Win A Chicago Sessions Engagement Package

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Region Weddings will be raffling off a Chicago Sessions Engagement Package next Sunday at the Bride's Guide Bridal Fair at Wicker Park Social Center in Highland, Indiana.  The show runs from 12pm to 4pm and is located on the corner of Ridge Rd. and Indianapolis Blvd.  Just visit the Region Weddings booth and fill out the form and drop it into our box.  The winner will be announced right here on the Wedding Photographer Journal.

Here are a few images from past sessions....

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If you would like more info on the bridal show, call The Bride's Guide at 219-662-9245.  Hope to see you there!!

Chicago Sessions: Winter Engagement

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Thomas and Joanne are both nurses at different hospitals.  They will be getting married in the Philippines next July.  For their engagement photos, they loved the idea of going to Chicago to take classic black and white images.  They sounded like the perfect candidates for my Chicago Sessions engagement package!!

As is custom for the Chicago Sessions, we met at the South Shore train station in East Chicago and took some shots on the platform as well as cuddling and laughing shots as the romantic love birds rode the train.

We knew there was a threat of rain and sleet and that a big snowfall was possible late in the day.  It was winter in the windy city after all!!  That's okay, as their engagement photographer, nothing was going to stop me.  I bundled up with multiple layers, a ski hat and a poncho in case of rain.  These guys were plenty brave and looked great in their classic winter coats. 

As they walked on State Street, it sometimes felt as though they were the only ones there even though this was a crowded, holiday shopping weekend.

The concept of the Chicago Sessions engagement package is to evoke the look and feel of old film photographs of the 1960's and 1970's.  If you look closely, you will see that I added a bit of grain to some of the photos and a sepia tone in others.

One of the other features of this romantic photo shoot is to capture some of the architecture of the city while not taking attention away from the soon to be bride and groom.

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I think Thomas and Joanne were concerned about the incoming fog and rain, but I assured them this would add drama to our photographs.  Here are some of my favorites that feature the fog and all taken in the Millennium Park area.

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These guys had to maneuver some iced over steps to get down to the Chicago River for some true winter engagement photos....

Here is another one of my favorites with an almost Christmas like feel to it because of the snow covered trees....

Click here to see the entire gallery of Chicago engagement photos of Thomas and Joanne.

New Engagement Package: you, Your Fiance and Bruce Springsteen

In addition to the Chicago Sessions and beautiful local settings like Coffee Creek Park and The Dunes off Lake Michigan, I will now be offering up rock and roll icons.  That's right, for an extra added fee I will provide the rock icon of your choice.  Feeling like a blue collar troubadour?  Let me give Springsteen or Bob Dylan a quick ring.  Need some flannel shirt grunginess added to your black and white shots?  I offer you Eddie Vedder and the ghost of Kurt Kobain.  Kings of Leon are currently on tour and unavailable - sorry.

Where am I getting all this craziness from?  Check out this article on a professional engagement shoot with Bruce Springsteen as an unexpected guest.  Find it right here: Bruce Springsteen joins in on Engagement Session.  

FYI: Please, please, please don't hold me to this.  It's just a funny story and I have no way of conjuring up your favorite rock stars - alive or deceased!!  :)

Walk the beach with Rebecca and Jack

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Rebecca and Jack met at Hillside Church in Crown Point, Indiana.  Jack proposed to her at The Dunes beach area in Gary, Indiana.  So, for their engagement shots, they decided to capture both settings.

We started the session at Hillside Church where we tried environmental portraits to show the church and it's scenery, but also some close up portraits.

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The happy couple chose this hugging shot as their wall portrait....

This next image seemed to be begging for a painterly like texture to it....

I always like to have my couples in some walking shots where they are gazing at each other and unaware of the camera.  

I'm so glad Rebecca and Jack chose an engagement session as this will make their wedding images go even smoother as they will be fully comfortable with me on their big day.

Next up was The Dunes beach area off of Lake Michigan.  It was important to them to capture the area where Jack proposed and Rebecca obviously said "yes".  

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Here we go with the classic walking along the shore shot...

We got caught up in some Northwest Indiana traffic on the way to the beach so we arrived there later than planned.  This was okay because we ended up with some great color in the sky.

This silhouette with the blue toned sky was picked as the back cover for Rebecca and Jack's engagement book.

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Congratulations to Rebecca and Jack.  See you guys in October for your Fall Wedding.