Kristin & Justin: Engagement (with dogs!)

This engagement session was SO much fun, and I can't even wait for the wedding. I asked Kristin & Justin what kinds of stuff they liked to do together, and on the list was hanging out with their dogs. As you all know, I am a total animal lover, so I asked if they wanted to bring the dogs along! They did, which means they got the added special treat of Billy joining us (because he also loves dogs, and I usually need another person around to entertain dogs and kids while I take the pictures).

Here's Penny, if you can see her in the background, chasing Mr. Mophead around while he plays with his ball. Mops had his summer haircut delayed so he could be in full glory for his big debut in front of the camera. :)

LOOK AT THAT CUTE FACE!

Mops with his ball! He loved chasing that thing around. Also, I guess in my mind I always thought Old English Sheepdogs would be totally lazy, but no ... Mops has the energy of like ten giant puppies. :)

Oh, this is Kristin & Justin--they were there too. :) I took a lot of this shot, and in most of them, everyone is all clear and focused, and Mops is bouncing around so much that he's like a blur or a streak. I actually sent one of those to Kristin & Justin because I felt like it just said it all. :) Meanwhile, it's pretty hard to think of things to do with dogs that will get them to look at you but not come to you. In Penny's case, she looks up for the word "puppy", which was so funny and adorable. So pretty much in all these shots, either someone in the background is saying "puppy", or dangling strips of meat fat in front of her. Either or.

Look at that tongue!

VERY vicious. :)

She is just such a pretty dog!

Well, Mops and Penny had to stay home while we went out and about in Broad Ripple, so here we are with a graffiti wall. Kristin & Justin told me they love my urban shots and just to do whatever I felt like, which was so awesome and we really had a great time looking for grungy places (okay, and a few not so grungy too) to take pictures in front of . :)

What is this? Justin suddenly grew an extra set of arms? CRAZY! (Also, note the "Check Yourself" in the background, which is totally why we picked this spot.)

Awww, look at how she's looking at him like he's totally hilarious but she doesn't want to admit it! I love it!

Oh man, these clouds were so great. I may have already told you guys this, but Billy always makes fun of me because whenever there's a blue sky with a lot of clouds, I think it looks like the Simpsons. But come on, it TOTALLY does!

It even looks a little like The Simpsons in black and white!

Oh, how cute! Also, I LOVE those shoes. As a tall girl, I am constantly on the hunt for good flats.

Gorgeous sunshine on the red bridge.

Oh, shut it! This is a new mural that someone painted in memory of their friend, who was a photographer. It's much bigger than this, but the camera and the skyline and the butterflies were really doing it for me so I stopped to run down the alley and take a picture. Apparently this is weird (who knew?), and a little crowd of people gathered around to see what I was taking a picture of.

We headed downtown for some skyline shots, and once again, the clouds were totally awesome. I have a lot of skyline shots, but this is definitely the best sky. And it doesn't hurt that totally fun and awesome people are standing in front of it! But what I really want you to notice is the couple rolling around in the grass. You might have to look pretty hard for it, but it's on the lefthand side about halfway down. I mean, they were really putting on a show, and if I had to be subjected to it, then so do you!

Alright, this time MINUS the Gropersons. (I would MUCH rather focus on these hot stuffs anyway.)

Oh! I was so proud of myself for this one! I loved the colors and the composition! I'm telling you guys--shooting in the evening opens up an entirely new world. :)

Kristin & Justin were laughing here (do you notice all the laughing? We really did have a great time together) about how engagement pictures are really like senior pictures. Hello, they totally ARE like senior pictures, but with two people! Double the fun! :)

Oh, and now the symbolic end of the blog post, with the lovebirds walking away! Plus, I hate to see them walk away, but I love to see them go! (I can't believe I just said that in my blog. But it had to be done.)

