Wedding: Jamie & Doug

Could it get any hotter? I show up at the church at around 10 a.m. and I immediately start sweating...it's 10 a.m.!!! But while it was hot outside, it made it all the better going inside to a nice cool church where Jamie and Doug were to wed. Doing their engagement session, and their daughter's baby session, and being friends of my wife, I felt like I had known the two of them all my life. Both of them are some of the nicest people I have met (And Jamie can cook a killer dinner. Nothing like a meeting for wedding prices and getting a dinner out of it. lol). But the wedding went great, awesome weather outside, minus the heat, and an awesome reception, Dough and Jamie's wedding was "Great Success" as Borat would put it. :)

Senior: Hayley

One word sums up this session: HOT!!! We did this session right when the ridiculously hot weather started this summer. The heat index was well over 100 degrees! And it was nice and sunny too. Of course it didn't help that 90% of the shoot took place in the sunny areas. lol But, it was a great success. Hayley braved the heat and we got some amazing pictures of her, my favorite taking place at the basketball courts! I loved those pictures. When I heard that she was into basketball, I thought, I need an outdoor court, rusty rim, and grass growing through the asphalt. I posted that on facebook asking if anyone knew of a place, and I was directed to this court, and it was EXACTLY what I had pictured!

Baby: Noah

Babies are always a fun break from the hectic wedding work. Its a time when you don't have to say do this or do that, you just let the baby be the baby, AND click away. Babies crack me up because they can be balling their eyes out and literally in a blink be laughing so hard they are then crying again because they are crying. lol Noah was no exception to this, I think in just an hour I got about 60 different facial expressions from Noah (okay, that might be a little stretch, but still...). Noah also had a fascination of looking at himself, so we brought out a mirror, and got some pretty awesome pictures of him admiring his good looks.

Stephen & Sara's Wedding

The last time that I saw Stephen and Sara is was New Years Eve 2009, it was COLD, windy and lots of snow on the ground. 7 months later, here we are in the heart of summer, hot, humid and sticky...but it wouldn't make photography interesting if everything were the same. That is one of the reasons I love being a photographer because I get to work in all extremes and in betweens! :)

Stephen and Sara's wedding was beautiful! Everything from the chapel to all the moments before during and after the ceremony. The most memorable at least for me was driving through the park looking for some locations and running into a medieval battle taking place. Oh yes, I don't joke. Easily 40+ men (yes, grown men) fighting with fake swords and other weapons in front of a 2x4 and cardboard castle front. All the while back at camp the women and children (dressed in medieval clothing as well) were cooking for those brave men! So it didn't seem right to just drive by, a picture was in order... I was speechless. lol

Travis & LeAnna Engagement

This was an AWESOME engagement session. Travis and LeAnna made it clear that they did not want their pictures to look to posed, which I'm a huge fan of. I hate posing couples and taking pictures. We've all been through high school and have done enough of turning our heads sideways and giving a cheesy smile. Real moments are far more special than looking at the camera and smiling... Not that those can't still be good pictures, but I love real moments! :)

During our session, we were shooting by some trees when we looked down a row of trees and the sun was breaking through the clouds in a portion through the trees, it looked amazing, so of course we got some pictures there! See the pictures below, Travis and LeAnna, were so much fun and the moments were so REAL!

Michael & Alyssa Engagement

For all my sessions in this area, I like to try and shoot at different areas if possible, simply because I don't want pictures to start to look the same among multiple sessions. So when Michael and Alyssa were ready to do their engagement pictures, I had a place in store that I thought would work perfectly. Now I know we all see railroad track pictures, but there is no denying how cool track pictures can look. :)

Kevin & Hillary Engagement

I always love a pet in the engagement pictures, it kind of gives the pictures not only a fun feel, but it's also a special bond between the couple...of course it's always nice when the pet is well behaved too. And Kevin and Hillary's pup was awesome to work with. This session was just a blast, and I look forward to their wedding coming soon!

Cecelia Senior Pictures

Back to my old stomping grounds of Ramsey, the evening was perfect for senior pictures. Sky was golden and blue, just a hint of clouds, a little warm, but not terrible. Bringing out Cecelia's personality was not hard at all. It was a matter of seconds and she was laughing, and just having a great time. I was looking at some other senior pictures prior to this session and saw a picture with a girl leaning agains a John Deere tractor, it was a beautiful picture, and ever since I saw it, I was hoping for a session one day to shoot with a massive tractor in the back. In the second half of Cecelia's session she said she had another location she'd like to hit, that location was on a farm...with a massive john deere tractor. :)

The session was a blast, and Cecelia's fun personality, and giggly style came out in no time. So I give this session a success.

SO BUSY!

I haven't had the chance to update my blog in weeks! When I first started doing photography as a job, I thought to myself, if I do a number of weddings a year, and handful of seniors, how busy could I really be?

