Rebecca’s beautiful bouquet from A Stem Above

It was such an honor to capture Rebecca and Tim’s beautiful wedding ceremony held at the historic St. Benedict’s. I find it truly a privilege to witness and document such important days of peoples lives. I’m so passionate about what I do and so grateful for every opportunity to do it, so let me start with a big thank you to Rebecca and Tim for having me, and a huge shout out to Laura Hamilton for referring me!

And it was such a lovely wedding! Rebecca and Tim are such a great couple, so very much in love and both have such big hearts. They met while volunteering, I think it’s so cool that they found love while working for the greater good. Such good karma!

Rebecca and Tim decided to wait until the walk down the aisle to see each other for the first time that day. I think it adds a whole other level of anticipation and nervous energy when following that tradition. I arrived just as the ladies were getting dressed, which is one of my favorite parts of a wedding day because of all the emotions – nerves, anticipation, excitement, stress, joy…. Rebecca was so poised and seemed so calm but I know she was bursting with excitement!

Rebecca was not only becoming a wife that day, she also becoming step mom to Megan. She put Megan in charge of picking out the bridesmaid dresses, a huge responsibility, right?? Awesome job, Megan – loved the purple!  I’m quite certain it wasn’t just the bride who felt like a princess.

Rebecca’s dress was so pretty, silk covered buttons down the back and a band of subtle lace and beading at the bust – loved it!

Rebecca’s passion is music and she works for the Chicago Symphony. Perfect combo for amazing ceremony music –  it was gorgeous.

Here comes Megan!

Tim awaits his bride…

Here she comes – stunning!

Awwww, I love all the emotion captured here.

St. Benedict’s is a gorgeous church!

Rebecca and her grandmother – love this shot. It makes me miss my own grandmother.

Exchanging rings…

The kiss!

Mr. and Mrs. McFadden!! Look how happy they are!

The bridal party –  pretty bridesmaid dresses!

Might be my favorite image…

After the ceremony we did a quick portrait session at Montrose Beach…

No, wait a minute – this is my favorite. Just look at how Rebecca is just radiating so much joy – love it!

Rebecca and Tim – I wish you all the best, and just know that your lives together will be filled with so much love and joy. Thank you for an amazing day.

♥,

tracy

previous post: hamiltons ~ chicago family portraits

Meet the ridiculously handsome Hamiltons – I know, too cute right?! Enjoy some of my favorite images from our family portrait session…

It is such an honor to capture newborn portraits. It is so cool to be the one who gets to create the iconic images of a new little life. My images will be the ones that will introduce Lachlan on his birth announcements and my images will be the representation of this amazing time in this family’s life. These are the photos that they will look back on many years to come and remember when he was just a little guy. It is an absolute honor and I am so in love with my career. IT IS THE BEST EVER!!

Sweet baby Lachlan was only 10 days old when I captured these….

It was just too hard to pick one favorite of the sleeping images – I mean look at that little guy!

Thanks so much Jim and April for the honor of capturing your amazing son. And Lachlan, thanks so much for an awesome shoot, you rocked it! I am absolutely in love with you and can’t wait to see you grow!

♥,

tracy

previous post: gina & jesse ~ wedding photography

I met Gina in August of 1988 as we lined up alphabetically for the first day of sorority rush. I looked at her name tag in disbelief – she was a Petersen just like me, the first time I had met a S-E-N Petersen that wasn’t a relative. We pledged the same house, became sorority sisters and lifelong friends. We’re “Petey sisters”. There are few people in the world who can make me laugh as hard as Gina can or whom I admire more for her amazing strength and grace.

Gina and Jesse were married in an intimate, outdoor ceremony on the golf course at the Lakewood Country Club in Lakewood, CO surrounded by friends and family. To capture their touching, beautiful and “one helluva party” wedding was so much fun!!!

Check out this cool little slideshow that tells the story of their day….

Some of my favorites…

Gina’s three boys served as the best men. How cool are their Bronco jerseys that say Best Man and then spell out the wedding date “6-18-11″ between the three of them – so cute!

Jesse and his posse – a great group of guys. I got to into the forbidden men’s “no women allowed” lounge/locker room/bar to get these shots. I felt all sneaky.

As the ceremony start time got closer, Gina started to get a bit nervous as she went through her vows again once last time. Her sweet son Noah came up just to stand by her, be near her. And I could see how his presence helped to calm her down. It was really sweet moment.

