Dorene's 60th Surprise Birthday Party

Gonna make this a quick one! I had the privilege of taking photos at my aunt's best friend's surprise birthday party this past weekend. It was also my birthday, but being that photography is one of my favorite things to do, I didn't mind.

It was a totally different experience from what I'm used to, as 95% of the photos were candid. It was a little unnerving to have NO control over the lighting or locations. Now I sorta know what it's like to be a wedding photographer ;). I show up and have to make it work, lol. Nonetheless I had fun and it was great experience.

Here are a few of the more blog-friendly shots. I was only able to stay for the beginning of the party, so missed some of the action later in the evening. But I heard it was a good time!

Oh, and I'm thrilled that this is the first shoot with which I am utilizing my new online proofing and ordering system: http://pfishphotography.zenfolio.com/. I'm using it on a trial basis only at the moment, so we'll see if I decide to keep it.




Dorene's three sons rehearse a dance for their mom (Dorene is a dancer).


The Surprise moment.




Dorene and her husband, Tom.




The pretty flowers that a guest brought as a gift.


My aunt gives a toast.

Britney & Jonathan's Maternity Session

My coworkers are awesome. They've been very supportive of my budding photography business. Jennifer, one of my colleagues, has three grown sons, one of which is expecting their first child. I was honored to be asked to take maternity photos for Jonathan and his wife, Britney. I've only done maternity photos in a studio setting before, so this was a new experience! We got a lot of great shots and to my relief, Jennifer was quite happy with the final product (she knows what she likes, and isn't afraid to say so, tee hee).

Things I learned from this shoot:

1. Bring bug repellent. We went to a local park and I was EATEN ALIVE. Within 10 minutes I had no less than 20 bites between my two shoulders. I would compose my shot, swat, adjust the f-stop, swat, click, and swat.

2. Use a diffuser/reflector. They work great. However, sometimes even a nice diffuser won't do the trick, leaving harsh shadows on the subjects' faces.

And now for my favorites!






















This was awesome - while I was being eaten alive, this butterfly wanted nothing more than to sit on Britney. Initially we tried swatting it away (apparently Britney doesn't like bugs), but then decided to go with it. Too bad it didn't land on her belly :).



As always, thanks for looking!

Lexi's One-Year-Old Photos

Last November I did some photos for my coworker Courtney: http://auroraseyes.blogspot.com/2009/11/smith-family.html. She has a little girl, Lexi, who will be turning one in just over a week! How time flies.

Courtney was so kind as to ask me to do Lexi's 1-year-old photos. I happily obliged and we had a great little session! She was great to take photos of because as you can see, she's one gorgeous little girl.























Thanks for looking!

Christian

On Mother's Day I photographed a good friend's [almost] 4-month-old baby, Christian. He was a little cranky prior to the pictures and I was worried he wouldn't be a happy boy, but he smiled and cooed and photographed very nicely! He's such a cutie! I had a LOT of favorites from this batch and it was hard to pick just a few :).














Wish I had cropped this just a little differently, but his face cracks me up!


Love this face as well ;).

Hope you all had a lovely Mom's Day!

Random Rainy Friday Evening Portraits with Melissa

Remember Melissa? (IDK...my BFF Melissa?) When I want practice I force her to be my model. Ok, not exactly force, but I'm pretty convincing. Friday evening I had hoped to take some shots of her outside but the weather did not cooperate, so I did some close-ups of her inside. It was my goal to work on eyes and close-ups in general. She makes a beautiful model :). And a note: I did decide to shoot wide open, hence the very shallow depth of field.

Mark & Cheri

My aunt Cheri asked me back in, I dunno, December, if I would do photos of her and my uncle Mark. Um, of course! They decided to use the Naperville Riverwalk as the backdrop of their portraits. I'm certainly glad they did because it's a great spot and I'm going to remember it for future sessions!

They were great subjects to photograph: definitely not camera-shy and fell into natural poses easily. It was fun!

As always, a few favorites:

















Happy Spring!