Practice makes perfect......

My mom is an accomplished pianist, and I took 8 years of classical piano lessons, but it looks like Jack is getting a head start on both of us.

I have a problem....

The funny thing is I don't really have a sweet tooth, and I don't care for Tootsie Roll candies, however I am completely addicted to Tootsie Pop lolli-pops thanks to my friends at a certain photo lab who include these devilish confections in each package along with the prints they ship me. At least Tootsie Roll Industries is a Chicago based company, so I'm doing my part to buy local. Oh, and for the record, cherry, grape, and orange, are the best....the other colors can stay in the bag.

Favorite wedding images of 2008 Part 1.....

Before 2008 is a distant memory, I wanted to show off (for the second time in some cases) a few of my favorite images from the 2008 wedding season. Even though I post a handfull of my favorites from each wedding here on the blog, some images just seem to resonate a bit more with me and are worthy of one more look until the 2009 season gets going.....




I like this image of Shane with his Dad before the ceremony is about to start. I don't care how cool and confident a groom looks, they're always pretty nervous!



Jennifer & William were so much fun because they made pictures like this one so easy to make. They actually came up to me during their reception and said "can we get out of here for a bit...we kinda need a break!" So we just scooted off to the lounge at Starved Rock State Resort and they plopped down on the couch. I just backed off and let them relax and was able to capture this fantastic reaction of the two of them just enjoying each other's company on their wedding day!



Christine threw me a bit of a curve ball on this one because I didn't know exactly what the location she had picked out was like. All she told me was "I want something edgy and badass" and said we were going to an abandoned car dealership. At first I wasn't sure, but I've received a lot of positive feedback on this one, and now it's one of my favorites, mostly because the location is pretty different. But ultimately, it reflects the bride and her personality perfectly!



Carrie & Brian were married on Carrie's parents' farm, and her Mom spent a lot of time hanging these lighted jars in the large tree that greets visitors as you pull up the driveway. I like the way the form of the tree and the lights frames the couple.



This is one of those images where you're actually trying to do one thing, but end up with something totally different. I get a lot of requests to do "cool stuff with the veils" and had a different idea in mind with Emily and Danny. But when Emily asked if she could just get rid of it instead, I said to just go ahead and toss it away and see what happens. Luckily the veil made a nice curve that contrasts against the red farm house.



That's all for now, stay tuned I'll have some more favorites up in the next couple of days......

Yes we can

So the White House announced yesterday that President Obama is the first US President to have regular access to email and a cell phone via his beloved Blackberry. Since I apparantly lost the lobbying effort in the first dog sweepstakes by backing the Border Terrier after election day, I'd like to take a crack at convincing the Commander-in-Chief to give some serious consideration to adopting the iPhone as his prefered method of staff communication rather than the Blackberry.



I recently traded out my desktop PC for a Mac, however I'm actually more in love with my iPhone rather than my Mac (just ask my wife how hard it is to pry the phone out of my hands after dinner when we're watching TV). My only regret is Apple will probably release a newer version pretty soon and I'll have to fight off upgrade fever!

Where were you when......

Does today's inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States qualify as a "Where were you When?" moment? I'm not old enough to say where I was during a lot of the more popular WWYW moments such as Kennedy's assasination, the first moon landing, or Nixon's resignation. However I firmly believe that today was one of those day's we'll all tell our children and grandchildren about "where we were" when President Obama was sworn in.

With today's 24hr news cycle, it can be difficult to pin down what qualifies as a WWYW moment. However a few moments I was around for were:

-The Shuttle Challenger explosion: I was in 6th grade at Nichols Middle School watching the event live on television.
-The OJ white Bronco chase: Working at a Blockbuster video, upset that we couldn't watch the Bull's playoff game because the network interrupted the game to follow the Bronco.
-9/11: pouring coffee in my kitchen when the news broke to the story in NY
-The death of Princess Diana: waking up in a hotel room in Pittsburgh getting ready to cover a Steelers/Cowboys game for Sport Magazine...walking through the parking I was called a "Princess Killer" by several "liquidated" Steeler fans who had heard the paparazzi photographers were involved in the crash.

and finally

-the Obama Inauguration: Waiting in the parking lot to pick up my nephew from pre-school.

