As I sat on the plane last night to come home, I started thinking about this past year, and everything that has happened. I started thinking about all the things I did right, that I’m proud of, and all the things I want to work on, that I could have done better. One of the things I’m constantly trying to do is better myself as a photographer, and hone in on my style, my brand. So I decided to take a look back at all the pictures I’ve taken this past year, and pick my 25 favorites, and my 25 least favorites. (No, I’m not going to show the 25 least favorites. Those will be in a secret folder on my computer titled DON’T DO THIS AGAIN. Ha.)

But I decided to share my 25 favorites for two reasons. The first is that I hope it will showcase my style, who I am as a photographer, and continue to help me shape my business. And secondly, when I do a review again next year, I’ll see how far I’ve come :)

It wasn’t easy narrowing it down… I had to go through them twice to get it down to 25. (Being indecisive is really a pain sometimes.) But here they are, in no particular order.

From Kellie and Zach’s Wedding:

From Jamie’s Senior Pictures:

From the Kimble’s Family Session:

From Summer and Carl’s Engagement Session:

From Sarah and Jacob’s Anytime Session:

From Alyssa’s Anytime Session:

From the Deeken’s Family Session:

From Natalie and Brenden’s Engagement Session:

From Kara and Zach’s Wedding:

From Erika’s Maternity Session:

From Emily’s Anytime Session:

From the Rodeheaver’s Family Session:

From Suzi and Ryan’s Anytime Session:

From Jessica and Joe’s Wedding:

From the Keen’s Family Session:

From Brittney’s Anytime Session:

From Krystal and Adam’s Engagement Session:

From Lauren and Joey’s Family Session:

From Bree and Jordan’s Engagement Session:

It was a good year. And I can’t wait for what next year holds :)

Jordan is a magician. You know, one of those crazy magicians who can play with your mind, like David Blaine or Chris Angel. Cool right? Ok, ok, not really. Just kind of. According to Bree, anyways. From the moment they met, Jordan started toying with her mind, biding his time and making his play. I mean, he had to keep her interested, of course. He couldn’t just be an easy catch. So they played a flirtatious game of cat and mouse, until they both caved under the obvious chemistry and adoration for one another. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The thing is, though, after watching them together all afternoon and soaking up their love behind my camera, I would have to disagree with their story. I don’t think Jordan was the magician. Not at all. Because Bree, well, she had him from the start. His number was up the minute he looked into her gorgeous blue eyes. It was a checkmate before the game began. So maybe Bree was the magician after all…

May I just ask: How hot are they?!

We started at a little park nearby Taylor University, where they both attend. We found train tracks!

I love the way they look at each other.

And like I said, checkmate.

We headed next to this tunnel thing I spotted, and it got   w i n d y!

Gorgeous people.

Oh hello, shiny rock!

You are so beautiful Bree!

Couples modeling, anyone?

Well, Bree might hate me for this next series, but I thought the wind blowing her hair was saweet! So I’m posting it. Because I can.

Sigh.

This forest was magical, swear.

Then we headed to a lake. Hello beautiful blues!

I looove me a good spinning series :)

And then he dropped her in the lake. Kiddingggg.

But I did make her walk in it. Work it Bree!

Finally we headed back on campus.

The light under these trees was fabulous.

This picture seems appropriate to end on. Rawr.

We stopped at our first location, a nice brick wall with neat some windows. As I was getting my camera settings dialed in, they turned back towards me and asked what they should do, how they should pose.  I was considering my options when I looked up to see Brenden whispering in Natalie’s ear, and then they both erupted in laughter. It was natural, it was real, it was them. I pressed the shutter. That, I thought, is exactly what you’re supposed to do.

If I had to choose one word to describe Natalie and Brenden, it would have to be passionate. These are two of the most passionate people I’ve ever met. Passionate about their dreams, passionate about life, and most importantly, passionate about each other. Watching their love unfold in front of my camera was refreshing. No one can deny how much they adore each other. I’m honored to be shooting their wedding in December and I’m so excited for it I can hardly wait! Until then, their engagements will have to do :)

Quite soon after we started, it began to rain, so we headed inside for a bit. There is a chapel at Anderson University, and the light from the window was delicious!

The rain held off again for a couple minutes, so we wandered around campus a bit more.

