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Photography Walk Through Chicago Bridgeport
As part of our inspiration quest to develop our skills as trained photographers, we often go out mid afternoon on a “photography walk” through the neighborhood.
It helps train our eyes to see the little details all around us everyday. Our brides often comments about we captured every amazing detail of their wedding day, so we know our weekly exercise is working!
It helps us find cute new areas and places where we can bring families and models for portraits. We try to provide each customer a new experience and a new setting and provide our more contemporary clients the options for an edgy and high profile setting. We offer outdoor as well as studio portraits. What better setting that a graffiti wall near the Chicago Downtown area? Image a large 11x14 portrait of you teenager against a bright and harsh wall of paint and local art! Amazing!
Interested having some original maternity photo created? There are plenty of amazing outside hot spots in the here including a flower hill with an amazing view of the Chicago skyline. Such an amazing way to bring together mother nature and modern contemporary views of Chicago.
Check out the images below for just a few of our recent photos. Contact us today to set up your in person consultation.
By the way, our pup always comes with on our photo safari’s… and you can see how tired she is!
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Follow Plum Tree Photo on Twitter
Plum Tree Studio is now on Twitter noted as Plum Tree Photo. Click on the link below to connect to us and follow! http://twitter.com/aplumtreestudio
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Michael Jackson confirmed dead on june 25 2009
It was just confirmed on June 25, 2009 on every news media source that Michael Jackson, pop music legend, has died in his Los Angeles California home. He had no pulse when the emergency team arrived. The UCLA and Los Angeles Fire Department were rushed to his home at 12:26am, responding to a 911 call placed at Jackson’s home that morning. At that time they were not able to confirm his death. The medical team performed CPR and he was then transported to the UCLA medical center where he was in a coma (or so it is said). On June 25, 2009 at 5pm he was declared dead. The king of pop suffered a cardiac arrest earlier in the afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. It was confirmed that when the paramedics arrived Mike Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back (yet there was rumor of him being in a coma and hospitalized for a few hours).
So many of his loyal fan were shocked to hear the news of the former icon to rock and pop music. Facebook and Twitter as well as other social media sites today were full of constant blogs and updates. It took a few hours for confirmation to come through about his passing. So many are now writing on twitter to his family and posting things like “rest in peace”. It is sad news and so many sources have now confirmed. He was pronounced dead at 5:20pm this evening. The internet is now full of prayers, tribute, memories, and photos of the deceased Michael Jackson.
Jacko was once married to the daughter of Elvis Presley and is the father of three children. “Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince "Blanket" Michael Jackson II.” He was the king of pop and inspirational to many many of us. Even this photographer remembers growing up in Chicago Illinois listening to Thriller and Black & White. In fact I can vividly remember his B&W video as influencing how I felt about those around, staying open minded and accepting of others in my very diverse neighborhood.
The reporting and news was limited initially. ABC, BBC, CBA, NBC, CNN and MSNBC did not want to release any incorrect information until it was confirmed that Michael Jackson had died in the evening. The media wanted to confirm his passing to the next world before publication of the information. TMZ was already on it and posted the information before the other larger media sites, possibly to get more hits from readers. Photographs of Michael will be valued at higher rates given his influence on pop music and society during the 1980’s and 1990’s. Reliable sources such as tmz, cnn, and msnbc have all now confirmed that the legend has ended his career as a pop legend.
It is very interesting how one person has had so much influence on so many people and how so much of society shuts down to remember one such a man. His infamous Thriller, Bad, Black and White, Billy Jean, The Way You Make Me Feel, Smooth Criminal, Man in the Mirror, Dangerous, Remember The Time, Ghosts, Morphine, Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (a wedding favorite) and Beat It. He influenced performers such as Madonna and Justin Timberlake (who credits most of his style to his influences from MJ aka Jacko).
His work, music, stories, and life history will be remembered by many. His interesting past, no matter how colored or blotchy, was nothing but fascinating. Despite our agreement or distain for his lifestyle and choices, he was influential to all of us in his own manner. I vividly remember singing along to the lyrics of Michael Jackson songs before I even spoke any English (I spoke Polish first).
Michael Jackson video’s were full of color, life, energy, and passion. Much of his free spirited dancing and use of lights and depth of field have been influential to my own art work. As an artist he was a legend among men. He will be remembered by millions of people for his legendary life and influences on popular music over the past 5 decades.
