Chicago Engagement Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at Kelly and Mat's Chicago Session Engagement.  We had a bright sunny day to contend with along with some winds and, oh yeah - a heavily secured NATO conference!!  Fortunately, this soon to be married couple ARE NOT wanted criminals and the shoot went off without a hitch.  :)

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If you have followed the Northwest Indiana wedding journal for a while, you know I'm a big fan of these Chicago Engagement packages.  You will also know that this Chicago Sessions package consist of color images transferred to black and white after the shoot and made to look like old film.  It's romantic and cinematic - think 1960's street photography.

I'm currently editing Kelly and Mat's images to give them all these looks.  The color versions will be available to them as well as the black and white images.  The photo book that comes with the package (great for display at the reception) consist of all the black and white images made into one beautiful story of the day.

We may take in the garden at Millennium Park (see above) or go with the street photography look of the couple perched up high with the tall buildings as a backdrop...

The windy city brings many different looks, sometimes all within a single block.  It's a teasure trove of photo opportunities for engagement photos.

Stay tuned for more Kelly and Mat engagement pictures as I ready them for viewing.  I will be taking Memorial Day off to rest up after a terrific wedding in Portage yesterday.  Have a great weekend!!

Ogden Garden Engagement Photos

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Ogden Garden in Valparaiso is a great destination for outdoor weddings.  I also use this location for engagement photos like i did on a beautiful Spring day with Dustin and Jenny.  One of my favorite photos of the day is the one above with the happy couple caught laughing.  They were snuggled up on the Ogden Garden bridge with me a good distance away capturing some candid moments.  It's a very photojournalistic style of photography that I sometyimes employ to capture some natural reactions.

For the most part, we went with simple images of the young couple to show their love for each other.  i knew they wanted to captured the beautiful greenery of the garden and I wanted to capture their beautiful smiling faces as well.

Our groom to be - Dustin - was game to get down on one knee and kiss the hand of his bride to be.  Jenny and I threatened to put this up as a billboard on I-65 for all his homeboys to see!!  Fortunately for him, that did not prove to be cost efficient.  :)

Often times a couple will get a photo book of their engagement photos to show off at their wedding reception.  The image below was shot with that in mind as a background to a page.

Another popular product for engagement sessions is the Save the Date magnet.  This is the one I designed for Dustin and Jenny.  They received 50 of these Save the Date magnets for booking the Digital Deluxe Package for their September wedding.

Another item couples often display at their reception is a large wall print.  Dustin and Jenny chose this antique looking photo of them kissing on one of the park benches at Ogden Garden as a 16x20 Stand Out Wall Print.

Lastly, the engaged couple decided to show off their love for one another along with the love for their favorite football team - the Chicago Bears!!

I'm very much looking forward to Dustin and Jenny's Fall wedding this September!!

More Engagement Photos from Downtown Crown Point

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Michele and Nick ordered a large 16x20 Wall Print of the above image to display at their wedding reception this June.  As I had them outstretch their arms toward the Courthouse shoppes sign, they had no idea I would be placing their wedding date within the sign itself.  I saw the look of surprise as Michele watched their highlight video of the engagement session we did in the Crown Point Square.

We had discussed before hand of doing a lot of vintage scenes in the old downtwon area.  For the image below, we went for an antique effect of the young couple kissing with the old courthouse for a backdrop....

The bride to be really liked the idea of strolling around window shopping.  We did this engagement photo shoot on Easter Sunday so we practically had the Square all to ourselves.

The courtyard across from the old courthouse was empty and the couple embraced as we waited for the occasional car to pass by out of frame.

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We had a nice dramatic sky as the sun began to set.  Once again, a couple in love with the streets of Crown Point all to themselves.  Okay, a photographer with an assistant and a lighting rig as well.  Doesn't mean it was any less romantic!!  :)

The south east corner of the Square has a great little mini park in front of the What's the Scoop ice cream shop.  Perfect for some vintage looking, couple on the park bench type of photography.  This one has an early 1970's vibe to it.

As you can see from this street sign, I'll be seeing Michele and Nick again on June 9th for their wedding. Looking forward to a fun day with a terrific couple.

Engagement Pictures in Downtown Chicago

Today we have a sneak peek look at Aimee and Tim's Chicago Session engagement photos.  As is tradition with the Chicago Sessions package, my assistant and I met the couple at the East Chicago train station in Northwest Indiana for a romantic photo of the train arriving.  The commuters going to the city were kind enough to step out of the way so we could get an "alone" shot of Aimee and Tim on the platform embraced in a kiss.

Soon enough we were on the train, heading for downtown Chicago as I took candid shots on the moving train.

For this highly stylized engagement package, I shoot in color and then turn the images into black and white after the fact.  This enables me to offer both color and black and white versions.  The idea is to have vintage black and whites that look like old film and slides from classic street photography of the 1960's 1970's.  However, sometimes it's difficult to decide on some images.  The next shot with the State Street bridge in the background may be a better chopice in color to print large and hang on the soon to be married couple's wall.  I will let them decide...

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The city of Chicago has so many scenes for photograp[hy and one of favorites is to capture that street feel like this kiss with the Chicago Theater in the background...

We typically start at Randolph street and head toward the Chicago River and eventually make our way back to Millennium Park where we catch the train back.  A few minutes before we had to be back on our way to Northwest Indiana, just enough time for a piggy back ride beneath the fountains...

The Chicago cityscape always makes for a great backdrop.  Once again, color or black and white?  Mmmm....

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Many more images from Aimee and Tim's trek around Chicago for their engagement pictures.  Just a sneak peek for now.  Let's finish up with this close up shot on Michigan Avenue.