Jayshree decorated with personal touches, including cowboy hats (she’s from Dallas, after all!), a personalized drink menu, and hand-made cupcakes by a friend.

 The views from their downtown space were the kind of awesome that you can only find in Chicago. 

The party also featured an outdoor rooftop fire pit.  So cool!

 

 

 

Congratulations, Jayshree and Amit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amanda is the kind of girl who is not afraid to run, to look deeply into Brad’s eyes, or to dance on a grassy knoll.

Brad knows how to catch her, to lift her up, to make her laugh with her whole heart.

One day recently the rain paused long enough for us to venture into the woods for an engagement session full of jokes and smiles, with just the occasional sigh and gaze.

I think Amanda has been practicing her dance moves more than Brad….

Amanda and Brad were a blast to be around, and in between the joking and laughing, they would look at each other, and it was magic.

I love the way their hands are tangled, the looks in their eyes.  I can only imagine what they are saying to each other….

 Sometimes, my dears, you just take our breath away.

 We cannot wait for your wedding, Amanda and Brad!

Ann & Kam are Chicago Wedding Photographers who serves Chicago, Illinois, Wisconsin, and beyond.  Check us out on our website or facebook, and Contact us to learn more about having us shoot your event.

Real life is much longer and messier than our dreams, of course, and the real test is not how hard you can work when it’s easy, but how willing you are to keep working when things get hard.

My friend Ivette is an inspiration to me.  She and I used to work together, in a former life.  Our offices were basically next to each other, and we bonded over our mutual love for salsa music.  Ivette confided that she was actually a jazz singer, and had studied with some of the finest vocalists in the area.  Life was complicated – she was busy with two daughters and her job – and for a while her dreams of performing were put on hold.

But that voice inside of her refused to fall silent.  So Ivette did the thing that so many of us dream of doing “some day”, you know, when the time is right.  She decided to get back on stage, to keep singing even though life would never be less complicated.  She decided to make a recording.  It might not be easy, she might not have known exactly how things would work out, but she was going to keep going.  Because she loved it.

I’m so proud of Ivette.  She’s recorded an album and can be found performing around Chicago.  She’s making her dreams happen, and I know she’ll go far.

Kamran and I caught up with her at Fitzgerald’s last week to shoot some video of her performance, and we managed to catch a few photos as well.  You can hear Ivette make her magic here: http://www.myspace.com/ivettefranco

Within our dresser drawers lay bits and pieces of our past lives that we left behind, but couldn’t quite let go of.  To say that a lot has happened in the past few years might be an understatement.  We’ve gotten married, purchased a home, and started our business.  We barely feel like the same people anymore.

The remarkable thing about this whole exercise, though, is not how hard it is to let go of my old items that no longer suit me.  I’m surprised to discover how many items I have in my closet that I purchased but NEVER wore.  As in, they still have the tags on them.  All these years, and I have never quite been able to let go of the person who I thought I should be.

I went through a period after I got my first job where I thought I needed to wear a lot of suit jackets.  I remember buying them whenever I found them on sale, storing a small collection of them in my closet as if they held the key to a successful professional life.  It’s like I thought that suits were the uniform for grown up, successful, women, so I stocked up.

Yet, I never wore any of them.  Not once.  I just kept them in my closet, unable to let them go, even though whenever I tried them on they never quite fit right or felt comfortable enough to actually wear.

Now that I have been out of a regular office environment for a couple of seasons, I finally feel confident enough to let these jackets go.  They were never a good fit for me.  And that’s ok.  I need the space in my closet and my life for other things.

Other, cuter, things.

Did I forget to mention that Danny also kept us cracking up?  I think even when her back is turned, Raquel knows what Danny is up to!

Thanks for spending the afternoon with us, Danny and Raquel!

Toni is also a talented Children/Baby Photographer, and you can check out her website here.  I’m sure she can bring out the best in her subjects with her outgoing personality and friendly demeanor!

