I’ve done everything but kiss it! Three weeks without the workhorse computer that everything is done on is a major upset.
It is 6:15pm, and I am headed to find food. Then this lovely computer and I are about to get organized and start cranking out stuff!!!
YAY!!
Donna
AS OF THIS POST…MY MAIN COMPUTER HAS BEEN DOWN SINCE SATURDAY THE 10TH.
My schedules are all on my blackberry.
Weddings are all backed up
What I cannot seee are selections you sent me in email. If you have prints or an album you are waiting for, RESEND me the emails please.
It won’t be fun, but if I have to I can install software on my laptop and work from it.
the rest of the story……
I am so like a little kid in a candy store when you give me a brand new place to explore and take along a camera.
The suites all have names, and we got to explore and shoot in the Gullwing. It’s my idea of a great place in the Quad Cities to stay.
What woman do you know doesn’t want a mirror to reflect her comings and goings? Molli was no different.
There is a wonderful gas fireplace to settle in front of… perhaps with champagne… maybe a little coffee in the brandy? It was way too dark or we would have shot on the balcony overlooking the water feature. That is a Spring project.
Can’t you just envision a wonderful romantic scene on your honeymoon night in this magnificent bedroom?
I like this image of Molli the best. When you don’t shove a camera in her face she has this soft but sassy smile that lights up all around her as it flashes across her face.
The Gullwing is fantabulous, but my mostest favorite’est hottest room is the bathroom. If I had had 3 hours to work and had brought along studio lights we would have had a shooting good time in the bathroom. Oh, baby! It is one romantic, sexy place for a honeymoon stay.
In the shower……….need I say more? Deliciously large, glass walls……..
There is so much more to Jumers Casino & Hotel Rock Island. It would be possible to find wonderful locations almost without end.
My thank yous to the staff in their great assistance as I worked.
If you are looking for THE place for your reception…and even your wedding if you so desire …….call and speak to Stacy Schlapkohl at 309-756-4680.
It was a cold, icy, snowy day right before Christmas. Not one you really wanted to be out and about, but we had a shoot to do with arrangements with Jumers Casino & Hotel Rock Island and John Taylor Salon & Day Spa. Out of the cold and into the gracious hospitality and warmth of the John Taylor Salon’s newest location. You just sort of feel the world melting away as you step through the doors.
Molli and her mother Teresa were willing models for the shoot. Teresa is the most organized woman I know, and she makes it just look so easy. She had everything under control, and she knew exactly where everything for the shoot was. They both settled into chairs. Teresa was having her hair styled, and Molli was having her makeup applied along with her hair look for the shoot being created. Everyone went right to work, and I was busy poking my camera in everyone’s face.
Teresa and Molli transformed for the shoot. More of them in the next post. This is all about John Taylor Salon & Day Spa.
I don’t quickly and easily throw around endorsements of other wedding vendors. This is one that I will tell you I approve of 100%. They will give you absolutly wonderful service. They will make you feel and look like a million bucks. You, your whole wedding party, and/or your mom……..consider them for hair and makeup for your wedding. If you are staying at Jumers Casino & Hotel Rock Island I bet you could talk them into doing the service in your suite. Never hurts to ask.
John Taylor Salon & Day Spa at Rock Valley Plaza in Rock Island
John Taylor Salon & Day Spa at Jumers Casino & Hotel Rock Island
Color me impressed with the finished mother and daughter, and I witnessed a TEN in customer service!
I am excited to do both their engagement sessions. Yes! I said sessionS. We have some ideas tucked up our sleeve. Wait and see!
They will be using Pastor Gary Ellis, Ducky’s, Most Wanted Productions, and some more to go! It was fun to watch Christy’s eyes sparkle as she looked at brides in albums. Arsenal Island ceremony!
The Gestapo Puppies (aka Anna and Coco) approved of them. Of course the 6 pound chihuahua had to do her great dane impression to let them know who is boss around here. Both dogs landed in Christy’s lap, and all the while Lance is saying, “No, Christy, no small dog”! She loved the girls as much as they loved her.
No piccies yet! We do that pretty soon, and of course we are going to share with all the blog readers.
Studio D will be photographing Kristin and Greg’s wedding at Our Savior Lutheran in Bettendorf, and then we go along to the Outting Club. Did I mention she’s a redhead? That excites me because we don’t get a lot of them. It’s nice to have a little spice in the collection don’t you think?
Her mother Marsha met with me yesterday to get the date set aside. She just beams when she talks about her daughter.
Stay tuned for images of the couple. Upcoming engagment session soon.
The following excerpt comes from: http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/csm/massmound.html
This region was in very early times, as we read in Parkman’s history and in the records of the Jesuits, frequently visited by Jesuit missionaries, and missions abounded along the banks of the Mississippi. Davenport was but an Indian encampment, Blackhawk’s watch tower guarded the opposite shores of the Mississippi, and Colonel Davenport’s trading station was on Rock Island, now the site of one of the great United States Arsenals. Antoine Le Claire traded with the Indians farther to the north near where the famous Buffalo Bill was born.