He’s always making her laugh :)

It started to rain, again, so we snuck into the backstage of Anderson’s theater, and I felt like I was in Hollywood getting ready for my next show haha. Lights, Camera, Action!

Hellooooo beautiful!

Even though it was still raining, they had one more location they really wanted. That gazebo they’re walking towards? Yeah, that’s where Brenden proposed. One word: Precious!

Proof that some of my jokes are actually funny.

He randomly took her hand and started dancing with her. Like what you see in the movies. Yes, I melted.

So, I’m not actually sure what kind of dance moves are happening in these next series, but they were too great for me not to post :) Haha.

See what I mean about passion?

I’ll end with one that makes me feel warm and fuzzy :)

She watched him for a year. Not in a creepy kind of way, of course. But in a subtle, admiring way, just waiting for the right time. The day they met that fall semester in college, Krystal knew there was something different, something special about Adam. And she knew she had to find out what it was. So she waited, biding her time until she saw the perfect opportunity, almost a year later that next fall semester. Adam needed to make the drive to a fairly distant camera shop (he’s a fellow IWU photography major.. holla!), and Krystal offered to give him some company. Adam readily accepted, glad he didn’t have to make the trip alone. Little did he know, he was getting more than he bargained for. Much more. It would be far greater than just pleasant company on a simple car ride. It would become for richer or poorer, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, never having to be alone again. And THAT is way better than whatever he got at the camera store!

Enjoy some of my favorites from their session! Which was a total blast, if you were wondering :)

One of the best things about these two? Laughter. And lots of it. Love that.

Bling-blingin!

Krystal, you’re a doll.

Lurrve these.

Annnnd yes, being the hopeless romantic that I am, this one just makes me sigh…

Krystal and Adam, I wish you nothing but happiness!! I’m so very excited for you guys! Keep making each other laugh :)

You might remember a couple months ago when I blogged my brother’s engagement pictures. Well, due to the fact that it was FREEZING that day and we didn’t quite get all the shots we wanted, we decided we’d try again when the weather warmed up a bit. After checking our schedules for the billionth time to see if we could make a date work (those two are super busy, let me tell ya!), we finally settled on the Saturday before Easter. It was going to be perfect. The weather was gorgeous all week, and the forecast for the weekend was looking good.

Or so I thought. Turns out, it was suddenly going to rain on Saturday. A lot. At first, I was bummed. It figures that the one day we can make work turns out to be crappy weather. But then I decided to embrace the rain. To incorporate it, and totally rock it! We bought some fun umbrellas, and made our game plan. It was even working out because, due to their crazy schedules, we had to shoot midday. (Which, for any of you unfamiliar with photography and lighting, midday is considered by most to be the worst time of day to shoot. Harsh lighting. Yuck.)  But it was going to be overcast, so we were good to go!

Well, of course, it pours all morning, and then all of a sudden it turns into a crazily sunny afternoon. A.k.a. harsh lighting. Dang it. However, even though I would have preferred slightly different weather, Carl and Summer still did their thang! They wanted some more shots of the city, and the city is what they got. We didn’t have a ton of time,  but I think we got a few good ones…

With the skyline in Olive Park.

Down on one knee. Classic.

Work it.

Navy Pier!

I loved that the swings were going.

And then, of course as we have to leave, the lighting becomes killer.

My favorite.

Kept this post short and sweet (kinda like Summer haha). Love you C & S!

(Sorry I don’t know why it’s doing the double picture thing! :/ I’m annoyed.)

Rewind to about 7 years ago. It was Carl’s freshman year at Trinity International University. Sure he was excited for new classes, new friends, and dorm life. But deep down, he was there for one reason, and one reason only: to play basketball. This passion had started almost as soon as he could walk. Basketball was his dream, his love, his life.

That is of course, until he saw her. Across the weight room that freshman year, he spotted Summer, a varsity player on the women’s basketball team. Naturally, Summer wanted nothing to do with him at first. She was focused on basketball and schoolwork, and was unconcerned with her new admirer. However, his persistence, humorous attitude, not to mention his good looks (which he gets from me), finally won her over, and she never looked back.

Fast-forward 7 years. Summer is now the head women’s basketball coach at TUI, and Carl, now playing for a semi-pro team in Kankakee, is by her side every game  and every practice as an assistant coach. Through thick and thin, school and work, being streets away or states away, they’ve stayed together. You might call it love. But I call it love and basketball.

