dogs, baby booties and a belly….

maternity photograph of pregnant belly with baby booties and 2 dogs

Milwaukee Avenue looking east

Photographs of Bucktown/ Wicker Park street life photographed for an assignment. Night views of the neighborhood shops along Milwaukee Avenue near the North/Damen Ave intersection. Bars shown include the Empty bottle and People. Also included are 2 shots of Division St near the damen intersection. Shown are the Boundary, Jerry’s, and Via Carducci.

Division street bars in Wicker Park/Bucktown

I stumbled across an awesome children’s book website called One Potato http://onepotato.net/index.php/site/
What a great, simple, beautiful site. Every week 10 forgotten or ignored children’s books are featured. The emphasis seems to be on illustrated picture books. This week one of the books featured is called Garmann’s Summer by Stian Hole. What a fantastic looking book with amazing illustrations. How have I never seen this book and illustrator before?

I am excited that 57th street books in Hyde Park has accepted my children’s book Drums, dancers and a bird as big as you! into their awesome children’s collection! 57th street books is a fiercely independent Chicago neighborhood bookstore that has been a community pillar since 1961. Every wednesday at 10:30 am they have children’s storytime when local authors and illustrators read their work to children. Check out their website below for the schedule. Also, Sept 13th is the 57th St. Children’s Book Fair in Hyde Park. Check it out and support independent bookstore 57th street books!

http://semcoop.booksense.com/

http://www.57cbf.org/

Read more about my African children’s book here: http://www.hjbphoto.com/drumsdancers.html

I shot a beautiful wedding at the Cheney Mansion in Oak Park this weekend. I think its a great place for a ceremony…small, intimate, lots of greenery outside and inside a warm historic setting with lots of warm wood and windows.  The outside setting is perfect for a quaint summer ceremony…. the space is large enough to hold a few hundred people comfortably but you still feel like you are in your own back yard. The ceremony was at the Carleton of Oak Park which was also very cozy and intimate. Both places really made the event feel intimate and special.

I had the pleasure of working with the makeup artist Nika Vaughan yesterday on headshots for

a new hair salon website….I enjoyed working with her! check out Nika’s website here:

http://makeupenvy.com/

This wedding photograph was shot near the north avenue beach on Chicago’s lakefront. I love how the city looks so iconic and beautiful. It is one of my favorite weddings shots and really shows what a beautiful place Chicago is to get married in….