I love the trend I am seeing in bride's shoes becoming more colorful. Although there is still room for beautiful white shoes as well. Below are some of my favorite shoe shots of the year!
Every year on January 1, hearty Wisconsinites from the Lake Geneva area gather together on the shores of Williams Bay to engage in mass hysteria. I believe a given time is chosen because if folks didn't see dozens of other half crazed people about to do the unthinkable they probably wouldn't do it on their own. However, I do know a few that would!
Below are some photos from this year's mayhem! I was about 90 seconds late and by the time I got there, people were running madly back to their cars to get warmed up because it was like 3 below with wind chill! Crazy people seriously.
Senior photos are a lot of fun for me. Below are some examples of what I consider my Best Of for 2010 for Senior Portraits. Many of these were captured in Walworth County in Lake Geneva, WI. Some were shot in Chicago, Milwaukee and a bit more north in Wisconsin.
My goal when shooting senior photos is to create pieces of art, capture the student's personality and have fun together. My favorite sessions come as a result of collaboration of creativity.
We had an amazing morning in Walworth with a phenomenon called Hoar Frost. Check out more about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frost
It seems like whenever we have this freezing fog it is cooler on the west side of Lake Geneva. Or maybe I just don't get up early enough before it starts melting off. You can view some samples from the shoot below or follow this link for the high resolution gallery.
For weeks Jason schemed and planned his proposal to Victoria. I was honored to be asked to shoot these special moments. Some of the photos in this gallery were me pretending to be a nature photographer. I had a tripod set up shooting video to look "official."
Jason and I met up the day before to scout out and make some final decisions about where the proposal was going to take place. We decided on this snowy creek location which is on hole number one of the Brute at Grand Geneva in Lake Geneva, WI.
I brought a small plastic shovel to clear out some snow so I wouldn't get as cold standing in the snow while I waited. Then I tried my hardest not to look like I was in place to capture their very special moment. Every time Victoria would look my way I would get down and shoot another direction and I think I pulled it off.
I decided to do a series of Best Of photos from 2010. This blog entry shows my favorite ring shots this year. Most of these photos were shot in Walworth County, Lake Geneva. Venues included Grand Geneva or The Abbey Resort doesn't really matter because they were mostly shot with a Canon 100mm macro lens and so you can't tell where the photos were taken. However, the detail that this lens provides and the blur it creates is astounding. It was one of my best investments in 2010.
Some of these bands were breath taking. We really try hard to come up with unique and beautiful backdrops for the ring shots. Below are a few examples.
This weekend my team and I shot the Christmas party for a franchise of Taco Bell called Border Patrol at Grand Geneva in Lake Geneva. I was very impressed with the family atmosphere and how much effort the owners took to encourage and reward managers for improvements and growth. We had a lot of fun with out photobooth and captured lots of photos to help remember this black tie event.
Sometimes when it is just too cold to do an outdoor engagement shoot we will go over the Grand Geneva to do the shoot. There are so many beautiful spots to shoot at the Grand! Jesse and Elizabeth are a wonderful couple and it was a pleasure to spend some time with them while shooting these portraits. In this case we were able to combine both indoor venues as well as some outdoor spots and I happened to be shooting a holiday party that night so we set up my photobooth early and we were able to get some fun studio shots as well. It was so much fun. Check out the prop photos and the twister pose! Below are some of my favorite images from the shoot. If you would like to view more hi-res follow this link. Grand Geneva engagement photos in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
A good friend of mine Karin Bennett owns The Cornerstone Shop and Gallery in Lake Geneva, WI. This shop has EVERYTHING. This time of year it is decked and beautiful. Karin came up with the idea of offering portraits to her customers during one of their busiest weekends of the year. So we set up shop in a corner of the Cornerstone and shot families with appointments and some that walked in. It was lots of fun. Thanks to those of you who came to be part of it. Click on this link to view photos in hi-res.
From the moment you step onto the first tee intimidation is the most consistent emotion you feel. In order to advance the ball toward the first green you have to hit over the 100 yard watery chasm that is the Sheboygan River. But you have to layup as your driver will likely put you in the woods or a dangerously placed sand trap. If you survive the first shot you look up at the green which is at least 50 yards elevated and makes you scratch your head because without walking up to see what the green looks like you are shooting into the unknown. If you miss (like I did) then your ball starts falling down the cliffs of doom into one of many sadistically placed sand traps and puts you in the position of hitting from sand straight up another 20 or 30 feet.
Three or four strokes into the hardest par four you have ever played you are now ready to hit out of another sand trap onto a concrete putting surface. At least that is how fast the greens seem to putt. From what I understand these greens were slow the day we played our fateful 18. I rarely three put and I three putted four or five times on the front nine for a total score of 56! Ouch!
As if my horror were not complete after the first hole and a seven on the score card the second hole introduced me to the largest sand trap I have ever seen in my life! The sea of sand was about 150 yards long by 50 yards wide running the entire length of the first part of the fairway.