Carl and Sum, I could not be more excited for you guys!! Thank you for being such awesome role models in my life. I love you both very much and can’t wait to be able to officially call Summer my sister :) Oh and p.s. thank you for introducing me to Garrett’s Popcorn. I will never be the same.

I’ll start with this series, because it makes me smile. I now know firsthand why they call Chicago the Windy City!! For real.

So much laughing, it was awesome.

Ballin!!

Summer, you are so beautiful. Seriously.

And then we decided to go to Antarctica for a few pictures. Haha. But it was honestly so cold I thought we were going to get frostbite! INTENSE.

I found this street of trees and I was hooked.

I’ll end with my favorite, a shot from the bridge…

You can see it in her eyes, the way they light up when she’s around him. The sound of his voice, a simple touch, his smile… Her love for him is obvious. The only thing that might be even more obvious is how much he adores her. My guess is that Joe had no idea when he first got Jessica’s number from a mutual friend that he would be so captured by her. After about a month of innocent flirting through text messages, they finally went out on their first date. As love would have it, that night become the start of their happily ever after.

I had so much fun on this shoot! It was slightly blustery outside so we started inside at the Jupiter Bowl in Redstone…

The we headed outside, into the freezing cold I might add. Thanks for putting up with the weather you guys!

I love this series.

I’ll end with one of my favorites.

Congratulations you guys!!! I can’t wait for your wedding in July!

]]> http://dulce-photography.com/blog/2009/12/30/redstone-engagements-jessica-joe/feed/ 2 http://dulce-photography.com/blog/2009/10/13/rachel-and-luke-engagements/ http://dulce-photography.com/blog/2009/10/13/rachel-and-luke-engagements/#comments Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:05:17 +0000 Carissa Fine http://dulce-photography.com/blog/?p=224

It started out a normal evening. I was sitting at my desk attempting homework, listening to Pandora, considering going to the gym, and eating a granola bar.  (Yes, I multi-task). I’ve been really homesick the past few days, which in turn causes me to turn on my auto pilot and go through my days slightly lifeless. That’s when Jer Nelsen (a totally awesome photographer and friend who graduated from IWU last year) called. He was looking for someone to assist him with an engagement shoot. I saw my chance to avoid homework, and I jumped on it.

Turns out, this was exactly what I needed. The fresh, crisp fall air, the leaves giving exquisite pops of color to an otherwise dreary sky, a couple deep in love, and my camera. I had become so wrapped up in school and pushing myself and counting down the days till Thanksgiving break that I had lost sight of why I’m doing all of this. (And by this I mean school). It is tough right now – really tough. In the end, though, it will be worth it, because I will be a better photographer, and a better person, for doing it. I had lost sight of that, but tonight I remembered. I remembered how much I adore capturing absolute love between two people. I am captivated by the beauty of it. And I can’t wait for the years to come when I will get to experience and share and celebrate that love constantly. Makes me giddy! So without further a-do, here are a few of my favorites from the shoot that helped me remember.

(Thank you again, Jer, for letting me tag along. It might not seem like a big deal to you, but it was a big deal to me, and I truly appreciate it.)

I apologize for not having posted in quite a while. Summer has really gotten away from me. Which means back to school soon. Yikes. One more year! Anyways. Here’s a shoot I did for my good friend Melissa and her husband Trevor. I’ve known Melissa since high school so I was super excited when she told me she wanted some new pictures for her house. We went on up to Main Street and played around. Let me know what you think! (My favorite is at the very last one…)

Ok I’ve been trying to expand my ways of editing, so here are a few experiments.

Annnnd my favorite:

Ok. I don’t like to pick favorites. But I’m not gonna lie, these guys were pretty stinking awesome. SO much fun. Plus they  came up to Park City for their pictures, which I am definitely partial to. We strolled all over Main Street, stopping anywhere that looked cool. They were always smiling, laughing, cracking jokes and making everyone around them smile. And talk about a gorgeous couple! There are so many pictures that I love from this shoot, it was hard to pick. But these ones take the cake for me! 

Ashley’s beautiful sister came to help us out! 

Ok this was hilarious. They saw the bear, and decided to really ham it up. First, it was “let’s all pose like the bear,” looking off into space. 

Then, it was “let’s make Mike jealous.”

Too funny! 

Just loved these guys. If you want to see the rest of the pictures, click right here!