Okay, blog extravaganza is actually not over yet, but I am going to take a tiny break for the weekend, because I'm shooting a wedding today and I'm back in Indy, so I should go hang out with my Mom for awhile. I will still be making the senior rep post I already told you about, and Rachel & John's engagement session is on the way. After that, I'm going to post a few sneak peeks, and editing on Mindy & Chris' full wedding is underway! So get excited!

Sharon: Senior Pictures

Well, I promised you all a blogging bonanza and you are going to GET IT! And not in the way that the mom says it in A Christmas Story, either, which by the way, I totally love. More like "gonna get it" in the good way.

Before we proceed, I'm going to warn you that in the very near future, I'm going to be making a post about senior pictures because I'm looking for senior reps and I want to advertise on Facebook. I need a good landing page, though, so I'm going to send them to my blog with some samples and details. For all my usual, faithful readers (thanks!), there won't be anything you haven't seen, I promise not to sneak anything in on you, and you can definitely feel free to skip it. And then we'll be back to regularly scheduled posting with Kristin & Justin's engagement session, which you should definitely get excited about if you love cute couples and cute dogs. And really, who doesn't?

Okay, now on with the show!

The thing about senior pictures is that I LOVE them. And I mean, LOVE. Every single one that I do is my absolute favorite, and this one is, of course, no exception. Sharon found me through Craigslist and was actually my very first Chicago shoot! I would have to say that we rocked it old school.



We started out at Union Station in what I THINK might be the ballroom? I am so not a native yet. Although all my Metra rides are making me pretty familiar with Union Station, I must say. Anyway, this was all her idea and you may recognize it from My Best Friend's Wedding. (Also, Dermot Mulroney WAS awesome in that, but I feel like it would disrespect my friend Anne if I don't mention how cute he was as a singing city cowboy in A Thing Called Love, which we have watched together no less than a zillion times, usually while she dyes my hair.)



All sass, and I LOVE that necklace! I always tell people to Accessorize (with a capital A--I don't make typos like that, come on!) and this necklace is too perfect. Also, I find that I tend to like things involving birds, which I'm thinking might make me and Sharon soulmates!



I went over to my friend Amy's house after doing this session and passed my camera over to her, and she loved this shot, and described it as "cute and cheeky". I am yet to find a better description, and in fact, every time I've worked on this picture, I've thought of that.



Something that I think is crazy and perfect about senior pictures is how they can go from so youthful and carefree to so mature and captivating, and I just think that's so perfect for the age. Eighteen is so like that.



The jeans! The shoes! The too cute for words girl!



I had to put this picture up because of the story that goes along with it. Sharon was trying REALLY hard to make a serious face but having a hard time (she's a smiler, much like myself), and so she kept trying to remind herself that it was like a "MySpace picture". I laughed so hard at that I had to stop for a minute, because it was just one of those funny things that you don't think about but is SO appropriate, and I loved how she was able to get in the zone with it. :)



She looks SO pretty here, I think. She tucked her knees up like that because it's how I was sitting and she thought it was cute. And yeah, we TOTALLY rocked it on the city bus. No point in wasting time, right? But those pictures were some of my absolute favorites.



Here we go ... a little desaturated, a little moody. Also, through the window and only if you're looking for him, you can see the hippie hobo me and Billy chatted with for awhile. Needless to say, conversations with hippie hobos are always filled with highlights, but my favorite was when he and I got into a PASSIONATE argument about whether or not all Greyhound buses smell like pee. (They do, by the way.)



I LOVE THIS. It's no secret that I'm a city mouse at heart, and this session was SO fun for me as an artist.



Last bus shot, but had to be shared because don't you think it looks like an awesome album cover? But for what kind of band?



So we finally got to Navy Pier, which is where the bus was taking us. Also, can I just say right now that Sharon kind of reminds me of my friend Erin, who I love beyond all reasonable measures? Sharon is so bubbly and fun and cute, and it was like a flashback to Erin and college and Ben & Jerry's, and you know once B&J come into it, it's happy memories all around. :)



I could not WAIT to work on these pictures. I was actually using it as my mental incentive to get stuff done, so I could get on these. Yes, that's right ... SuperGeek over here rewards herself for hard work with more work! Ha! Don't worry, though, I might have also had a giant fountain Coke or two also. (Not that I'm addicted, of course. I could quit any time.)



