Friday Introduction

Good evening! I guess I’ll take some time to reintroduce myself on here.

My name is Dylan and I’m a photographer based in Waukegan, IL. My main niches are portraits and weddings, but I’m always willing to explore other photography opportunities that may come my way. 

Here are few interesting facts about me:

1. I like running to stay in shape. I’m not really one to do any sort of races like a 5K’s or marathons. I think it has been 20 years since I last ran in a 5K.

2. Back in June, I hiked my first 14er along with a few of my buddies. We went out to Colorado to hike Mt. Elbert (14,439 ft). Definitely one of the most exhausting but also rewarding things I’ve done.

3. I’m looking to kind of restart things with my Instagram page for business so I’ve archived all  my past photos on there. Nothing like a fresh-ish start, right?!

A Little Bit of a Redo

Cheers to a new beginning (sorta). As life continues to be quiet on the photography front, I’m considering using this time to start over my photography business. The way I’m envisioning this working is not a full scale reset with me clearing the internet of all the work that I’ve done up to this point. Instead my website and business Facebook page will not be changed all that much being as those are both the platforms where people most often reach out to me on. 

The main place that you will be seeing a change is on my business Instagram page. So sometime in the next week my plan is to archive all the photos that are currently posted on Instagram. I’ve decided to do this is because Instagram is a platform that I’ve rarely gotten leads from over the many years that I’ve been on there. Plus it seems like the process of moving a photo back out of the archive seems very easy. In other words, if I have a change of heart, I can always bring back my past without too much hassle.

Originally when I was planning on beginning this restart of my business Instagram page, I was thinking I would start right off the bat with offering opportunities for free portrait sessions. However, soon after that I began to think that finding someone looking to have a session with me might take longer than I would like so that put the kibosh with that idea. Instead I’m working on doing a little branding session of myself and also an updated about me post to go with that. So in other words, you have that to look forward to probably on Friday.

It appears that it might be a few more weeks until I could potentially be offering free sessions. Currently it looks like next Saturday, I will be having a portrait session with some of my nieces and nephews. And then the weekend after that I will be having the annual family portrait session with Larsens. The weekend after that is Labor Day weekend so I’m probably not going to try to do any free sessions that weekend being as my siblings from Minnesota will be in town visiting. Pretty much it might be awhile before I’m offering much in the way of free photo sessions. Of course if anyone is looking for paid sessions, I’m more than happy to be accommodating and fit you in to my schedule.

July 2024

At the beginning of the month of July, I was hoping both my businesses would be much more prosperous than they ended up being in reality. Something about taking that vacation in June had me feeling like I was re-engergized and would have a good month of July. Specifically I was thinking I’d get a few inquiries about booking me for family portrait sessions. Unfortunately, it has been mostly quiet on all fronts with my photography business. Briefly, it was looking like I’d at least have a little photography work being hired for a birthday party. It was definitely a little disappointing when that didn’t quite work out in the end.

During the month of July, I scaled back on the time spent on my reselling business. In recent months, I’ve been trying to refrain from buying more items until more of the items that I already have, start to sell. So this month I spent much more time adjusting prices on items that are already listed and sending out offers than I have ever done before. Finally having an item sell after it has been sitting for months or maybe even years does feel like a minor victory even if it’s only a small profit in the end.

While it was a rough month for my businesses, I feel like my social life has been in a fairly decent spot this past month. It feels a little odd making this statement considering that I skipped out on participating in some of bigger local festivities such as Independence Day and Scoop Waukegan. The warm weather of the summer provided some good opportunities to hangout with both family and friends. Honestly, this is probably one of my favorite parts of summer is that it tends to encourage people to get together. This month provided just about the right mixture of time spent with people that I see regularly and others that I seen on a more sporadic basis.

So what does the month of August have in store for me at the moment? Honestly, my schedule is currently very open so feel free to inquire with me about any photography work that you have. The only work I have on the books this month is a family session on the last Sunday of the month. Otherwise work these days will consist of trying to figure out how to get more bookings in my photography business. And trying to find a good balance for my reselling business.  

Colorado Trip 2024

Back in mid June I went on my first vacation out of state in a couple years as I went out to Colorado to climb Mt. Elbert, the highest point in Colorado. This was most certainly not a solo adventure as I tagged along with a few friends of mine with more experience when it comes to these type of hikes. In recent years, they’ve visited a few different states in pursuit of the thrill and challenge of climbing mountains. I know in the past there was a time or two where my friends invite me to go on one of these hiking trips but turned them down because I was unsure if it would interfere with photography work. This year’s trip obviously worked with my schedule so I decided to join in on this adventure with my friends. 