Jesse going through the rules once last time with the best men, ring bearer and ushers before the night begins. The last rule was to have fun!

Such a beautiful place to have a ceremony!

The officiant was a friend of Jesse’s who earned his credentials online to perform the ceremony. He did a stellar job.

The ceremony was very reflective of their personalities, so of course there was laughter.

I don’t think there was a dry eye out there when Gina and Jesse read their personalized vows to each other, it was of course an emotional moment for her (super awesome) Mom.

the kiss!!

what a gorgeous wedding party, huh?!

All who know her will agree -this image is SOOO Gina!!

Jesse ~ welcome to the XO circle of love, we are so glad to have you!

I love you Gina and I am so happy for you! Your wedding absolutely rocked!!

♥,

petey #2

So one morning I wake to find an email with the subject “Request shootin June 4, 5 and 6, 2011″  and I was surprised to see an rate inquiry from a communication firm in GERMANY..! Any inquiry is exciting to receive, but one from Germany – wow, cool! They were seeking a photographer for an upcoming convention at McCormick Place and in semi broken english asked me about my rates. But then I wondered if this was a phishing thing, I’ve heard that there are photographers out there that phish rate info out of their competitors. But I googled the company and person emailing me and both seemed legit, so I responded back and forth and proceeded to close the deal. And to be honest I wasn’t entirely sure what the shoot was going to entail beyond some event coverage . Other than that I just knew the hours I was scheduled, what they were paying me, and that no additional equipment or an assistant were necessary.  So when I took off for the day to shoot I wasn’t too sure of what I was getting in to. I love that photography provides me with some many great adventures – from the people that I meet, the experiences I am exposed to and the places I see, let alone the lighting conditions and my subjects – it is always an adventure.

And it was a totally cool adventure! My client was working with a group of Oncologists presenting at the annual ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology). It was evident that this group are VIPs and rock stars of the oncology world. In addition to covering the convention, I captured their prep for a press conference and later that night heard mention of their release on “NBC Nightly News”. But in addition, they were a great group to work with and I really enjoyed them.

I finally asked Sabine how she found me, and she said “Google!”. I confess that my SEO efforts have been pretty weak so I was pleasantly surprised to hear this. Most of my work comes from referrals, so I am lovin’ that Google hooked me up!

Being a photographer gives me the chance to meet so many people, but in this case it gave me the opportunity to reconnect with an old co-worker. Kristen (Helena’s mommy) and I worked together many years ago, back when I was the CFO (icccckkkkk!!!) for a small branding firm. We had the CRAZIEST bosses ever who created a very chaotic but often times comical work environment. But we also had a really great group of hardworking women and many friendships were formed. It’s kinda like we share the bonds of war, surviving that whack-a-do place. It had been ages since I had seen Kristen when she contacted me to capture her daughter’s two year old portraits so I was very excited about our session.

And then when I met Helena, I knew we were going to get some great images. She is the sweetest little girl, but also has a little sass to her! She warmed up to me very quickly as we played and was very interested in showing me all of her toys. I make my photo sessions more like play dates than a portrait session. There is very little to no posing. It doesn’t work very long anyway so I usually don’t even bother. One of my “tricks” is to tell my little subjects that I need to get pictures of their little stuffed animals, dolls, etc. She was so good about lining them all up just perfectly.

Here’s a brief attempt to pose Helena on her little bench. I like the goofy ones leading up to it just as much if not more than the serious one. I think they show more of her personality.

This one is my favorite. Sweet and sassy!

I love how she is so engaged here.

Isn’t Kristen gorgeous??

Thanks so much for having me Kristen – it was so great to catch up and to meet your sweet, beautiful Helena! She was an absolute joy to capture!

♥,

tracy

I get so much joy and satisfaction from my photography, but a little validation from a client always makes me really happy. I got the following note from Fisher’s mommy after I sent her the proofs from our session “oh my god, i am dying, crying, dying, crying, dying. i love, love, love these! i will spend some time with them once fisher goes down for a nap. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. you got all of his ‘faces’. i am in heaven.” I’m the one in heaven – getting to do what I love and having clients who love what I do.

