THE ORDER | Mario Tricoci's Make Me A Model 2016 Fashion Show


A couple Friday's ago I had the opportunity to shoot The Order's A/W 2016 walk down the runway at Mario Tricoci's Make Me A Model Fashion Show and it was killer. I worked my way battling against other photographers to get in the middle of the photo pit to get these shot's. 

To Factor Chosen Models: way to slay the runway with her stuff!
To Nicole: thank you! Can't wait to work with you again!

Keep a lookout for The Order's S/S 2017 on her website and her instagram page. I'm pretty sure there's going to be all kinds of dark sexy satin and lace. 

I will call it now, she will go big soon at this rate. 

WEST ELM | Manny the Frenchie x ASPCA


I recently got the opportunity to work with a pretty well known upscale furniture and home decor store recently - you guys know about West Elm, right? As you (probably) can tell, that came along with the most popular frenchie out there - Manny The Frenchie. I spent a couple hours hanging with their owners and this cute little guy for holidays photos promoting West Elm & the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). For every photo that was taken with the hashtag #westelmxaspca, West Elm donated $1 to the ASPCA. 

I had such a fun time getting to know the owners and work with Manny for this photo shoot. I took so many photos, I have an entire library of Manny being cute around the Christmas tree and his ornaments. Keep a look out on my Instagram for an outtake post.

Thank you West Elm, Manny, and their owners!

THE ORDER | NICOLE MARÉT


Last week I received an email in my inbox about a Chicago fashion show happening on Friday from Nicole Maret. The email was mentioned how there was a "Mario Make Me A Model" runway show/competition hosted by Mario Tricoci featuring  five Chicago designers showing 10 looks being worn by model finalists. One of those five designers is my lovely and dearest friend Nicole Maret of The Order.

I honestly never been to a fashion show in my life and made an impulse buy to go to this event. Bought my ticket not too long after I go into the office and waited till Friday evening to arrive so I can go to my first fashion event. Walking into Redmoon theatre, I could see a swarm of beautiful people in suits and dresses. Me on the other side of the spectrum - black boots, black skinny jeans, black collared shirt, denim jacket, and a backpack. I literally said to myself "Fuck." I didn't care at all because I was there to support her.

Throughout the event, I made the best of it in my own element in a sea of designers, creatives, and elegant people. Pulled my camera out of my bag and started taking photos of the models walking down the runway in her new "Paradigm" collection. I will admit, her work is stunningly beautiful. I'm a fan of black and it's all elegant in its unique way. Attractive really. You know what? I had a good time and I think I'm going to get myself into this stuff more, it was a different vibe than what I'm used to and they actually play good electronic music that I'm into. 

Here's my 5 in random order...

  1. Security stopped me outside the gate and show that I had a ticket. I guess it's since I came not dressed like everyone else. Every guy had a suit on. I had black boots, black skinny jeans, black collared shirt, denim jacket. Haha, oops?
  2. I snuck myself in the back photo area to get some of these shots. Lots of repeats I know but got what I got.
  3. I sat next the mother of the winner. She was so nice and glad I got some photos of her in the outfits and winning the competition.
  4. Didn't even see Nicole the entire night but saw her collection go down the runway. 10/10.
  5. I actually really liked the whole experience. Will definitely have to do it again sometime soon.

TIMEOUT CHICAGO | "Dating IRL"


July and August were by far the craziest time for my photography. I barely had a break because of all of the music festivals, events, and catching up with friends who I haven't seen in awhile. My wallet took a major dent as well so I knew I had to slow things down a bit. 

On August 3rd, a good friend of mine Lisa White (editor) pinged me on gchat and mentioned that I was featured on Time Out Chicago. I didn't know what it was at first since I was in meetings all day at work and when I had the chance to click on it, I was ecstatic to see my name on the list of "17 Best Chicago Instagram Accounts"! That moment, Lisa asked me to join the Time Out staff as a photographer. From there, everything took off.

Most of these images aren't on the magazine but here you have it, the ones that didn't make the cut and the ones that did make the cut.

W HOTEL | PLAYING CATCHUP


Doing a massive catch up since I've been incredibly busy working and having fun.

W Hotel (Lakeshore / City Center) curates fantastic events and I always have so much fun being involved in it shooting photos for them. Events including fashion designers, international / local talent, and pop up shops. I've met so many fantastic people through these events and I'm happy to take their photos catching the moment. Summer has been good so far and I know it's only gonna get better from here. Ok short and sweet, onto the next blog post.

Here are my top to bottom 5 on the pictures above:

  1. Gabriella Zwick and models wearing her swimwear. They were all so nice and really enjoying their time showing off the swimwear.
  2. JackLNDN was playing Lollapalooza after-party at the W City Center. He was real nice and happy to get his photo taken DJ'ing. Check out his music, especially this.
  3. I love catching employees / friends of the W Hotel in Chicago. Either smiling, posing, or simply being weird - all of it is great.
  4. Jenna Zielbauer of Casual Friday brought her apparel for Lollapalooza girls to buy and she brought her in her adorable daughter Maxi Monroe.
  5. I'm so behind on blogging all of these photos I've been taking!