Our journey west started on Wednesday afternoon as the four of us that were traveling from the Waukegan area piled into a Toyota Highlander. Our original plan for the drive out was that we would stop at a rest stop at some point to sleep for a little while but instead we managed the 15 hour drive fairly well with each of us doing a portion of the drive. Since most of our driving was done during the night, there wasn’t all that much to see out the windows. The lone thing of note during this portion of the trip was stopping at the World’s Largest Truckstop to take a break and get a bit to eat.

By the time we were close to Denver, it was around 7am but we had to find a way to occupy our time since we had to pick up our friend who was flying in from Seattle at around 11am and also to wait for check in time at the Air BNB at 4. The first place we stopped at was a diner to grab some breakfast. I’m still kicking myself just a little for ordering biscuits and gravy instead of getting a Denver omelet. From there we wasted some time at Walmart before finding a nearby park with a trail that we walked on for a little while. Next, we headed over to the airport and had a slight hiccup in navigating things so it took a few more minutes than we thought it would.

After the airport, we headed over to Golden to wander a bit. When we first planned this trip, we had been talking about going on the tour of the Coors Brewery. However, what we didn’t realize was that you have book a tour quite a bit in advance so that put the kibosh on that idea. So instead we checked out a few shops around there and then stopped at restaurant for lunch. Then we left Golden and made a couple stops to get supplies. By around 5 we arrived at our Air BNB for the next few days, settled in, and relaxed after a long day. 

On Friday we did our warm up hike so that we could get acclimated to hiking at higher altitudes. The trail we ended up hiking was the 7:30 Mine Trail, which was about a 15 minute drive from where we were staying. We chose this trail since it was a reasonable distance from our place and also seemed to have a few interesting features to it. One of the more noteworthy features of this trail, the Clifford Griffin monument, we completely bypassed on our way up without even realizing it. As a result when we reached a point on our trail where it looked like we had reached a natural stopping point, we were a little confused about if were on the right trail even. 

Eventually after debating what to do, we cautiously crossed a stream to try out path that didn’t seem quite as well trodden. We didn’t get very far down that path before realizing that the monument we had been looking for was actually on the side that we had just come from and had somehow missed it. So we decided to head back at that point and figure out where we suppose to have turned. On the way back down figured out that the monument we had been looking for was a little off the trail and behind a large boulder that blocked it from view. 

Of course since the hike took a little out of us, we stopped over at a restaurant down the road from us for a late lunch. Then we went back to our Air BNB to shower and relax for a little while. Later in the evening we decided it would be best to prepare for the challenges of the next day by getting a nice filling meal. To accomplish this, we went to Beau Jo’s to have some Colorado style pizza. After that we stopped at a gas station in town to make sure we were stocked up on snacks and foods for our hike. Once we got back to our place, we packed up our hiking bags so we could be ready to head out early in the morning. 

We had everything we needed for our hike together in decent order so that we started making our drive to Mt. Elbert around 3:30am. We set out so early because we were a little worried about the parking situation and didn’t want to hike any further than necessary. Another reason was that we wanted to reach the summit before the afternoon since we had heard that there’s usually thunderstorms in the afternoon up there. I think we timed our arrival fairly well as we found a decent parking spot near the trailhead and were on the trail hiking by around 5:30am. 

Starting the hike at 5:30am worked out pretty well for us considering that we were a little lacking when it came to headlamps and flashlights. So it was convenient that by the time we started hiking, the sun was starting to shine through and illuminate the path. At the beginning of the hike, I felt like we were all keeping a reasonable pace and doing pretty good. I’m not sure how long that lasted as after some time a couple people in our group seemed to have better endurance and hike on ahead. Meanwhile, myself and my 2 other buddies went about things with a slower pace and often took breaks.

The beginning of the hike when you’re moving in the wooded trail area, progress seemed fairly easy. The challenge of this hike really started to kick in right around the time where I was out of the woods and moved beyond the tree line. Going along the trail as I continued my ascent, the altitude took its toll and really wore me out. There were plenty of times where the thought of giving up and turning back crossed my mind, but kept on going because I wanted to conquer the mountain. There are definitely times where it looks disheartening when you see all the zigzagging you have to do to get to what you get to the top.

