Merry Christmas from Moweaqua and God Bless the Snow Shovelers

As my Dad finished his evening of clearing the walkways for the 1st United Methodist Church (3rd rounds today!), I passed the 1st Christian Church to see their snow crews hard at work. I did a lap around the block and as usual came running out of the truck… “Can I take your picture? It’s snowing!!!”

Moweaqua has become quite the Winter Wonderland, and I’m celebrating a bittersweet last few days in Illinois. This will be my last blog from Moweaqua for a while, but certainly not the last.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a safe walk in town. As we celebrate the holidays, I want to be sure to thank the folks who make our travels safe , who allow us to be together for the holidays, as a family, a congregation or a community. Merry Christmas everyone!

Zach and Vien- A match made in Heaven!

For once I’m cutting my words short while posting, since this wedding speaks for itself…   “Blessed” perfectly describes Zach and Vien as a couple… Congratulations again and many years of happiness, love and fellowship. We can’t thank you enough for choosing us to be part of your wonderful ceremony!

Sweet Baby James (and Gertrude)

I had such a fun time photographing James, the most adorable cowboy you’ll find this summer. We wrangled a frog, named her Gertrude, and even got her in a few shots! This session was to celebrate the one year anniversary of James’s adoption, his story is truly inspiring. You can read more about his family’s amazing advocacy work for child abuse prevention at babyjamesfoundation.org

My Best Friend’s Wedding

Nothing gives me that warm fuzzy photographer glow like capturing the wedding of someone I love dearly. Erica and Jessi were married this summer at the Willow Ridge Vineyard in Shelbyville, IL. I have found it in my heart to forgive Jessi for stealing the #1 ladyfriend in my life… Only because he’s amazing and a perfect match for my best friend- these two are quite the power couple!  Thank you again for letting us celebrate with you and your families, love you two!

The wedding that got me to the altar

 

In late March I got to photograph Chris and Heather’s wedding, a small family ceremony on a Friday evening in Moweaqua. I was honored, since I remember adoring Heather when I was growing up- I thought she was the most beautiful person ever!  Since then she and I have taken similar paths, moving away, establishing our careers, living in exotic places like Manhattan (ok, Brooklyn in my case)… and then coming home and finding our place in the world. I was very excited to be part of her big day and I’m not joking, the girl has GOOD taste!

However, I wasn’t prepared for how Chris and Heather’s ceremony and intimate vows would affect me. After the ceremony we went to Decatur for some fun artistic shots at the Fire Station where Chris works. Everyone was so wonderful to work with, I felt like I was part of the family. Even the firefighters got involved. Everything that day fell in to place and was so beautiful.

Fast forward to the following Monday afternoon in Bloomington, after I spent the weekend in Moweaqua working. My poor unsuspecting partner  of 7 years walks in  after a full day of teaching and all I could say is “We need to talk”… poor guy!  And talk we did… 2 hours later we decided that our time was finally here, that we were ready to make the kind of honest, loving and intentional commitment that Heather and Chris made. We finally set a date (two actually) and acknowledged that our commitment was already there in practice, we just wanted to celebrate our life together with those we love. And we wanted to do it in a way that was humble, fun and “us”. We spend so much time photographing weddings, meeting with couples to make their weddings go smoothly, we had never really stopped to think about what our ceremony would look like!

A lot of people ask me how I really feel about photographing weddings, being that my academic training is in the field of fine art photography. I can honestly say I love it. No two weddings are alike, and my eye is always trying new things in new situations. I’ve been privileged to end up in a field of work that I love, and every bride I’ve worked with these past 3 years in Illinois has made my job worth it. I love  capturing the moments as a couple makes their commitment public.  And in the case of Heather and Chris, I love the weddings that have opened my eyes to what can be possible in life with someone wonderful at your side.

Summer is here Mr. Mahone!

It’s always a joy to see Mr. Mahone on his daily walks in Moweaqua, when he stops by the studio to ask who the pretty pictures in the studio windows belong to. This past Sunday I saw him walking without his coat on and thought “Summer really is here!”

Then he waved as usual with his free hand, a nibbled Butterfinger candybar in the other… These are the things that I look forward to on Main Street, the things that just make sense anymore…

The Snyders- Part I

I love doing family portraits in Moweaqua (or anywhere for that matter), especially for families I’ve known forever! We’ll be doing another outdoor shoot soon for the Snyders this summer, but thought it would be fun to share this in the meantime! 

The One and Only: Show details

You might think that I’ve forgotten how to blog these past two months, but I assure you I’m just playing catch-up after a really busy final semester and preparing a show of 29 images from Moweaqua. Before I move on from ISU (and bring the show down to Moweaqua), I thought I’d share the set-up from Gallery 2 at ISU. Yes, I even managed to include my favorite Moweaqua ashtray into the gallery….

MFA Show at University Galleries

Please come join us March 30th at University Galleries at Illinois State University for the opening of my MFA show, titled “The One and Only: Photographs from Moweaqua”.   A good time will be had by all!

The show will be at ISU until April 3rd. Gallery hours are listed below.

After this the work can be seen at my gallery in Moweaqua, and hopefully at a few arts festivals this summer. I can’t thank everyone in Moweaqua and at ISU enough for their support, participation and love during this process. I hope that I’ve done you all proud! 

Good Luck Raiderettes!

The dance team from Central A&M (lovingly called “the poms” or the Raiderettes) will be competing in Champaign this weekend, and I just wanted to wish them the best of luck. The art of being a “Pom” has come a long way since my days of “Conga” 10 years ago, so I know you all will rock it and do Moweaqua proud!