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I love photographing shoes. They tell a story. Most, but not all brides and grooms spend time picking out their wedding day shoes. 📸 👞👠

Regardless of whether the shoes are new or already in the closet, time has been spent making that decision. 🕰️🤔

Those who wear rental suits or tuxedos almost always rent the shoes along with their wedding day clothes. There may have been a discussion of buying new shoes that can be worn beyond the wedding day. 👞

Those who have a custom suit or tux made for their wedding will more than likely have purchased new shoes. 🤵‍♂️👞 There will always be exceptions to those rules. 🤷‍♀️

Women wear shoes based on designer brand, knock-offs they got for a steal, comfort, style, certain type of heels, or shoes they already have in their closet. 👠🛍️ And many more reasons, but you get the point. 💁‍♀️

I have had grooms buy those certain designer shoes with the red bottom for their wedding day, and make sure that I photograph them before they are worn, so those red bottoms are pristine. 📸✨

With this couple, his shoes came with the tux rental, and her shoes were brand new. 👞👠

I was across from them and taking photos of them on the couch, and was planning to take this detail photo of their shoes. I had not seen his socks until that moment, through my camera lens. 📸👀

I think I squealed as I asked him if that was their dog. And of course it was, and he was a proud papa talking about his furry kid. 🐶🐾👨‍🍼

That, to me, became my reason for taking the photo. 📸✨ Storytelling includes the details of the day. 📝💖 There is extra special meaning in this photo, which warms my heart. 🥰❤️

As the years go by and life happens, they may not remember the shoes or the socks. 🕰️🤷‍♀️ But I am hoping that if they look through their wedding day photos in 20 years, this one will make them chuckle a bit, 😂😊 smile, 😄😊 and they reminisce about this time in their lives, 💭💞 and their first furry child they had together. 🐾🐶
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This is going to be an embarrassing story for me to share. 😳🤦‍♀️ Every time I have photographed a wedding at Fisherman's Inn, these champagne flutes are always set up in this way, so all the guests, bridal party, and the couple pick up a glass of champagne on their way into the reception room, where all of them will lift up their glasses to toast the speeches during dinner. 🥂🍾

My usual and favorite viewpoint of these champagne flutes (all with a strawberry 🍓) is to photograph a small section of several glasses from a level viewpoint between the table and just above the glass. 📸✨

Depending on the time of day, I may include more background to complement the colors in the glasses. 📸🕰️ I use bokeh created from my long lens (the aesthetic quality of the blur in the out-of-focus areas of an image) to create color or contrast to add interest to the image. 🎨✨

At this wedding, I had a few more minutes to finish photographing the room before the guests were welcomed in, so I decided to take a bird's-eye-view image to see how the photo would look from that particular angle. 🕊️📷 Much to my surprise, I saw that the glasses were arranged to spell out this sweet saying. 🥂💖

SMH. How could I have missed that all these times. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♂️ I usually take table photos from this angle( birds eye) as well, and it never dawned on me that the venue was sending out more love to all of their wedding day clients. 🤩❤️🫶

How sweet is that! 🥰😊

Hmmm, I guess I have to now include that perspective to all of the lined-up champagne flutes and food buffets from now on. 🥂🍽️✨

I am gobsmacked I have missed the hidden-in-plain-sight message all this time 😲🤯🕵️‍♀️.
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37/365

About 30 minutes before the end of my time photographing this wedding, I walked up to the bride and groom and told them that I had a cool idea for some portraits of them. 📷👰🤵🫶

In this part of the reception room was this amazing fireplace. The couple had framed photos of their parents' and grandparents' weddings at the base of the fireplace. 🔥🖼️👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

The room was set up with very long rectangular tables, where dinner was held for all the guests and the couple. 🍽️🥂🎉

Their table was in the middle, and the end where they sat was very close to the fireplace. 🛋️🔥 There was no room or ability to move the table to take any photos of them in front of this fireplace without including the end of the table. 🚫🏋💪📷

I told them my vision for these special images. 🌠📷 I wanted them to slow dance in front of the fireplace, with parameters of where they could dance. 💃🔥