Then you reach what you thought what might be the top only to find out that it’s actually a false summit. On the plus side, all the members of my hiking group were finally back together since the friends that were ahead of us waited for us up there. From there we hiked over to the actual summit, took in the view from the top, and for a moment reveled in our accomplishment. After about 6 hours on the trail, there we were finally at the highest point in Colorado, Mt. Elbert. 

The descent was much faster, but presented its own set of challenge as I tried my best not to slip as I navigated the rocky terrain of the mountain. For the descent, we yet again began as a group but as we progressed, there became more separation between each member of our group with myself bring up the end of the line. I was certainly relieved that everyone else in my group waited up for me at the tree line. For awhile in the woods on the way down, we managed to stick together as group. However as seemed to be often the case with this hike, we would eventually separate in to two groups. The descent ended up taking around 2 hours. 

Since we had an early start to our day for the hike, there was still quite a bit of the day left by the time we finished up the hike. One of our top priorities after the hike was finding some place to grab a bite to eat that hopefully had outdoor seating since we all kind of felt a little gross and smelly at that point. Eventually on the trip back to our place, we stopped at a Wendy’s that had a few picnic tables outside. My friends were really speaking the truth about the first meal you have after a hike tasting so good. Once we got back to our place, we took it easy for the most part as we were pretty worn out for obvious reasons. Eventually the guy in our group who is a chef cooked up a quality meal with a steak burger and potatoes and green beans on the side. Definitely  was a good way to end the day. 

Sunday was our last day in Colorado and we didn’t have anything planned for the day. So there we were on Sunday morning scouring the internet to find something interesting to do. Eventually we decided to go to Denver to catch the Nationals take on the Rockies. We made sure to get into the stadium early so that we got some of the $3 Coors. The game itself was a bit of a disappoint but then again we were all mostly happy that it didn’t go into extra innings seeing as our seats weren’t in the shade and it was a pretty hot day. The Rockies scored their only run via a solo home run in the second only to see the closer be unable to close it out and give up 2 runs in the 9th inning. After that we wandered around Denver for a little bit and grabbed dinner. 

Abria | Prom

A couple weeks ago it was Waukegan's prom so I took some photos of my niece, Abria, and her friends before they headed to the venue.

MaryKate & Drew | Courthouse Wedding

This past Saturday I photographed the courthouse wedding of MaryKate & Drew. For me this was the second time in the last few years where I've photographed a courthouse wedding over Easter weekend. So I guess there's a little popularity when it comes to that weekend and my clients. It definitely seemed like a busy morning at the courthouse with a total of 12 couples getting married.

January 2024

I kind of feel like I’m still trying to get my bearings for the year 2024 and yet the month of January seems to have come and gone in the blink of an eye. I could have sworn it was just yesterday where I started off this year by going down to Waukegan beach to jump in Lake Michigan for the Polar Bear Plunge. The first week of the year was very light in the way of work and had a healthy dose of time to relax as the Christmas season wound down. The week was punctuated by my first photo gig of the year as I found myself in the familiar halls of the Lake County Courthouse to photograph another courthouse wedding. 

The second week of January served as the start of the year for me when it comes to work which meant I had a whole lot of editing ahead of me. The first collection of photos that I worked on editing this year were actually from my last photography gig of 2023 where I photographed my uncle’s retirement party. Then once I completed that, it was time to get to work on editing the photos from the courthouse wedding that I did as my first gig of the year. By the time the fourth week of January rolled around, it felt like life was settling more into the usual routine since I was now caught up with my editing. 

Location Ideas for Your Family Session

It’s hard to believe that summer vacation is drawing to a close for many people here in Lake County pretty soon. I’m sure there are plenty of people who are not the biggest fans of this time of year and I can’t say I would blame you for that. I, on the other hand, kind of like this time of year because I’m eager for fall to come and to have some family portrait sessions during my favorite season of the year. Today I’m going to write a bit about picking a location for a family session because I once heard that it’s all about location, location, location. Granted I think that was meant to be in reference to real estate and not so much family portrait photography.

First of all when it comes to locations, I believe that your choice of location is not going to be the thing that will make or break your family’s session. For this reason I hope that you don’t put any unneeded pressure on yourself when making this decision. Also, I’m always willing to try my best in helping clients to find a location that works for them. Although, I’ll be the first to admit that while I may venture around Lake County from time to time, I feel like my knowledge is actually a little limited when it come to good locations. Plus, don’t worry about picking a location that I’m unfamiliar with because I enjoy the opportunity to have a session in a location that is new to me.