Smokin'. Also, I am like ... BESIDE myself right now to live near water. It's such a fun novelty. :)



Awwww. I loved this. Doesn't it look like one of those ships that you build in a bottle? Anyway, it was such a pretty sunset and I loved that boat, and I wish my Papaw was still alive because I know he would like it too. I think of him at the most random times, but I always used to spend all year brainstorming what to get him for Christmas, and I think it's just a habit now and I haven't broken it yet.



I love this picture. She looks SO beautiful here.



A little high contrast for sunset. :) Sharon was a fan of my silhouette pictures, so we worked those big time.



A little artistic interpretation of the Chicago skyline from Navy Pier. I'm hoping Sharon likes it. :) We wanted to get down on the beach but we weren't able to because the end of the pier was closed for a wedding, so we didn't get a lot of skyline shots but I wanted her to at least get one.



So, to make up for not getting to the water, we instead rode the ferris wheel! Isn't it pretty?



I showed Sharon this one while it was still in my camera and she got SUPER excited (another soulmate moment), which probably means she liked it ALMOST as much as I did.

Sidenote: I also want to share, before I forget, at least two other funny things Sharon said to me during the course of the day. First of all, when I was waiting for her outside and called her, I told her I was wearing plaid shorts. Very matter-of-factly she congratulated me--"Way to be fashionable!" Secondly, when we got into the station, she handed me a big wad of cash. I was just kind of surprised, maybe a little dumbfounded even, and probably said something along the lines of, "Cash?" and possibly asked if she was sure she wanted to do it that way. She just looked at me and said, "Dude, I'm a teenager!" Can't argue with that! It made me laugh really loudly, though (which, let's face it, is how I usually laugh).



Little Audrey Hepburn!



I think I showed these to Amy again later, after they were edited, and she said that this one looked like a magazine ad and I TOTALLY agree. I'm going to have to get out and shoot at night more often--it's so fun.



These last two are some of my favorite pictures I've ever taken and I'm SO proud of them. Sometimes it's hard to really look at your own stuff objectively and say, yeah, that's awesome, but I'm saying it here. In the words of American Beauty (I have name dropped SO many movies here! What's the deal?!?!), I RULE.



See? Amazingly gorgeous. And it would not have been possible without such a cute, fun, adventurous model. Thank you SO much Sharon! I had so much fun. :)

Kelly & Andrew: Wedding

Oh, y'all, I am the world's worst blogger. Well, WAS, anyway! This post is going to kick off a blog frenzy, where I blog my brains (and yours) right out.

So Kelly and Andrew's wedding marked yet another in a streak of GORGEOUS brides ... check this babe out!



That one is SO going on my website.



Kelly and her dad, in the coolest dad outfit I've seen so far. Also, this is a good time to tell you that both Billy AND Gail assisted on this wedding, so this was basically the most covered wedding in history. I'm also saying this because I'm PRETTY sure this is one of Gail's, but in general, I have totally lost track so any of these pictures could possibly be one of theirs. They both did such a great job.



Andrew's happy face as he sees his bride coming down the aisle!



Oh, I love this shot of the rainbow of groomsmen hair colors. :)



Kelly & Andrew exited their ceremony with a lavendar toss, which gave us some really great pictures. But while it was sitting in a ziploc bag on the table, Andrew pointed out that it looked like a big bag of weed. I was glad he pointed it out, because I was totally thinking it. (Although, to be fair, I'm not really schooled in the ways of the weed and a big bag of anything greenish in color would probably make me think the same thing. I'm going to blame this on all the stoner movies I watched in high school.)