Because of the very long wooden table right in front of the fireplace, I was almost lying on top of the table, using my widest-angle lens and maneuvering in the craziest😜 positions to include this much of the fireplace, along with space around them while they slow-danced. 😊✨🥰🫂

Oh, and I wasn't going to use any flash in this area that was only lit with dim wall lights, and chandeliers. 💡🔦

Also, I told them that the images could be blurry, slightly out of focus, and hopefully show movement as they twirled around the area. 💃💫

That was if I was lucky, and everything looked the way I had envisioned them. Black and white for the final images was part of my master plan. 🤞📷

Because it was so dark in the room, I couldn't always see their faces. 🌃 The shutter was clicked based on instinct, listening to them laugh and talk, and watching for the twirls. 😄😘👂🧠💃🕺

I love how they turned out. 🥰 They are not perfectly lit, parts of them are blurry, and a little out of focus. 🌫️

I set up the moment, and they filled the space with their truth, their smiles, their tender looks, and their love for their forever partner in life ❤️🥰☺️💘🫶
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36/365

Spring weddings are usually beautiful days. 🌸💐 The flowers are blooming, the leaves are back on the trees, and the weather is cool and crisp. 🍃🌬️

This early spring wedding was thankfully typical in terms of weather that day. ☀️😊

There was even a perfect breeze that lifted her veil and dropped it at just the right moment so it could float back down to the ground like a dream 😉😊🥰

(Shout out to the maid of honor for helping make the veil float through the air) ❤️💞

I love creating this image at any wedding with a bride who has a cathedral-length veil. 👰‍♀️✨ My heart goes pitter-patter, and my brain stops listening to anything after I hear the words 'long veil'! 😍💖

This photo can't be done without teamwork. 🤝📸 Soon I'll show a series of behind-the-scenes images from multiple weddings, showing how the magic happens. 🪄🎬
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Sometimes on a wedding day, there are moments that go by so fast that I have to keep my head on a swivel. 👰📸

This image is one of those moments. 🖼️✨

This lovely bride loved the buttons on the back of her gown. So, when I saw the light hitting the buttons at just the right angle, my lovely bride was in the middle of a heartfelt conversation with her mom. She was moving around, and I literally had to take my shot, or two. 💖👗

IYKYK, interrupting such a deep moment would have have been a faux pas. I literally had less than 5 seconds to take 2 shots of what I saw. ⏱️🤫

Is the image perfect, or how I would have wanted to set it up? No. There was no time to stop after the conversation, and bring the bride back to that spot, so I could compose the award winning image I had in my mind. 💭❌

The moving cogs on a wedding day continued to move, and we were on to the next moments. ⚙️➡️

While the image isn't composed the way I wanted, and the background is messy, IMHO, the bride has a really cool image of the buttons she loved on the back of her gown. 🤩👍

And that is what really matters. ❤️😊

#instagood #weddingdress #love #photooftheday
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First look between the bride and groom on their wedding day! 👰‍♀️🤵‍♂️ Anticipation, realization, the day is finally here! Smiles, tears, hugs, laughter, and kisses fill the air! 🥰 #Wedding #Love #Celebration #Joy #Couple
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Last night's 25th wedding anniversary celebration was a culinary delight! The Indian food was incredibly delicious. 😋

On the left, we had the delightful Ras Malai, made with thickened sweet milk. To the right, the mango kulfi, served in what appeared to be traditional clay pots – a lovely touch for a buffet! 🏺 Both were amazing, but the mango kulfi stole my heart. 🥭

A special shout-out to the wonderful woman who guided me through the dishes and shared insights into the culture, including the significance of the clay pots. I always appreciate learning about different traditions! 🙏

Congratulations to my clients on their milestone 25th wedding anniversary! ❤️ #Food #Culture #Tradition #Kulfi RasMalai 🎉
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We watched the fireworks at Navy Pier for my son's 26th birthday. 🎇🎆

The show was spectacular, and the fireworks lit up the sky. It was so cool to suddenly have a sky full of birds flying right above us. 💥🐦

Anyway, thank you to the many thousands of people who came out to watch the fireworks, and help Oliver celebrate his birthday 😉😊🥰❤️💥 🎂🥳🎉🎈🎁

#fireworks
#birthday
#navypierchicago
#instagood
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My son turned 26 over the weekend. He is the best creative collaboration I have ever made 🤰👶🤱❤️

Before you have a child, you hear so much about discovering a depth of love you never thought possible. That is so true. Once I looked at him for the first time, a switch turned on in my brain, and all those feelings, thoughts, and the true understanding that you would step in front of a train to save their life, came to be.

