The Brilliance of Experience

There are two people in existence that know what this photo means and that is a huge part of why I love it.

My boss and I are constantly working, building upon our past experiences, and continually pushing to be better. This fact is a huge part of why I love working with him. He always has a constructive critique of my performance during a shoot. Our recap meetings usually turn into mini classes: we discuss what we have achieved and what we can work on even more. I take every single suggestion to heart and improve my shooting in the best way I can, therefore constantly improving my technique. We make a perfect team.

I don't want to go into the specifics and dilute the beauty of the mystery, I'll leave that up to him. Maybe, one day, he'll write a book about it or something. All I can tell you is that this guy is brilliant; and, I'm thoroughly amazed at how many things he has to teach. They're really only things you can learn from the 20+ years of experience that he has and shooting with him is a HUGE help to understanding them. Well, I guess that's about it for now...

Here's to another week of 2nd shooter amazing-ness!

Ciao!

Making connections never hurts..

Those of you who have followed me for a while, may have thought I forgot about my Moroccan obsession, but as I will show you today, I certainly have not!  I also have not forgotten about my love for travel, culture, and life outside of the U.S..

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from a photographer, one of whom I had never heard. The subject of the message was something like "Scouting Talented Photographer Assistant." So, surprised, I opened the email, and saw that it was sent to my "colum.edu" email and thought "OK, so he found me on the Columbia site, it's safe," and I read. There were no real details. I googled him - I saw where he had worked  and that his work is commercial... If you know me, you know commercial is not my favorite, but as Yassine said, it's all about experience and connections. So, so somewhat reluctantly, I set up a meeting. At that meeting I found that, not only is he a commercial photographer, he is a wedding photographer as well and oh! how my attitude changed (a complete 180 degrees, you might say)! It may have also helped that he is a total advocate of a "no stress" policy and is super pleasant to be around... just maybe that had something to do with the change of heart... Oh! and possibly the mention of working in a country that has been on my list to visit for quite some time...

In the future, I will share more about him and my work with him, but for now, I will say this: God really does know the desires of our hearts and, as long as those desires are in line with what is right, He will honor them and give them to you.


Now, bringing all of that back to Morocco, I'm not really sure how the two relate, yet, other than travel because hopefully, I shall be doing some of that with weddings here and internationally so....stay tuned.... :)

Until later, here are a few images that are inspiring me to be a better photographer:

All photos found on Pinterest

Henna in Morocco - ourlaboroflove.com

Paris - Unsure by whom, though it may be Avedon

Bride In Morocco -ourlaboroflove.com

Avedon

Josie + JT | Baptism

The day of Josie and JT's Baptism was a a scorcher! They were troopers though, calm and cool through it all. It was an honor, and pleasure, to be part of such an important day for the Corrao Family.

While photographing the actual baptism ceremony, I found myself paying more attention than usual to the artistic quality of my photos. John has been one of my supporters from the very beginning of my career and he is always telling me to just do what I do, and not to hold back on creativity. So I found it really easy to let go of the pressures of photographing something so important and just take photos from my point of view.

 Of course, I made sure to get the essentials first!

 

You probably remember Josie and JT from this post, when I photographed them at home with their family. They have grown quite a bit and they're still just as adorable!

After the baptism we headed back to the Corrao house to have a little party and get some photos with the extended family and friends.

John told me that he really wanted a full family portrait. He explained that his famliy had not had ANY photos of all of them since childhood! Of course, having them all together, we just HAD to capture a bit of Corrao family history, right?! Absolutely! and I love that I was able to meet that need for them.

 

Although, we didn't get little Analiese in there, I did get quite a few of her content with the hose, filling the pool! Hopefully, there well be another chance to get another full family photo, soon!

Oh, and let's not forget the best part of the day - CAKE! Heehee - just kidding! But, for reals, that cake was, quite possibly, the best I've ever had!

Thank you again, Corraos, for everything - especially, sticking it out the scorching heat! You guys are awesome!

For me..but also for you.

Sometimes, I just need to shoot and edit images that are just for me. When my niece Taylor is around, those are the times. Taylor has had my camera in her face from the moment she was born. She has been my perpetual project and it seems that she will be surpassing my record for Bullis baby with the most baby pictures and she's only two. This is confirmed by my Lightroom collection that's at 535 and there are even negatives that I haven't scanned in yet.

So, today, here are some pictures for me, but also for you, because I like to share.

*See these photos and more on H|Photography's Facebook Page!*

The Paetzolds and Pavliks

A couple weekends ago I packed up my camera gear and made a trek to Yorkville, IL to see some of my cousins. I don't get to see my cousins very often, but when I do, it's a guaranteed blast! My cousins, Andy and Megan are no strangers to this blog, either! (You may remember them from a family shoot I did for their son, Sam's, first birthday! (Also here on Facebook))

Back in December when I launched my Christmas promo, Megan was one of the first of my clients to jump on the deal, along with Sam's godmother, Erica, and her family! So it was a double family shoot, four parents, and four kids!!  I was so excited to see all of them again!

We decided schedule the shoot around the warmer months, We chose May and the infamous Illinois weather pushed us into June, and even threatened to rainout our rain date shoot with hail and pouring rain. But, the clouds parted and we had a great session with lovely changing light and even some powerful clouds for a background. Best of all, we had the fading sun to cast a gorgeous warmth over everyone! I just loved it!

Thank you, Paetzolds and Pavliks, for sticking out the weather with me!! I had one of the most enjoyable shoots ever! You all are just awesome!

Here are some of my favorite photos of the day. Be sure to checkout more on Facebook and leave comments as well!