Allison x Kyle Get Married

I was honored to shoot my friends wedding in Big Bend, WI on this hot summer day. Allison and Kyle had their ceremony at his parents house in their backyard under a tent and the fun ended back in Milwaukee. 

Following Allison around the entire day was so fun. Seeing all of the range of emotions from her getting ready with all of her bridesmaids, getting there, the big ceremony, and then of course the dancing at the reception.

There's something special about shooting moments like this. I always end up learning a lot about myself and how I executed things. It's precious being apart of their family and their friends for a few days. Really, it's such a humble experience and makes me appreciate what I've done for them. 

Misc Thoughts

  1. Definitely over-prepared for the wedding day. Rather be over than under-prepared to be honest. 

  2. I was backing up all of my photos mid-shooting throughout the entire day. Thank god I had my computer with me and my external to back up every card every so often. Just 6D things with one SD card slot.  

  3. I think I'm going to try to shoot with just 85mm and a 35mm next time. 50mm is nice but I want to try something new out for next time around.

  4. I forgot to eat dinner. Thanks to my friends (& coworkers), they reminded me to sit and eat. Such an important thing that I easily missed because I was so honed in capturing photos of everyone. 

  5. The reception / dancing photos were my favorite. Everyone was having such a good time and the music was hella good. Look at them below!

  6. Was told “You’re like the most well dressed photographer I’d ever seen.” This was totally out of the blue from a guests and I got so red and couldn’t stop smiling, haha.


Wedding Dress: Suite Bridal / Wedding planner: Casey Moglia (Save The Date MKE) / Venue: South Second / Florals: Sweven Floral / DJ: Kyle Woods 

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.

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!

TAME IMPALA & MINI MANSIONS


Last Friday I stopped by the Riveria Theatre in Chicago and took some amazing shots of Tame Impala and Mini Mansions. I actually never shot photos before at The Riv and it was all new to me. Crammed up on stage left with security guards overwatching the crowd who are drugged up or drunk, I met so many genuine photographers from other media firms whiling waiting for the bands to start (Chicago Tribune, Chicagoist, etc - all super nice people). I was literally a solo freelance fish in the sea of photographers and held my ground.

The facility has this strict rule of taking shots of the first three songs and that's it. After that, camera's are away - no joke. In the time span of three songs capturing the band's performance, you're completely focused on the shots you can get and the music dissolves as background noise.  They opened up "Let it Happen" then into "Mind Mischief" and it was incredible. After shooting photos of both bands, I enjoyed watching the rest of the set from afar - mind you I was a hot sweaty mess from the jam packed stoned/drunk crowd. Alcohol wasn't even on my mind at that point.

I can't wait to shoot more photos of bands, events, and whatnot. I'm starting to really enjoy this photography thing with bands, etc.