I love you and am so proud of you 🥰❤️
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Just finished an engagement session on these grounds of Cantigny.

Amazing session.
Gorgeous day.
Beautiful and kind couple.
Barely any other people milling about the grounds.
Quiet time afterwards, listening to the birds, and the breeze going through the leaves.

I realized that this may be the only time I have ever relaxed enough to just sit down and enjoy the view, while I am at this venue.

All the other 50+ times I have been here I am in the role of a photographer or a mom.

My mind will be 10 steps ahead of where I am at the moment. My multitasking will be on the highest level, as I am talking to my clients, looking at the sky, checking out the light, pivoting around to envision my different choices for the image.

What camera to use, what lens to use. Wide angle or long lens to compress the background.

Can I crop all the other people in the background out, by either placing my clients in front of them, or do we have to wait for the other people to move out of my shot.

How do the clothes look, how is the hair, are the images reflecting the personality of the clients. Am I getting enough of a selection, am I getting some WOW images, will their parental figures be happy with the images, will the couple be happy, will I be happy and satisfied with the the final images.

It is stressful, and believe it or not, as much as I am looking at everything around me, I am not really seeing what is around me. There is no time to meander and take in the sights, the smells, the sounds, the textures of all that surrounds us.

Sitting here and actually taking in where I am sitting, and being still and in the moment, is quite a treat for me.

Today is an awesome day 😊💥❤️🫶🌳🌲🌸🌹💐🐦🐦‍⬛
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🍋 The best place to cool down, relax, and grab a delicious Italian Lemonade, especially after a Chicago photoshoot for a college graduation. 👩‍🎓🎓

Afterwards, we walked to her old stomping grounds on campus for family and friends portraits.📷 🚶‍♀️🧡

So, yeah, Mario's was the best place to quench my thirst on my way back home. 😌

#ItalianLemonade #Chicago #Graduation #Portraits #instagood
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North Avenue Beach engagement session, on the beach side.

Sun, fun, love, quiet, emotions, entangled.

#love
#engagementsession
#instagood
#chicagophotographer
#photooftheday
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Last week, I had a meeting in Chicago by the LaSalle St Bridge, a spot I've photographed for 18+ years for everything from weddings to headshots! 🌉📸

The meeting was right next to it, and I actually used the bridge as a mental landmark.🌉🌁

I took this photo to remember my parking spot – anyone else hyperfocus so much they forget where they parked? 😅🤔

This one turned out to be my photo of the day, and I loved the image beyond just its car-finding utility! ❤️😊

#Chicago #Bridge #Photography #Memory #Parking
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Indian wedding ceremony. Absolutely beautiful and full of traditions. Colorful, joyful, laughing, crying, loving and tender.

Documentary. photojournalism. Decisive moment. Fly on the wall. Capturing the events without interfering with the ceremony. Memories for a lifetime. 1- 80th of a second.

More than snapping a candid moment.

#indianwedding
#documentaryweddingphotography
#instagood
#weddingphotojournalism
#weddinginspiration
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Had an engagement session a couple days ago at the Japanese Garden, in Chicago. Gorgeous day! Fabulous couple! Fun in the sun 🌞☀️❤️💥😎

Finished with delicious thin crust pizza with my guys🍕🍕🍕

Eric walked a mile that day. I was in awe, as he hasn't walked that much since his kidney transplant in August 2025. His recent native kidneys eviction surgery was only 4 weeks ago. I am so proud of him for fighting through the pain, and fatigue.

Oliver joined us for pizza, and that was the best part of the day ❤️❤️❤️ Hands down.

Nothing is better than hanging out with our boy. He is my sonshine ❤️🙍☀️👪❤️