My friend Shannon recently came into the studio to help me with some lighting tests. Shannon is a natural in front of the camera and we had a lot of fun making these pictures. As we got started, she mentioned that she'd never had senior portraits done so we joked that this was like her senior session. But that set me to thinking: even if you had senior portraits done in the 80's (like I did) or 90's, they're probably looking pretty dated by now--especially if you had your picture made with the "big numbers" that showed the year of your graduation (you know what I'm talking about). Why not treat yourself to some new photographs? We'll do them in the studio and/or location and have a great time while we're at it. Think of it as senior portraits for grownups. Get some new prints to display around your home and a new profile photo for facebook. If you're interested, contact me and we'll get your session scheduled.

A few months ago, the Four Seasons Association, a private health club in Bloomington, Illinois, contacted me about providing photography for an updated website that they were developing. I spent a couple days in June on-site to showcase their facilities and amenities for their growing membership. The new site just went live this week, and you can see it at http://www.4seasons-club.com/. Many of the images displayed on the site were made during those two days in June; a few are stock photographs and images from the previous site. The new site also contains "virtual tours" of the facilities which feature the photographs made on the June dates. Below are a few of my favorite images. If you need photographs to help promote your organization or business, whether head shots or images of your facilities, please contact me--I'd be happy to discuss ways that I can help meet your needs.

Kerry Rolewicz is a wonderful artist and person who lives here in Lincoln. She's been creating interesting characters in her work with pastels, pencil, and other media for years. I've been working with Kerry in the last few weeks to photograph her pieces both for archival purposes as well as to prepare images for reproduction. This will enable her to continue to sell her unique original pieces as well as smaller format prints. Below is an image I made from one of Kerry's pieces as well as some detail shots from her studio. If you're in Lincoln, you can find the studio in the Arcade Building on the south side of the square. Kerry also has a new web site, kerryrolewicz.com, from which she'll soon make prints for sale and have news on her upcoming shows.

Local author Erika Holst, whose photographs I made last November, will be signing copies of her new--and first!--book Wicked Springfield at the Lincoln Public Library on Thursday, 5:00 - 6:30 PM.  Erika started a website and blog this year where she's sharing some of her research and interesting stories about Abraham Lincoln.  I'll be at the library on Thursday; hope to see you there!

My until-very-recently next door neighbor (who now lives in Springfield, IL) has just had her first book accepted for publication. Erika Holst is a Lincoln history buff and her forthcoming book, Wicked Springfield: Crime, Corruption, and Scandal in the Lincoln Era, is due out from The History Press in February 2010.  According to Erika, here's the tentative cover copy:

In the twenty-four years that Abraham Lincoln lived in Springfield, the city saw its share of crime, corruption, and scandal, much of it at the hands of Lincoln’s law clients and acquaintances.  This entertaining book tells the story of the dark side of Lincoln’s Springfield, from the man being sued for divorce who claimed he caught his venereal disease from the outhouse to Governor William Bissell, whose near-duel with Jefferson Davis almost made him ineligible to hold office.  Brawls, murders, slander, fraud – Lincoln saw it all in his hometown. The stories in this book filled the newspapers that Lincoln read and the docket where he practiced law.  Discover the wicked side to Lincoln’s Springfield.

Erika contacted me to make her her book jacket and publicity photos.  She wanted to have some photographs made at our local library, itself an historic building. It was established in 1902 as the result of a grant from Andrew Carnegie and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. With the permission of the kind folks at the Lincoln Public Library, then, we made a few pictures there on Tuesday evening as well as a few studio portraits for her. As an aside, my kids love the programming available for children at the library and always enjoy saying "hi" to Ms. Lou when they stop in to get books.  My thanks to Erika and the Lincoln Public Library for their gracious cooperation on this assignment.

Lex is headed to the Chicago area this summer and planning to get some acting gigs so we made some headshots for him this evening. He says he's looking to land roles as "nerds" or "villains;" either way, I think he'll do a fabulous job.  Good luck, Lex.

Michelle is a family friend--the kids love Michelle--and was gracious enough to allow me to make some portraits the other night. Here are a few from her session.  (FYI--I'm in a kind of black & white phase right now--loving the look of this style.)  Thanks, Michelle--you did wonderfully!