I had couple friends  contacting me lately asking if I was OK since my blog died several months ago. I’ve never been very good keeping up with it, but this just got way out of control!

I just got a little busy and between the family, photography, and some other crazy stuff I couldn’t find enough energy to blog.

There are lots of wedding behind me and still couple more to do before the season ends. In the next weeks I’m hoping to slowly catch up so tune in for some cool stuff.

Coming up: Courtney & Russ got married

Until next time

Today’s post is going to have way more pictures then on average as it’s been long overdue, so I’m trying to compensate somehow

With Chon and Hemal’s wedding on Friday in Chicago and Russ and Courtney’s on Saturday in Clarkston, MI it was going to be a long weekend with very little time to get some sleep.

When I arrived at Hotel Baker late Thursday night to scout the area I got excited as it turned out to be an amazing location. Chon made a great choice! As the couple is  from Chicago area we never had a chance to meet until the day of their big day. Chon started a wedding blog however and I tried to stay up to date checking it out.

From there I found out that Chon work in advertising as an Art Director. No wonder that she planned the wedding so well!

Here are the images (and there is a lot today). Check out the detail shots, Chon did fantastic job coordinating everything.

I know my blog has taken a back seat as I’ve been swamped with work but there are some fabulous weddings coming so keep checking. I promise to post them at least a couple within a week.

Here is a sneak peak to the one I photographed in Chicago area – Chon and Hemal’s beautiful wedding at Hotel Baker.

Before I let you enjoy the sneak peak: yes, I know I’m way behind blogging – it’s the time of the year I’m struggling to keep up. I have 4 super rad weddings to post  (including this one) so check back soon.

Here are some of my favorites:

Duane waiting to see Keisha in her dress

Keisha's dad giving daughter away

Book Cadillac - Italian Garden

Rolls Royce Phantom

Venetian Ballroom at Westin Book Cadillac

First dance

Stephenie and Travis chose The Atheneum Hotel for the reception. I never photographed there before and was very excited to finally have the opportunity. That place is a photographer’s dream. With countless amazing locations  I could spend whole day just walking around and getting cool shots, but there is never enough time on a wedding day Time shortage is my biggest enemy, and wedding photographers have always to work super fast to use it to the fullest advantage.

I also wanted to give a shout out to great DJ Joe Nagraba from Ultimate Entertainment. Joe is also a singer and plays guitar. If you’re looking for entertainer for your event give him a try.

I’ll shut up now. Here are some of my favorites. Hope you enjoy them.

Brittany and Dave are very modern, easy going couple and they leave in a super rad loft in downtown Detroit which I love – high ceilings and huge windows is every photographer’s dream. Brittany told me they wanted some pictures in the back alleys that have that Detroit urban flair and I thought it was a fantastic idea! The whole wedding party made a short stop at Dave and Brittany’s favorite bar – of course another great opportunity for pictures!

Then we headed to the reception at the Henry Ford Lovett Hall and it was wild. Here are some shots…

BTW, for the photographers that e-mail me questions regaring post production – all images are straight from Lightroom, except adding a logo, EXIF data,  and a border around the images – no picture has been hurt in PS

Many people ask me how much time I spent in PS working on my images, and my answer is – apart from album design, very little. I do most of my post production in LR now, which is good for global adjustments but not for “pixel pushing”. I’m not a particular fan of overworked images and “plastic skin tones”. I prefer subtle work, which looks more believable. Subtle Photoshop work can be very time consuming. I often wonder if we as photographers spend too much time in front of the computer, simply because now we have means to polish our work (polishing is different then fixing, but I won’t go there today). I know post production is not new to digital, afterall in darkroom days photographers or master printers spent a lot of time doing that too, but now it’s so widespread because it’s so accessible to anyone.

Below is the same image – before and after. This image is for illustrative purpose only and I’m not claiming it to be a great image. In fact it was rushed, Marzena was tired and wanted to go to sleep – shooting in the bedroom probably didn’t help

First image is pretty much straight from the camera, except I fixed some stray hair. Ironically I didn’t fix stray hair in the “after” image – it’s late and I’m simply too tired (”after image” was prepped first).

“After” image is too much for my taste (plastic skin), but “before” image could benefit from some PS massaging. Somewhere in the middle would be probably a good balance.

Before

After

I cannot believe how fast time flies by, she is already 1 year old and it feels like she was born just yesterday.

Anyway, I wouldn’t even pay attention to her falling asleep if not for Marzena:

-Look, a sleeping beauty

-Pardon me?

-Look at her book dummy!

Then it finally hit me .  I love the moment captured here and find this picture hilarious. Just wanted to share…

Sleeping Beauty

Here are a few from last couple of days. I know my family will love me for posting so many pictures of our baby

Yummy Cheerios