WINCHESTER | ANNE OWEN #TASTETHEWIN


Last week I attended The Winchester's #tastethewin Tastemaker event featuring Anne Owen of Owen + Alchemy. Surprisingly, this was my first time here at the restaurant. My friend lives a block away and always raves about how she always goes here but I never step foot in there yet. Anyways, this event just happened to be going on and thought it would be perfect to go see what they're all about, meet new people, and get a chance to shoot some photos. As you can tell, I did end up taking some! 

#tastethewin is a series that features Chicago's very own and best from a variety of industries. Kicking the series off - Anne Owen of Owen + Alchemy in Logan Square. Owen + Alchemy is a modern juice apothecary in Chicago serving cold pressed juices, fresh nut milks and plant-based whole foods. With each person featured in the series, the host gets to choose their charity or organization of choice. In this case, Anne chose the Logan Square Farmers Market. Every featured drink purchased, some proceeds go to that charity or organization - pretty cool, right?

I met so many lovely new people and meeting the host herself. Anne was such a sweetheart and one of the bubbliest people I've met. Can't forget to mention the slew of other people I met throughout the night as well - designers, photographers, etc. Had such a wonderful time and look forward to the next event of the series!

Here are my 5...

  1. Anne is super sweet and has a cool sense of style. Told her I had the #21 for the first time ever and loved it. Never had Owen + Alchemy prior to the event. 
  2. First event shooting with my new Canon 35mm lens. Literally got it the same day.
  3. Could've ate an entire baguette with that spread (pic above). Mmm.
  4. Everyone kept looking at Anne's shoes (pic above). Killer shoes.
  5. My friend Brittany came along with me bringing all of her stuff. Sorry for making you bring all your stuff! So thank you!

CHICITYFASHION | WET DECK BUBBLEQ


Summer is here. Well sort of. If you live in Chicago, you really know what I mean. 

Chicago in the summer is amazing. There are street festivals every weekend, rooftop parties, patio eating & drinking, beaches, and much more. I recently got the opportunity to take photos for W Chicago - Lakeshore for their event "Wet Deck BubbleQ" featuring the lovely Jena Gambaccini of ChiCityFashion. The party was packed with a variety people, all ranging from businessmen and women, interior designers, fashion designers, bloggers, etc of the Chicagoland area. Got so many good candids of people happy and being goofy. Here is my top 5 of the night...

  1. Jena is hilariously funny. She also served herself some Veuve Clicquot.
  2. My friend Maddy likes to avoid getting her photo taken but you know, I'm a photo ninja so I got a few good ones in, heh. 
  3. I think I drank like 6 glasses of Veuve Cliquot Rosé. It was so so good.
  4. I was totally underdressed (black t-shirt, black jeans, black converses) for the event but hey, I'm the photographer. I do whatever I want. 
  5. Met so many good people who worked in different industries and professions. Lots of business cards too.

BKB CHICAGO | TACOS & TUNEUPS + MEMORIAL DAY MIXER


May has been busy at BKB Chicago and I got to cover two fun events - "Tacos & Tuneups" and "Memorial Day Mixer"

I'll start off with "Tacos & Tuneups." It was cold / rainy but I was surprised to see the amount of people still working out and getting their rock climbing on. Can't forget to mention Clif Barwas giving out free bars to the community, The Salsa Truck selling their great tacos, and Heritage Bicycles was providing discounted on the spot tuneups. Those chorizo tacos you see up there...yeah, that was mine. Could've had TWO more, easily!

"Memorial Day Mixer" was probably by far my favorite event ever shooting. I only say this because of the amount of involvement the facility / staff took on with the climbing community totally integrating belay buddies to get free tattoo's to apply on yourself and the crate stacking competition. It was amazing how the females of the competition were slaying the boys on crate stacking! I would like to try at it some point and I'm sure it's super mentally and physically challenging. 

I'm looking forward to the events and photo shoots I have lined up. Can't wait to show you guys what I have upcoming. 

BKB CHICAGO | LADIES NIGHT x MIZUNO x POWERBAR


Topping off the last LADIES NIGHT @ Brooklyn Boulders of Chicago, Mizuno x PowerBar set up shop and hung out for the evening. LADIES NIGHT happens every Wednesday and purely dedicated to the ladies out there in Chicago at a super discounted rate. On top of that, cool sponsors come in and usually have something to give out for FREE. Cool, right? I pretty much just hung out by the PowerBar table and ate two bars worth off samples. Essentially just made it my dinner. The 'Peanut Butter & Caramel' was so addicting. 

A message to the women out there who are on the floor -- you are all seriously killin' it on the rock walls! Keep it up ladies.