Well, let me tell you...BUSY!! Extremely busy! It's definitely getting stressful, but it still feels amazing to be doing this as a job! I love every minute of it, even during these busy stressful periods. Seniors, Familes, and Weddings are coming in like crazy right now, and I can barely keep up, but I guess if I wasn't on my toes, the job wouldn't be interesting. ;)

I promise to update my blog soon with more pictures. Please be patient with me. lol

Until then, you can go to:

www.facebook.com/steffenharrisphotography

or

www.steffenharris.com to see some new pictures.

Holly's Senior Pictures

Holly decided to use my parent's house as her place for senior pictures. The temperature was pushing it's limit on the degree factor, but it was bearable. :)

The session went great, both Holly's mom and my mom are friends, so they kept the ideas rolling in, however I think a lot of their ideas they wanted to pose themselves like it for pictures of themselves...didn't happen though. lol

Brant & Kirstie Wedding

We have finally made it to the day that I could do my sister's wedding pictures. After 2 or 3 engagement sessions, we finally wrap it up with one of the best looking weddings I have done. The ceremony took place at New Hope church where the use of can lights came into play with the decorations.

Kirstie and Brant were engaged on the beach, and because we live so far from an ocean beach, they did the best they could with a stage. Canopy with beachy lights, and a beach projected on the screens above. While we are so far away from a beach, it definitely felt like we were close to one there!

There was also a chance of thunderstorms that day which had me nervous about getting any outdoor pictures. However, the storms held off through the day, BUT the temperature did not. I think it was about 100 degrees with 100% humidity, it was ridiculously hot outside. But either way, the wedding went great, and lots of great pictures came out of it.

Travis & Kara Engagement

My first shoot in Charleston, IL. This was definitely a great one to start out on. Travis and Kara were a blast to shoot with, and they made my job super easy too! It was almost as if the two of them had done modeling school or something, I would snap a photo, and just like that they changed their stance, facial expression, turned their head, and so on! I barely had to say anything to them during the shoot. I just lifted my camera, and snapped away. :)

Aside from the ease of the shoot, Travis and Kara were just a lot of fun! My goal in every shoot is to capture real emotion. Even though the picture may be posed, real emotion can come out even in a posed picture. And there were a lot of laughs this night, that's for sure! lol

Matt & Betsy Wedding

Well, this was another wedding in May that it was cold, cloudy and even rainy on the outside, but inside, it's just awesome how a new married couple can brighten up the day no matter what the weather outside. Matt and Betsy were so much fun to shoot, especially their son Airin! Airin, was the highlight at the engagement session, thinking we were there for is own photo shoot. I asked him if he was ready to have his pictures taken on the wedding day he said, "I'm not getting pictures today." Kids are so funny! :)

Then stealing the spotlight again, Airin gave the speech at the reception, and I'm pretty sure it was by far the best speech ever given at a reception. Even asking Matt & Betsy to the dance floor, put their hands together and told both of them how much he loved them and what great parents they were! lol

Brad & Jamie Wedding

Starting off wedding season with a wedding the first weekend in May. Jamie and Brad got married, and what a fun fun wedding! :) I have seriously never seen a bride more excited and gitty than Jamie. Not saying that others aren't excited, because I'm sure they very much are, but Jamie had such an incredible excitement about her. Her and Brad even almost jumped the gun on the kiss, which led to some laughs (and good pictures).

Even though it was cloudy, very cold (yes in May), and windy, it was definitely sunny and very fun inside! :)

Danielle & Shaun Engagement

This was definitely a fun and interesting engagement session. The shoot took place at Red Hill State Park up by Olney. Shaun's relation at one time owned a lot of where the park is until they sold it to the state, and the foundation of the original cabin where his relation lived was still their. So, at least to them, those pictures will mean something. And I'm definitely a fan of that. :)

They also brought their little dog with them too, and I think we were walking way too much for her liking, because as the session when on, her little feet just couldn't keep up with us anymore. I even think she got to the point where she just gave up, and wanted someone to carry her along. And then to top it off, we finished with some pictures by the lake at sunset. As I was finding an angle to shoot from, we noticed the geese were circling above, making lots of noise. Didn't understand this, till I looked down and realized I was about a foot away from the nest. Maybe next time, I'll try to be a little more aware of my surroundings. lol I get too concerned about finding the right angle, I don't even thing to look.

Finally on our way back up to the vehicle, to top the evening off, a lady was taking some pictures of plants. She then proceeds to ask if she can take a picture of us walking on the sidewalk. Seeing that the reason I take pictures is because I like to be behind the camera, I opted out, and Danielle and Shaun were kind of confused as to why this lady would want a picture of them. The moment definitely tops the creepy chart, for sure. lol