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Giant hail storm hits Chicago
I really wish I had my Canon 5D camera with prime lens with me today. Giant hail storm hits Chicago! Today while meeting in Chicago, I was pummeled with marble sized hail. At this point I would have pulled out my professional camera’s to capture the amazing essence of the day. However, since I was not expecting any outrageous weather, I only had my Apple IPhone in pocket to capture the images. Below are some of the photographs, sorry for the resolution, it is all I had today.
Amazing! I posted the images quickly on Facebook for Plum Tree Studio clients to see and received numerous remarks about how the Chicago suburbs were sunny or cloudy or moderate. Yet, here in Bridgeport Chicago (60608) the weather was only 60 degrees and we were being assaulted by giant rocks of ice. Again, this proves my concept that I should always have a camera with me at all times. Today was an amazing day, with sunshine, clouds, storms, black, skies, and chaos in the skies. It’s a beautiful day… don’t let it get away…
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Beautiful Day For Jogging Through Chicago Illinois
Only 2 more days until the first wedding of the 2009 season! On Saturday, I will be in Wadsworth Illinois doing the wedding photography for Adrienne and Jamar. Come back and visit soon to see a few of the best images from the day! Today the sun beat peeked out from behind the cloud and shined brightly onto the streets on Mundelein Illinois. To celebrate the day, and take a much needed break from all of the photo editing I have been doing these past few days, Sunday (our 10 year old dog) went for a long jog at the park. I think someone here, or both of us, have been doing a little exercise avoidance this winter. Ohh ohh. With the busy wedding season coming up, we have to get in shape for the running down the isle to catch the bride and groom, for the chasing of the kids for the infant portraits, and generally just to be healthier. There were many days this winter where I barely moved from my chair. In fact, one time I even caught “mouse finger”. Ouch. This years proclamation? For every 2 hours worked I take a break and walk around the block once. Then at the end of the day I will do a long run to get my heart going. Unfortunately, I am not a morning person, so morning runs are not in my near future. Evening runs are doable though. Now… back to editing those photos I go… only a few more left…
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New Front Page Display on Plum Tree Studio
Our main URL now proudly displays our best wedding photography, pet photography, children's portraits, and other related photography. We found that the old format didn't allow our newest clients to view out work in a quick and easy format. This way, now you just visit the main site, sit back, relax, and let us do the work. Our new site now scrolls through the photos. Hurray!
Thanks to the hard work of our IT and web development team, we launched the version of the front and upgraded the entire system in just one weekend. With only 10 minutes of down time, Plum Tree Studio Photography is now back in action! Stay tuned for more updates. Or join our news letter for constand updates!
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The Artist’s Way
An artist must have downtime, time to do nothing. Defending our right to such time takes courage, conviction, and resiliency. Such time, space, and quiet will strike our family and friends as withdrawal from them. It is.
For an artist, withdrawal is necessary. Without it, the artist in us feels vexed, angry, out of sort. If such deprivation continues, our artist becomes sullen, depressed, hostile. We eventually became like cornered animals, snarling at our family and friends to leave us alone and stop making unreasonable demands.
We are the ones making unreasonable demands. We expect our artist to be able to function without giving it what it needs to do so. An artist requires the upkeep of solitude. An artist requires the healing of time alone.
-Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way
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Actor Jeff Goldblum died today in New Zealand
We learned a few minutes ago, that Actor Jeff Goldblum died today, June 25 2009, in New Zealand. He was filming a movie when he fell to his death off the Kauri Cliffs, according to local police. The incident occurred at approximately 4:30am.
His work on famous movies like Jurassic Park and The Fly have been immensely influential to society. I have photographed a few models recently using a similar spooky style. He will be remembered. His death was a shock to many.
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Model Safety
In response to a question posted on photography forum --- “what should a model do if a photographer refuses to give information about their company?”
As a photographer myself, I can appreciate when models and clients ask me for detailed information. I recently had a client ask me “how old are you” and “are you married”. Not that it impacts my professional work, but he appreciated the fact that I was honest with him and didn’t dodge the questions. If you are going to spend 2 hours with someone in an enclosed room you need to feel comfortable with who they are and know they are a “real” person. I try to be as upfront as I can with my models about the session and the studio – I even offer green tea during my portrait shoots as this is part of who I am.
My advice for models would be to be polite with questions but also persistent! If someone avoids your simply questions, can not tell you about their gear, will not provide you a photo of the studio or tells you to come alone… those are warning signs. Please do not put yourself into a dangerous situation.
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