Session Site -- Indian Chase Meadows Park, Bolingbrook, IL

I'm back!  (Forced blogging break.)  I promise I've been busy.  I have so much to share, but so little time.  "Busy" entails life + everything:  photography (a really big project!), home stuff, homeschooling, college stuff for the guys, an upcoming convention (planning and all that).  Fit life in there somewhere--but actually, all of that has been my life.  Now on to some good stuff.  :)

Since one of my big photography projects this spring was located here, I scouted out the site beforehand (always a good thing to do!).  The day was sunny with just a touch of warmth--perfect for hubby and I to explore this fun park and find some spots that would work for portraits.

Indian Chase Meadows Park

This is a large neighborhood park, complete with pond, footbridge (great portrait location!), gazebo, playgrounds, basketball courts, etc.  Homes surround the park on three sides, and a school takes up the huge fourth side.  So, it has its challenges as far as what's in the image background, but I've become quite adept at getting around that.

I found a good spot right at the entrance to the park, with evergreens in the background.  I love winter trees; they have such unique shapes and look so pretty against the sky.  I asked Fernando to pose here.  So he did.  The goofball.

And another nearby spot afforded a pretty portrait location.

Here's part of the playground, which I used in the actual portrait session.  With the students standing on the bridge here, I got some great lines while blocking out the school building in the background.

Even through you can see houses way back there in the below image, I love the trees, sky, grass, and clouds.  What a pretty day!  Of course I was almost guaranteed that the actual portrait session day wouldn't be as pretty as this one--it was the rainiest April in Chicago history!  But we made it work anyway.

See the water in the above image?  It's not normally there; we had a mini flood the week before, which was the whole reason I was scouting out a park on this particular day--the park where we were going to meet was completely under water!

Here's part of the pond, taken from the gazebo with the footbridge (and houses) in the background.  I love the reflection in the pond!

I had Fernando pose along the wall at the gazebo, and decided this would work, too.

Then I thought again:  Right after I took the above shot, a mama duck flapped/flew her way out from right behind Fernando!  She startled us, but then we saw the reason for the fuss.  I decided to stay away from the gazebo so Mama could take care of her eggs.

We strolled over to inspect the footbridge.  Shooting straight on, there were obviously some background houses which would have to be dealt with.

But, when I got up a little higher, I knew the houses wouldn't be a problem, as long as I stayed tighter in my framing.  I love the bridge pattern, and also the railing shadows along the bridge.

I took the below just because I loved the sun sparkling on the water, and we had had such a long winter, and it finally seemed like spring, and it made me happy.

If all my clients were as tall as Fernando (six feet), I'd pose them here.  I love how the birch tree frames him, and you can barely see the school in the background.

Another nice spot, with a little of the school building on the right.  I will simply hide it with clients!

I absolutely loved this willow tree!  But, with all the houses in the background, I wasn't sure I could get the location to work.  Fernando was such a big help in finding just the right spot, though.  I'm so glad I brought my man along!

His expression says to me, "Would you just take the picture already?"  But he's really just squinting a little.  He was happy to pose for me wherever I put him.  See the willow branches above his head?  You'll see those again once I get the chance to post about the actual portrait session we had here!

This park works perfectly for a mini portrait session.  These are short and sweet sessions, with a smaller number of poses and images, but work for my clients who don't want to sift through a ton of images.  Plus, the images will be pretty tight--meaning no wide-angle shots with lots of background--due to the surrounding neighborhood houses and school.

I can't wait to show you the images I took for my clients at this park!  This location worked perfectly for what our portrait goals.  If you'd like to come here for your own portrait session, I'd love to work with you!!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine
630.399.4430

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Project 2012 -- Week 45

Project 2012 -- Week 45

November 4-10

Welcome to my Project 2012 weekly post!  This is my time to look back over the past week, 
choose seven favorite images I've taken, and share them here with you.  
If you have a project you're working on, please leave a comment 
so I can visit your blog and see what you're up to!

This was another restful week, with one big shock at the end--I think my 17-85mm lens is permanently on strike.  After doing a Littles Portrait Session with my 50mm lens, I tried to take some sunset pictures with my 17-85mm, and received an "Error 01" message that the lens was failing to communicate with the camera.  That had happened once or twice recently, but but was always resolved with turning the camera off/on.  I've tried the lens several times since that sunset, and it's a no-go.  It is my kit lens, and the lens I use for everyday shooting--which, as you know, I do a lot of.  Sorry to whine here!  But, I'm about to research getting a new lens, and soon so I can keep up with my skills, my blogs, etc.

Okay, I've ranted and now it's time for pictures!

This first one is not the actual ballot; our county provides sample ballots online, and we printed several out to go over and mark up so we were ready to vote.