One day, after the dread of devastating storms had long lain heavy on the dwellers of this beautiful country, one of the missionaries summoned all Indians and Whites, Christians and non-Christians–all who could be reached, to a meeting. He set up an altar on a hill where St. Katharine’s now stands, and celebrated Mass daily for a week. Day by day the Indians came and went. The Christians sang litanies and prayed for blessing and protection. On the last day the holy priest lifted the Host and blessed all the country that lay before him, and prayed to God that henceforth it might be preserved from storms and cyclones. Now St. Katharine’s fair gardens grow and prosper about this spot.
The Sisters of St. Mary heard this tale, and after much research have attested the fact by pioneer records and the Jesuit records in St. Louis. One of the manuscripts reads, “On the mound of the old Davis house (now St. Katharine’s School), southwest side, where French priest had a black cross made of walnut wood, carved by hand, a crucifix, as great storms were so dangerous. Very holy clergy knelt in prayer, and made offerings to God for safety.”
It is fairly well established that the “French priest” must have been either Father Mazzuchelli, a Dominican priest who in 1838 erected the Church of St. Anthony (now standing in Davenport) or Father Van Quickenborne, a Jesuit. Tradition points, however, to Father Van Quickenborne, for the narrators of the tale usually relate that the officiating priest was a Jesuit who had recently come from New Orleans; and the Jesuit archives in St. Louis confirm this tradition. The Sisters have found that the story as told in widely differing groups of the older people of Davenport varies in its details.
END OF EXCERPT
Last January 2008 I ran into Dr. Joe Seng at the JC Bridal Expo at his booth for the Renwick Mansion. Immediately there was a tug on my heart to go see. It took 9 months before I finally did go and see. Instant love. I grabbed a couple of models (read that to mean unsuspecting friends) and we had ourselves a grand time photographing inside and out.
Every visit I found myself walking on the grounds out to the East of the House. There was such a prevading feeling of peace there. You just want to plop down in the shade on the blanket of grass and let yourself free. I really didn’t have an explanation as to why until I found the story of the Mass Mound. I had heard it several years ago, but it never penetrated it was The Renwick Mansion that was the site of the Mass Mound.
I placed both of the young ladies here. It is an awkward lighting spot without external lighting. There were much more desirable spots, but I kept working here. I couldn’t explain it. I didn’t show these images here much because they are not great. Still over and over I was drawn to work in this spot.
I do not believe in conincidences and accidental happenings. Tomorrow more to this story. Stay tuned!
PS If I wanted to do an outside wedding or reception I’d do it here on this land and this spot. It has been blessed, anointed, decreed and declared over. It had both a hickory cross and later an altar erected on the site. Please remember this is private property and you need permission to walk on the land.
Here we are at the crossroads between two years. Ready or not here is 2009. It is time to pack away the decorations, pick up our routine of the gym so we can upack the cookies and fudge from our midriffs, and for us in the midwest finish this thing called Winter. December was not a fun month weatherwise except for the fact it gave us a white Christmas.
The interview process for the new year’s group is in full swing with every weekend bringing in 2 to 4 interviews for me to cover couple’s wedding day. It is a fun time meeting new people and listening to their plans for their wedding. Some things asked are predictable because we hear them all the time. Ever so often someone asks me a question that prompts me to ask them why they asked after I answer them.
One such question came up last weekend, “Do you have more than one wedding on our weekend”? I explained that some weekends Studio D did indeed have more than one wedding but never two on the same day for the same photographer. When asked why they asked me that their response was, “We don’t want you to be too tired for ours.”
When we have a weddings on Friday, Saturday, and/or Sunday we very carefully plan them and our schedules. There is a whole routine behind the scenes with equipment, timeline planning, and then post wedding downloading and backing up images along with re-charging batteries. Is it tiring? YES. Weddings are a lot more physical than they look from the outside. Add some stress. Yes, I said stress. We are managing time, people, and coverage all at one time for an entire day. I love doing it, so I rarely ever see any part of the day as a negative thing. When I feel it is when I go sit down in the car at the end of the night. Suddenly I am tired. We don’t do multiple weekends as a regular thing. For that reason there is nothing for you to be concerned about if we have another wedding your weekend.
I ease my workload by having an assistant with me. They load and unload equipment, find people for me, hold cameras, help arrange the bride’s gown during formals, shoot the easy stuff like the outside of the church, flowers, pew decorations and crowd shots when I am doing other things. This makes my day a whole lot easier. I also choose assistants I like to be around. It is a lot of fun to share the day and then talk over the day on the drive back to the studio.
Another thing we re-discvovered this past Saturday was booking multiple couples for the same appointment. It isn’t so much that it benefits the Studio as it benefits the couples. It takes the pressure off one couple being the center of focus. More questions get asked. More information and ideas get shared between couples. More people = more laughter and fun instead of an intense question and answer period.
We set it up by asking both couples if they minded and offered a choice of appointment times. The response to it has always been positive by couples. Do we double book all appointments? No. But we can do it if the need arises. It really benefits the couples traveling in from out of town. They are trying to see more people and have a limited amount of time to do it in.
Happy New Year. May your blessings be abundant. May your wedding planning be stress free. Most of all… may the wonder, beauty, and love experienced on your wedding day increase again and again throughout your lives together.