The adventure begins...

Tomorrow morning at 5am (yes, I said 5am) we'll board a bus that will take us to Chicago to board a plane that will take us across the Atlantic Ocean to start our trip of a lifetime. Michael and I will be traveling in the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and the Balkans for the next six weeks. "What's your itinerary?" you ask. "Well," I say, taking a deep breath, "Italy, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine and back to Italy. Oh, and you can click here to see a more detailed itinerary." Yeah, six weeks. :) And you can just imagine how many pictures that translates to. Let's just put it this way--when we spent 3 weeks in Thailand, we took over 2000 images between the two of us. So that means....over 4000?? Whoa.

During the trip, we're gonna do our darndest to keep y'all updated and share some of our photos with you. So check in periodically or, even better, subscribe to this blog (scroll to the bottom of this page and click on "subscribe to posts") so you'll know IMMEDIATELY when we've hit the "publish post" button. That way you don't have to sit in front of your computer all day every day hitting refresh every 30 seconds (Mom, I'm talking to you.) :)

So with that, I'm off to pack my bag, charge our camera batteries and update the music on my iPod. Ciao!!

Erin & Erin

They're married! And we've got gorgeous pictures to prove it! :) Erin's laughter was infectious--and it seemed she was always laughing! And Eric was always at the ready with a funny comment (or two!). Something tells me there will be a lot of laughter in their new life together...

Thanks to the two of you for allowing Michael and I to document your day. We had a great time.

Kathleen and Mike

This past Sunday I did an engagement session with Kathleen and Mike. The two of them were hilarious to work with--I was laughing pretty much the whole two hours! I love working with these two: they're easy going, fun, creative and willing to do pretty much anything! And they clearly fit well together. I'm so excited to shoot their wedding in October!

Don't forget to check out the slideshow below!

This is what happens in the wedding off-season...

Michael and I got a little punchy when we discovered the photo booth application on my mom's iMac while visiting the family for Easter...and we got even punchier when we discovered the "fun mirror" setting. Ladies and gentlemen, meet your Vantage photographers.

We consider ourselves *professionals* in the strictest sense of the word. Ha ha.

Has spring sprung?

I think spring might be upon us! Today I took Chloe (our lovable beagle puppy) for a walk and I survived with a light jacket and no mittens. Now, being a Wisconsin girl born and bred, I'm not holding my breath. Anyone worth their salt in Wisconsin knows that March is anything but predictable. But, it's been over 40 degrees three days this week and the snow is almost gone from the ground. And the sun has been out, which means Chloe has been in heaven. She loves curling up on the couch in the sunlight, falling into a deep sleep and snoring away. Yes, she's a "snorer". She sounds almost human! Hmmm, you know, a nap sounds like a pretty good idea right now... :)

Favorite 2007 Image

This morning, as I was perusing the posts of an online professional photographer forum, I came across the thread "what's your favorite image from 2007?". So I got to thinking....and going through all the Vantage photos from the year...wow, it was tough. But I came up with my favorite.

Why this one in particular? Well, I love the juxtaposition of a beautiful, done-up bride and a street scene, particularly the young boys she's passing. The image places their lives in context and speaks to life's stages--adolescence and joining in partnership with another person, all happening at the same time for different people. And I chose it because 2007 marked the year that I tried really really hard to create more images that didn't just capture great moments, but told a story through the image. In essence, to be a true wedding photojournalist.

Snow snow and more snow...

Who knew one winter could produce SO much snow?!?! A couple days ago, Mother Nature broke her own record for most snow in one winter in Wisconsin. Old record: 76.1 inches in 1978-1979. I think we've broken it already by a few inches and, guess what? More is on the way tonight and tomorrow: 5-7 inches of it! Anyone up for making snow angels with me?? :)

Business cards and a winter wedding...

With our new look for our websites, OF COURSE I needed to design new business cards, too! Ok, we probably could have used the cards we already have....but any excuse is a good excuse for me to play graphic designer... Here's a sneak peak of the cards from our commercial site for Vantage:

On a wedding note, Michael and I had a WONDERFUL weekend: we attended the wedding of Michael's college roommate, Bridgette, to her husband Kevin in Milwaukee, WI. It was a really beautiful and emotional ceremony and a fun reception at the Performing Arts Center. Bridgette was glowing! It was also so great to be able to hang out with some old friends for the evening and catch up. And since we were guests, we got to kick back and dance the night away. I love dancing with Michael--we end up being such goofballs on the dance floor and we always have a blast! Sorry, no pics...Michael would never forgive me! :)

I love slideshows!

As one of Vantage's first purchases for 2008, we invested in some really cool new software that allows us to put up beautiful slideshows up on the web. Of course I immediately got addicted to playing around with it--I love this stuff! So of course, I just had to create a slideshow of Ann Marie and Jared's engagement shoot we did back in October--we created some really beautiful images that day.

I love this program, because it really breathes life into the photos and increases their emotional impact. And it's a fabulous way to share your images with family and friends--just by sending a web link. We're going to now be offering an online slideshow with our 2008 wedding packages, so everyone can get in on the fun! Check it out:

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We've got a new look!

Hallo everyone! I'm really really excited to be writing this post....because our updated websites are finally live! Once again, we got to work with the fabulous Jon Wohl from Alchemydia Designs (thank you Jon!) to give our websites a look that's more in line with our work and style. So, I present to you the NEW www.weddingsbyvantage.com and www.vantagephotography.com.

As you can see, we've got a range of things we work on with our primary focus being on weddings. I love this set-up, because it allows us to keep "fresh", which only benefits our wedding work. Some folks say that to be really good, you should only focus on one. But I think that the breadth of our work helps us be really really good at weddings. I mean, there's not really any other event where you have to be really good at photojournalism, portraits, food photography and location photography, is there??

So anyway, have at it, and enjoy. I'm really really proud of these "new" sites. Yay for websites! :)