Toni’s main man, Tom, came along for the day, probably not realizing that we would put him to work holding reflectors, fanning the ladies, and making them laugh.  Tom, you are THE MAN!

Oh, Toni, you kill me with those eyes!

Ann & Kam are Chicago Photographers who specialize in bringing out the beauty inside every woman.  Check us out on our website or facebook, and Contact us to learn more.

You could spend hours joking around with Maggie, laughing and telling stories.  But under her easy smile is a soul that is miles deep.  And if you’re lucky, you just might catch a glimpse of it.

Ann & Kam are Chicago Photographers who specialize in bringing out the beauty inside every woman.  Check us out on our website or facebook, and Contact us to learn more.

Grace came to our studio for a few portraits, and we were immediately taken in by her warmth and her willingness to try anything.  We started out with some clean, classic shots and got a little crazy towards the end.  I love that these first few shots really make you just want to get to know Grace.  Don’t you already feel like besties?

Well, maybe not bff’s after this…  ;)

We switched it up to a more dramatic evening look.

And then we got crazy, and Grace showed us what was underneath that sweet smile…

Ann & Kam are Chicago Photographers who specialize in bringing out the beauty inside every woman.  Check us out on our website or facebook, and Contact us to learn more.

But I also have a confession to make.  I, Ann Oleinik, am a salsaholic.

No really, I’m serious.

It all started back when I was in college, and I don’t want to admit how long ago that was.  I’ve been a musician my whole life.  I grew up playing piano, and even started out college as a piano major at UIUC.  But something happened when I got introduced to Latin music.  Where I had spent my life in concert halls filled with people who hardly looked at each other, here was a world where people held parties in their homes and actually danced and sang together, for fun.  I felt like I found something that had been missing for my entire life.  Like I never knew what living was before. Something clicked.  Something that said, this is how life should be.

I think we all have these moments at some time or another.  Moments where we discover our great passions, where the world shifts slightly around us to show us the great potential that lies inside ourselves and all around us.  If only we could see it, we could harness all that the universe has to offer.

Discovering salsa was one of those moments for me.  Together, my dear friend Sarika and I set  out to conquer the world, one beat at a time.  We discovered hidden alleyways within ourselves, our hunger for the music taking us beyond our old selves, beyond our fears, doubts, and limits.  Taking us to new dreams, new possibilities.  We shed the girls we were, and set out to define what young womanhood would be.

The first salsa album I bought happened to be a good one.  It was a mix (this was before iTunes, so you had to buy the whole album!) with Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, and Eddie Palmieri.  And we played it incessantly.

Eddie Palmieri is legitimately a legend of Latin music, and also one of my personal idols.  So it was a great honor to photograph this show.  Now go check out his music and enjoy!

Eddie has a huge, infectious smile.

At one point Eddie stood up and clapped the clave with the audience.  So great.

Eddie sings with great passion, even when there are no words to sing.

Check out our video from the show here: http://www.annophotos-blog.com/2012/04/1576/

This show, at Mayne Stage, featured Eddie Palmieri and the Bryan Lynch Quartet.  You can purchase their album, Simpático,  here.

To learn about more concerts featuring amazing musicians from around the world, check out Sound Culture Chicago.

This month we actually faced our fears and brought our cameras along to shoot each other.  I have to say, I’m not sure if it was more nerve-wracking to be in front of or behind the camera, but we survived.  Hooray!

And anyway, who wouldn’t get excited about photographing a stylish lady like Zipporah.  Zipporah is the talent behind Zipporah Kapambwe Photography, and she is totally charming to boot.  I mean, really, check out these pink pants!

Seriously, look at that little smile.  You know she’s gonna have fun!

As the sun set we busted out our flashes and kept shooting.  Zipporah just kept on looking cute, and apparently pink pants match everything.

Thanks for being so sweet with us, Zipporah, can’t wait to see you next month!