You can take a look at some more memorable moments in this book at Amazon.com

Oh yeah, and in case you missed it this morning....here it is again

Looking Back....Looking Forward

A lot of people think I went to a photography or art school and majored in photography. The real truth is I majored in modern American history at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and have still maintained an interest in that historical period (just ask my wife about my attention span when a post-WWII history show comes on the Discovery or History channels).

I've been working on a few personal projects as a way to become more familiar with Apple's iPhoto and iMovie programs on my Mac, and the historical significance of the juxtaposition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day today and the inauguration of our country's first African American President tomorrow couldn't be more striking. I've been working on this idea ever since I realized that Obama accepted the Democratic nomination on the 45th anniversary of Dr. King's "I have a Dream" speech. I looked at the 2009 calendar and saw the connection between the inauguration and Martin Luther King Jr. day, and immediately thought about the significance if Obama were to win the general election. It just took me awhile to actually figure out how to do something with the idea.

Regardless of whether your political views are red or blue, hopefully the incoming President can shed some light towards a brighter future for this country.


From MLK to BHO from Jay Crihfield on Vimeo.

It's safe to say I'm not going to be giving Ken Burns a run for his money anytime soon, but personal projects like this are a fun way for me to stay creative outside the world of wedding and portrait photography!

Composites

Too many good pictures from an event or session, and not enough places to put them? One way to approach this issue is by combining images into a single composite work of art. One thing to keep in mind with these types of pieces is not to get shy about the final size. For example, if you printed the piece above as a 10x10, each of the images would only be less than 2x2, that's smaller than some wallet size prints! Likewise at 20x20 you're up to just under 4x4 for each image.

My recommendation for any piece or artwork that features two or more images is to order something that is no less than 16in on the longest size. And if you're not sure about how big you'd like to go, simply measure your walls before ordering! You'll be surprised how much space you really have, and how small even an 11x14 will look when you hang it@

Something's in the water.....

Yesterday I headed out in the snow, ice and cold to photograph a pair of twins who were born two days before my twin nieces. They also live about 10min away from my niece's house. Are twins becoming more common? Kinda crazy.....






Pictures of the little babies are definitely cute, but the first two are the ones that really hit home with me. Maybe it's because Little Jack is getting so big, but there's something about seeing a Dad with his newborn son, or a Mom with her newborn daughter that really turns my crank.

Stay tuned, I'll probably have some more from this session in the next couple of days!

Bear Down......

I guess when it's 1 degree outside you have to get a bit creative in how you transport newborns. Looks like Ally and Gracie have the right idea when you dress up as a bear....hibernate!

2008 in review

I guess you're supposed to publish your 2008 year-in-review specials BEFORE the end of the year, but it took me a bit longer to get around to this one than I thought. Rather than put up a fancy slideshow, or extended blog post about how my year went, I decided to simply put together a quick montage image showing each bride that I was lucky enough to photograph this past year. After all, if it wasn't for the 35 ladies pictured below, I wouldn't be in business! (click the image for a larger version)



Thanks again, you all made 2008 a year to remember!

Jack's Back!

This is not another post about Little Jack, my son. I'm just excited that the show "24" is back tonight! I started watching the older seasons the summer that Jack was born (and no, I didn't name my kid after the main character in the show), and was excited for the next season that was supposed to start last January. Instead we had to wait out the writers strike and Kiefer Sutherland going to rehab for a new season to be back on the air

If you build it.......

Jack, Amy and I recently headed over to The Streets of Woodfield shopping center to check out the new LegoLand Discovery Centre (I love it when "centers" are spelled "centre," it sounds so sophisticated).

If you have a kid, or ever played with Lego's as a kid, you have to check this place out....







But the coolest part of this place is the 1.5 million Legos that form a replica of downtown Chicago.

a new "friend" for Otis & Jack

Little Jack loves stuffed animals almost as much as he loves Otis, so we combined the two for Christmas and brought home a large stuffed puppy. I don't think Otis was too keen on the idea however...hopefully Otis won't chew Jack's new buddy to pieces.

That's a wrap.....

I was fortunate enough to end 2008 with Tara & Matt's wedding two days after Christmas.

The world's worst uncle.....

OK, so with the holidays, and trying to get all my year end stuff finished up, I think I locked up the award for world's worst uncle because I almost forgot to post a picture of my two new twin Nieces, Ally and Gracie!






And here was their official birth announcement/Christmas card.....