Now, I KNOW this one is Gail's! Girlfriend knocked it out of the park on this one, and I absolutely love it.



Fashion mag shot!



Seriously, I cannot stress how important it is to leave time for just the two of you to get pictures done. That's how you get pictures of the two of you looking hot, like this one.



And SPEAKING of hot, OMG, this is so hot.



ROBOGROOMSMAN! Yeah, I called him that all day. As everyone who has been with me on a wedding day knows, there are just too many people to get everyone's names down right away, so people usually end up with little nicknames after defining characteristics. I hope RoboGroomsman loved his nickname, because I think it's my favorite so far. It was, in fact, so favorite that I took a picture of his RoboArm and blogged about it. There is no higher honor in my life. :)



Such a cute first dance, and I loved the lights in the mirror.



Because there were so many photographers and SO many pictures, I felt a little liberty to get artsy with a couple, and this was one that I blurred totally. Secretly (well, not now), it was a little out of focus but I loved the motion of it so much that I didn't want to let it go, and I felt like this captured the tone of the picture in a cute illustration.



I want you guys to know how committed I am to pictures of people double-fisting. I have plenty more waiting in the wings for future blog posts. It's my favorite!



This is Andrew's sister and foxy bridesmaid, and I liked the composition, with her and the drink and the lights. :)



Here's another example of another opportunity to be a little artsy--shadows on the wall doing the YMCA. :) Seriously, that dance ... it does offer the best photo opportunities, though, so thank you, Village People!



Oh, oh, oh. My heart just stopped with love. This one also needs to find its way onto the website.

Here's the thing--Billy always gets HILARIOUS shots at weddings, most of which you won't see here, for reasons that I think you'll understand. Anyway, he always tells me I'm never in the right place at the right time, so one night I asked him how he's ALWAYS in the right place at the right time. He told me the very easy, very obvious trick--just keep watching the bar. :) Obviously, nothing embarassing is happening here, but it was near the bar, so it reminded me to share this story with you all.



A little DJ light lens flare. Okay, a lot. But it wasn't as much as another one, which was almost totally red, and which, when I posted it on my photography message boards for fun, prompted another photographer to ask, "Is that lens flare or an alien abduction?!?!" Made me laugh.



It really was SUCH a good reception, with lots of dancing and I love when people swing each other round and round. In fact, square dancing was one of the few things I DID enjoy about my high school gym class. Along with swimming, where we were allowed to just play around for an hour and the only rule was that we had to get our hair wet. And when it's summer gym ... who cares how your hair looks after? You're just going to hit the public pool before cruising on over to your sweet job at the custard place anyway!



OMG. This is the first (and hopefully not the last, because I do love some excitement) wedding where I was like 90% sure someone was going to die. Here we have the groomsmen and friends tossing Andrew around in the air (seriously, they LOVED picking him up!).

Also, though, and funnier (in my opinion), there was the polka. Wow. Kelly told me before the reception that Andrew's family had been asking how many polkas they were going to have. She was like, "Uhhh ... one?" And it's a good thing there was one, because she was NOT kidding when she said these people love their polkas. THEY DO. As soon as it came on, probably better than half the guests sitting in their chairs rushed the dance floor and went polka INSANE. I mean, kids right on up to grandma and grandpa. So Billy was telling me that he was leaning against a rail that went over a staircase, but he kept getting bumped into by these polka-maniacs and he had to move because he really thought he might accidentally go headfirst backwards over the rail and break his neck. I thought this was hysterical and seriously, don't you just love those endearing little things about families, like that they LOVE doing the polka? Well, I do and it was really, REALLY fun to watch.



Wow, I just cannot get over how beautiful these two are! Amazing. :)

I had a great time shooting your wedding and I hope you love the pictures! As always, the full gallery can be found at http://sarahbrownphotography.instaproofs.com and online ordering is available!

Stay tuned tomorrow for Sharon's senior pictures. They're amazing and you don't want to miss them! :)