Fisher turned six months old on the day of our shoot and it just might be my favorite age to capture. At that age they’re still babies but have such little personalities. They can (almost) sit up so we can do some fun poses but they can’t yet run away. This little guy is so darn cute with the most beautiful blue eyes – I completely fell in love with him. I think you might too…

Little Fisher is a fourth – named after his dad, grandpa and great grandfather – so he has this little “quatro” onesie – how cute is that?

He and his mom touch noses after every meal, but sometimes he misses!

Being a model is very tiring. You did great sweetie!

It was an absolute joy to capture you on your big six month milestone, sweet Fisher. Keep up the cuteness!!

♥,

tracy

Check out the latest designs from Jenny B, modeled by the fabulous Adrianna Gniot!

Jenny B was founded by my dear friend and pseudo ex sister in law (it’s complicated) Jennifer Brawley  in 2005 shortly after she moved from Chicago to Southern California. Like me, Jennifer left the corporate world to start her own business. It’s been really cool to watch her company flourish and really awesome to be a small part of it. This is my third photo shoot for Jenny B and I also do her website. I’m so thankful to Jennifer for the fabulous photo ops – it’s really fun to work with a model every now and then. And did I mention I have the hook up on all the cute clothes – Jennifer sets me up!

This was the second time working with the lovely Adrianna. Not only is she gorgeous, she’s a total pro that doesn’t need direction and that makes my job so much easier. On top of that, she’s also a total doll; I really enjoy working with her.

Here are a few of my favorites – check out the Jenny B website to see them all.

I am so in love with photography, and am so blessed to be able to do what I love. Photography feeds my soul – it’s my creative outlet, a source of pride, a source of joy.  And I always have so much fun doing it. But this nine month portrait session with sweet baby Katharine was special.

I did Katherine’s birth announcement photos when she was just five weeks old so it was wonderful to see this lovely family again. I obviously expected that Katharine had changed a lot since then, but wow, it just filled me with a sense of awe to see her “so grown up”.  It totally brought tears to my eyes! I love how photography has given me the opportunity to see so many little people growing up.

Katharine has the sweetest disposition, the most gorgeous blue eyes, fabulous wardrobe, gorgeous home and super awesome parents. But the best part? She was totally enamored with my camera and would just stare right into it. She would stop, look right at me and smile. It usually requires me & the parents jumping around, singing, making animals noises to try to get their attention. I kept telling her mom that Katharine was spoiling me – she made my job so easy! Here are some of my favorite images we captured…

Katharine was baptized the week before in her mother’s baptismal gown so we just had to get a few shots. I couldn’t have asked for a better chair for this shot – isn’t it just perfect?!

Oh sweet girl, thank you for such an awesome shoot. You are such a joy to capture! I really do have the best job in the world.

♥,

tracy

Yay, another sign that spring is finally here – wedding season is beginning!

I had the honor and pleasure to shoot my first wedding of 2011 with the fabulous Laura of Laura Meyer Photography. I have met so many truly talented photographers, wonderful people and great friends through my photography and Laura is someone who is all three. Her work is amazing, and she is so generous in sharing her photography and business knowledge with me – I’m really lucky to know her.  Thank you for having me as your second shooter Laura, love you!

Jenna and Iain’s lovely, intimate affair was held in the awesome 39th floor penthouse ballroom of  Hotel 71. Ah-mazing panoramic views of the city… down the Chicago River, Lake Michigan and some of Chicago’s most beautiful architecture. It’s a gorgeous up there. They had a super fast, but very emotional ceremony. They kept things simple, and made their wedding all about the love. It was so up my alley, and a joy to capture and witness. Here are a few of my favorites…

Groom in a kilt – thumbs up. Check out those bad boots!

We have rings (absolutely LOVE Jenna’s ring), vows, champagne and an authentic bag piper – the groom’s father from Scotland. Let’s get the ceremony started!

The groom’s nephew Oliver sneaking into the candy bar before the ceremony… His mom and I both saw him at the same time and started heading towards him from opposite sides of the room – me to snap pics and she to reprimand him. I talked her into letting him go for it so I could get a few pics and I’m so glad she let me because I think they’re really adorable shots, if I may say so myself!

Just moments away from walking down the aisle…

I absolutely love the range of emotions captured in these – fear, strength, calm…

Look at them looking at each other – L.O.V.E.

As the Bishop of London said, every wedding is a royal wedding and it’s so true when it’s all about the love.