[309] Voting Day

[310] First presidential election

Danny (above) was excited to vote in his first presidential election.  He wasn't so excited to learn the next day that every candidate we voted for lost.  We were redistricted into a liberal district, and now have liberals representing us at all levels of government--from local to national.  Welcome to Illinois politics.

I've been "downsizing" my spices, using smaller jars for those spices I use less frequently, in order to make room for all the jars on my little spice rack.  I've still got some jars on the top of the rack, but it's working pretty well so far.

[311] Spice rack

Here's the larger view:

[312] Kitchen spices

I found a bag of Andes mint chunks in the freezer, and figured I'd better make some cookies with them.  This was the recipe on the back of the bag, and they are dee-lish.  (It was a basic chocolate chip recipe, using the mint chunks instead of chips.)

[313] Mint chip cookies

Remember the "M" and "J" letters from my last Project 2012 post?  I stained them and brushed a cost of polyurethane on, and here they are below all set up at the C. home, ready for twin girls!  Yes, the apples are real--I'd rather have real props if I can, and don't they look just lovely?  I can't wait to show you the images from the shoot--I got some beautiful shots!

[314] Portrait props

Right after the above portrait session, I drove over to a nearby park to catch what was going to be a spectacular sunset.  Kit lens on, click the lens--error message.  I already ranted about it above, so no re-hashing it here.  I stuck my 50mm on and captured this shot--still beautiful, though not as wide-angle as I would've liked.

[315] Sunset at the park

All in all, some basic and regular shots this week.  I'm learning to trust the Lord with my photography--both professionally (try shooting natural light on a dark, stormy afternoon in a back living room!) and personally (my all-around kit lens...).  He knows what's best, and I'm trying to trust Him for a solution.

Here's to this upcoming week, for both you and me!  May our cameras be trusty, and our pictures be inspiring.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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W. Family Autumn Mini Portrait Session | Chicagoland Portrait Photographer

We interrupt our vacation...

I just had to interrupt all those Paris posts!  Otherwise, you might not see this family until Thanksgiving!   When I first visited this park, it was a warm and windy day, but still beautiful for taking pictures.  Just a few days later, on Photo Session Day, the temps had dropped into the 40s--barely 50 degrees while we were there--and still breezy.  But the colors remained fantastic, not quite at peak color but beautiful nonetheless.

The W. Family is a gorgeous family!  They are a good-looking bunch, and very easy to work with--even when I get names wrong.  (There are a lot of them!)  In fact, Mom was the one to suggest this park, very close to my home even though I didn't know it even existed!  I'm so grateful to her for that suggestion, because the park is an amazing place for outdoor portrait sessions.  And I love autumn.

Since they wanted just a few poses, nothing fancy, we decided to go with a mini portrait session--basically, we get the desired poses, and then it's "whatever we get in half an hour, we get!"  And we got some very nice shots.

Enjoy the W. Family!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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New Outdoor Session Location! | Chicagoland Portrait Photographer

All my clients are great.  I have loved working with every one of them.  Honest.

Sometimes, clients have some great suggestions.  For instance, a new client suggested a park she wanted to use for her family's mini portrait session.  This park was only a few miles from my home--and I didn't know about it!  The session occurred several days after the phone call, so I knew I'd better get over there and scope things out.

I picked a warm, windy Wednesday, three days before the session.  It was supposed to turn much colder later that day, so I figured I'd be warm for at least the scouting session, if not the actual portrait session.

This is the scene that greeted me just steps from my car door, on a little footbridge:

Well, that looked promising!  Then I crossed the footbridge, and saw another bridge.

Another great place to take a picture.  I could just see a family on that bridge, framed by trees--whether green in spring and summer, or multi-colored in autumn--smiling and happy.  Beautiful!

I explored the little park area on this side of the bridge, and the trees were amazing--so many neat shapes and textures.  Look at the branches!

The steps in the photo above--on the lower right--lead to the bridge over the river.  Even the steps would be a great place to shoot.

I love the natural frames that these trees created.  I was definitely going to love this portrait session!

On the bridge, I got lost in the early autumn scenery.  Although it was breezy, the river looked calm and peaceful, with beautiful reflections.

Back in the first park area, I spotted a fallen log--perfect for sitting on.  Perfect for portraits!

What a beautiful frame with the branch overhead!

And the below tree--the lowest limb could be a great place to sit on!  It was about shoulder height on me, but I'm short.  I'm sure kids could scramble up there, or Dad could hoist them up there.

The squirrel in the image below thought this park was great, too!  Well, at least for gathering food for the winter, anyway.  :)

This may very well be my park of choice, if clients would like to shoot close to my home.  The shady park affords a great place to shoot during the day, from late morning to mid-afternoon (no harsh sun!).  And late afternoon would afford some beautiful light streaming into the park--perfect for any kind of portraits.

So, what are you waiting for?  Give me a call!

(630) 399-4430


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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