When it comes to choosing a location for family portraits, you will find that normally one of my first suggestions is local preserves or nature areas. I feel like these types of areas are better suited for family portraits than an urban setting. Plus, I feel like living in this area, we are very blessed that there are so many great preserves that are part of the Lake County Forest Preserve system. The forest preserves that I'm most familiar with are the ones that are within the closest vicinity to me such as Independence Grove, Greenbelt, Lyons Woods, and Lake Carina. However, I'm sure many of the other forest preserves that I'm not as familiar with would make for great locations for photos. In fact, a couple of the locations that I'm hoping to have a photo session or two in are Ryerson Woods and Captain Daniel Wright Woods.

My other recommendation for locations would be local parks. One of the best parts about having your session at a park is that is you can you reward younger children for good behavior by going to the playground that is conveniently located nearby on location. Here in Waukegan the most notable park for sessions is definitely Bowen Park. I’ve definitely had my fair share of photo sessions at Bowen and find that since there’s so much space there it certainly is a good location. Another park in Waukegan that I think makes for a good location for a session is Roosevelt Park. 

Obviously this list is very far from being exhaustive when it comes to locations for a family session. And I just hope my suggestions have been helpful to you in picking a location for your family portrait session or at the very least sparked some ideas of your own for a cool location. Also keep in mind that finding the absolutely perfect location might not be as important as you think. At the end of the day, I would prefer my family sessions to be about the connection of your family and not have the location steal the show.

July 2023

The last couple days of June and the first couple days of July were a pretty hectic time in my photography business. On June 29th, I finished my second day of doing headshot photography for a Waukegan business. Then on the last day of June I photographed a courthouse wedding to start off the weekend right. Following that I did a photography session in a backyard for a pregnancy announcement. Finally to close out this busy stretch, I accomplished a personal first as I photographed a wedding on a Sunday morning. 

I wish it had been the case where this sort of busyness persisted throughout the rest of the month. Unfortunately, the rest of the month ended up being fairly quiet the rest of the way through July. One of the few benefits was the fact that it allowed me to be mostly caught up on my editing in the first week of July. Meanwhile, my reselling also had a bit of a down month as well. I think one thing that hurt my sales was the fact that I did a bad job of listing consistently.

The month of July treated me alright in terms of social and fun activities. For the 4th of July, I went on over to join a group of people in Arlington Heights to play ultimate frisbee and have a cookout. Then over the following weekend, I made it down to both nights of Scoop Waukegan. On Friday, I went down to see the broad variety of cars that were participating. And then on Saturday night, I went down to see Ivy Ford and her band perform.

Later in the month of July, my folks and I finally made it out to catch a Cubs game. We did not do a ton of planning for attending this game. In fact, it was only a little more than 24 hours before the game that we decided we'd go to it. Thursday morning we took a look at the weather and the probable starting pitcher (Justin Steele) for the day and were swayed that we should go. It ended up being a good decision as we had great weather and saw a tough victory over the Cubs' biggest rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals.

The final thing that I started participating in this past month was the newly established Drip and Culture Run Club. Recently I've been getting back into running on my own more consistently. So when my mum told me that her favorite coffee shop was starting a running club, I decided to check it out for myself. It provides me a nice change of pace from my solo runs I've been doing and maybe it'll even motivate me to eventually take on an organized run. 

I'm still here

I’m as surprised as anyone that it has been so long since I last posted on here. I’m definitely taken back a bit by the fact that my last time posting on here was all the way in early December 2022. Equally surprising was the fact that I haven’t posted anything at all in the year 2023 on here as well as a few other social media platforms. I could spend time here trying to form an explanation on why this is the case or I could simply move on and work on being better about posting. So between these two options, I’m opting for trying to improve on posting on a more regular basis and not making any excuses for my absence.

So in the time since my last my time posting, there have not been any drastic changes in my life. The month of December was a decent blend of time spent celebrating Christmas with family, going to a couple concerts with friends, a little bit of photography work, and fulfilling a variety of orders on eBay and Mercari. Then with the new year I resolved to break the bad habit I have of procrastinating and putting off doing tasks. It’s pretty obvious that the resolution has been a failure based on the fact that my first post of the year is finally happening on first day of May.