Mychal & Justin { Downtown Rockford Wedding }

What better way to shake off the winter "blahs" then to officially kick off wedding season 2013! Mychal & Justin were married last weekend in downtown Rockford at Trinity Lutheran Church.  If I had to use one word to describe the day it would be "emotionful". I know that's not a word, but hey...I'm a photographer not a writer.

On to the photos -  Here's a look back at Mychal & Justin's wedding ceremony and "pre-reception" at Carlyle Brewing Co.

Thanks to the following vendors who helped make Mychal & Justin's wedding day memorable:
Church: Trinity Lutheran
Florist: Event Floral
Hair/Makep: Shear Renewal
DJ: Luxe
Dresses: David's Bridal
Suits: Men's Wearhouse
Reception: IBEW

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Cheers!

Congratulations to Mychal and Justin! They were married this past weekend at Trinity Lutheran Church in downtown Rockford - with a quick stop after the ceremony at Carlyle Brewing Co.

More soon!

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New Year's Day | Rockford Photography

For the past few years I have made it a point to drag myself out of bed well before the crack of dawn on New Year's Day to photograph the first sunrise of the year over Rockford. Last year it was much warmer - and rainy and couldy- so I captured the glow as seen from the Amerock building.

This year was cloud free, and a balmy 6 degrees as I headed out with a few photographer friends to take in the first glimpse of sunlight in 2013. Since we headed out well before sunrise we spent a few minutes just wandering State St. It was there I saw the Rockford City Market Christmas tree, most likely the victim of a New Year's Eve reveler, sprawled out across the snow as if to say "The party's over. Time to get back to work!"

After a few more minutes in the bone chilling cold, it was time to find our spot. It was decided that the Riverwalk at Riverfront Museum Park would be a great spot, if for no other reason than there had definitely never been another New Year's Day sunrise photographed from it. As we walked around, shuffling our feet to keep our frozen toes warm as we looked for locations, I finally found my spots.

Here is the first sunrise of 2013, Rockford. Welcome to the new year.

Happy New year, all.

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Christmas Joy

I took just a few photos over the Christmas holiday festivities - the wrapping of gifts, the opening of them, holiday lights, friends and family enjoying each other's company - but this is definitely one of my favorites from the holiday.

As we sat at our dining room table ready to start our Christmas breakfast, my wife brought out a pan of cinnamon rolls. As she set it on the table, my son looked up from his plate and the huge pan and stared at it with the wide-eyed joy of a three year old about to get a sugar fix. So I grabbed my iPhone as it was the closest camera to me and I really wanted to capture this moment. Here it is.

Hope you all had some of that wide-eyed joy this year.

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The Gloves

The bulk of my photography business is wedding photography, especially in the summer and fall - and I love it. To have a front row seat as the story of a couple's wedding day unfolds and to be asked to tell that story is truly an honor. But every so often I get to tell a completely different kind of story.

When Julie asked me to take a drive away from Rockford, out towards City to wander and photograph her family farm, I leapt at the chance. You see, when I first picked up a camera, long before I had an inkling that it would be my profession, it was exactly that type of thing that I would spend weekends doing...exploring, seeing what I could find, and photographing it.

As I explored the farm, we went to the cellar to photograph some artwork. It was there that I saw a pair of weathered old boxing gloves, hanging on a rusty nail. I found out from Julie that they had belong to her father, and had been hanging on that nail for over four decades.

Here they are.

I'll be posting more from this old farm as the winter progresses. But I thought these gloves deserved their own post.

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