! I think she’s got me beat. Look out Mark it will work everytime!

Love the shoes girls!! When you are on your feet for more than 8 hours and dancing into the night, comfort is something all brides should consider, not only for themselves but also for their bridesmaids. Many people bring a change of shoes for after the ceremony, but these wise girls just started in comfort!

Julie and Mark were full of great ideas! All night I found more and more things and kept saying wow how did they come up with that?!

Would you believe these flowers are not real? I couldn’t believe it either! They had me fooled at first. What a great way to insure you will have vibrant colors and all the petals perfectly in place all day. You could toss the bouquets around without worrying.

Precious Moments AND Disney Cake Topper too cute! (I know my sister Amy will be looking for this when she gets married)

Loved the favors, the pint glass reads, “Stolen from Mark and Julie’s Wedding” and had their logo and wedding date.

Julie even found this cute bib for little Katy (the daughter of their groomsman and bridesmaid). The colors and font matched the wedding. But I loved this image in black and white.

The glasses Mark and Julie used for the toast were shaped like big boots. They drank Old Style in true Wrigley Field tradition. Julie sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” with her parents after the father-daughter dance. They are big Cubs fans and Julie played softball.

I love this father-daughter moment

And finally I knew that Julie and Mark were a fun couple but this took the cake-literally. I think this is the best cake in the face, most animated, I have seen in a long time. It took me by surprise, but made me laugh. It was all in good fun and Julie gently wipes the cake off of Mark’s face. [click to see the larger images]

Julie and Mark thank you so much for letting me be a part of your special day! I enjoyed meeting you both and had a lot of fun. My best wishes to you both and your families in the future.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

No not the song from Family Guy although that makes me laugh and makes me also think of a co-worker, we used to work with at Cheesecake Factory, and how he’d walk around singing that over and over for months. (Here is the original story of “peanut butter jelly time” I found when I tried to look up the family guy clip)

But really I am talking about “peanut butter jelly time”, as a time when you were young and ate the classics like peanut butter and jelly and the time I am eating it now. I wanted to write a short entry so I remember this time and how I feel. The time when my business is really starting -this is the first full year I have relied solely on photography full time, no temp jobs or waitressing jobs or all the many other jobs I had while I was in college and the few years after when the business was starting out. I finally took the plunge and took the chance that my career as a photographer would support me. And thanks to my amazing clients I have been doing well.

But sometimes its still tough. I am still learning every day how to run a business. There is a lot of trial and error and learning from mistakes. -one of my favorite lines in my recent favorite song, “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz is “you win some you LEARN some.” Artists sometimes have a hard time with the “business” side of the business. And I am no exception. Accounting is probably my best weakness. It’s tough to decide where to put the money (in equipment, marketing, new products, etc) and manage it as it comes in along with make sure it comes in correctly. Currently I do everything myself, accounting, bookkeeping, taking photos, editing photos, making appointments, customer service, etc, etc. And most of the time I actually love doing it! It’s great to be your own boss, and in charge of all aspects of the business. But it has its downsides to as I said I am not an expert in all the areas of running a business. -I hope to hire experts for the tasks in the near future. But until then I will continue to perfect what I can do and continue to learn.

Okay so I am babbling -those of you that know me, know this is just a “Tina story” as my friends and family call them-stories that babble on and go off on tangents. Well what does this have to do with peanut butter and jelly?!

For the last couple weeks I have been eating A LOT of PB & J. I mean like every day for lunch-or snacks. Can I really love it that much? Well I do love it-in fact I realized that today which inspired me to write this post. But in the beginning I starting eating a lot of it because it was inexpensive, you could buy a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jelly-or jam as I prefer, and a loaf of bread for about $10-or less if you shop smart and it could last you awhile-like two weeks or so. Before I had gotten used to eating out for lunch almost every day, it was my time in the day to get out of the house and office for a little while and read or write, just relax. I’d go to Panera Bread, Starbucks, Jamba Juice, or a little restaurant nearby. All of which added up for lunch rather quickly, spending $6 to sometimes close to $18 a day for lunch! But I was used to eating out, for more than eight years I worked in restaurants. I lived the life of a server, eating out, having cash all the time, and if you were ever short on cash, you simply worked another shift and almost like magic that night you had money again. I guess after so long living like that and being surrounded by others who lived like that, always dining out like it was no big deal, I just got used to it and didn’t remember any other way to live (my fiance and I met at a restaurant and worked together for a couple years, he still worked there part time for several months after I left). We ate at the restaurant almost once a shift and between the two of us that was six days a week. Time was short with us-we both worked a lot, so cooking a meal was just too much of a pain. I guess its hard to break habits. But now as we settle down and both of us really begin our careers we find more time to cook. And I love it! I find other things to spend my money on, like costs of running a business, better equipment, better products for my clients. And the way I receive income is very different. Sometimes I feel like its a roller coaster. There are ups and downs. Sometimes it feels you are on top of the world and you want to dine out and treat yourself. And other times you know its peanut butter and jelly time.

Today I realized though I LOVE peanut butter and jelly time! As I ate my pb & j on whole wheat toast it reminded me of a simpler time, a time when I didn’t even know what money was. (-And gas was below ONE dollar!) My mom was already teaching us lessons on stretching a dollar back when I was a kid even though I couldn’t see that until today. Back then I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (sometimes toast) on white bread with the crust cut off-my mom was so nice! (still is!) Or she would make these cool “Banana Boats” I think she got it from Sesame Street or something. Its one piece of bread covered with peanut butter then half a banana in the center, fold the bread around the banana. -Oh don’t forget the fruit roll-up sail, use a straw or other material to attach it to the boat. Yummy!! Man I wish I had some bananas.

Well no matter what the situation, peanut butter and jelly can bring a smile to your face, make you feel like a kid, and make you feel on top of the world. I think I will always make time for good old PB and J!

Sorry there are no photos of the peanut butter and jelly I ate it too fast