Moving Time!

amybethphotography.com will be undergoing a face lift and a server change in the coming weeks.  Please watch the blog, which will remain at amybethphotography.blogspot.com until after the move, for any updates.

Please note: while some links may be broken during the switch, all of your galleries will remain in place and accessible.  You can either visit the site by following the link: http://amy-beth.smugmug.com and navigating to your gallery, or by simply replacing amybethphotography.com with amy-beth.smugmug.com in any private links you may have been provided with in the past.  All passwords remain the same, and all phone and email contact information will stay the same, as well.  If you need any assistance in finding your galleries or navigating during the transition, please feel free to contact me at any time!

Gina DeConti Family Session!

I have to admit, I was a tiny bit nervous when the amazing Miss Gina asked me to take some family photographs for her. You see, Gina is just absolutely one of my favorite people in the whole wide world! Not only is she amazingly talented, she's an excellent teacher, giving, funny, and just an all around fabulous friend. I've been lucky enough to be photographing weddings with her for three years now (and as I've mentioned, I get to share a wonderful studio space with her, too!) So anyway, no pressure at all!

But there was nothing to fear. Gina, Matt and sweet little Kai met me in Millennium Park (on yet another oppressively hot and humid morning - what are you trying to do to us this summer, mother nature?) where we strolled through the Lurie Gardens, played on the lawn near the band shell and of course, made our way to the fountains to cool off a bit. Thank you so much, Gina, for trusting your memories to me!

Of course, we had to start at the bean!

spinning in the garden

playing on the lawn

just LOVE the joy on Gina's face in this one

walking to the fountains

the beautiful family :-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day! | Ireland Photographs

Since I dug out some old images last night to share with some friends, I thought I'd share them here, as well. The images below are from a 1996 trip to Ireland. They were taken with an old point & shoot film camera and scanned in from the prints at a later date. Enjoy, and happy St. Patrick's Day!

Blarney Castle

Cliffs of Moher

Lakes of Killarney

Limerick

January Wrap Up :: Chicago Photographer Personal Project

You can catch up on the photographs I haven't posted to the blog in my 365 gallery over at the main Amy Beth Photography website. You'll find the 52 week gallery there, as well.

I also created a little slide show this evening that will quickly catch you up on my January personal projects. If you are on a feed reader, click through for the embedded slide show. Or click this link for the HD version (recommended).

Catch up Time! :: Chicago Photographer Personal Project

I have been hard at work behind the scenes getting my intimate portraiture site up and running, as well as starting to attack the redesign of the main website. I have made time to capture an image each day, but I've fallen behind in the sharing. So here's your quick update on the 365 project. A self-portrait update will come later this week.

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1/16/2010

Peggy Notebaert Nature Center in Lincoln Park

I could spend hours and hours in the butterfly room. And I often do.

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1/17/2010

From a trip to the World of Coke on one of my Atlanta trips

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1/18/2010
Still life arranged by my niece and captured by me (check out her version in my 365 gallery on my main site!)

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1/19/2010
My sandalwood mala beads

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1/20/2010
Happy hair cut to me!

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1/21/2010
My niece curled up with a book

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1/22/2010
Knickknack

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1/23/2010
Hula in the snow - there will be a full blog post on this on Wednesday, so be sure to stop back to view more!

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1/24/2010
One of my favorite finds from the Container Store, enhanced with a texture I photographed and modified

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1/25/2010
One of my sweet kitties

All That Glitters :: Chicago Photographer Personal Project

Time to drop off a few more photographs from my 2010 project:

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1/13/2010
I need to keep this thought at the front of my mind

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1/14/365
Playing around with some off camera flash and soon to be taken down Christmas lights and my niece

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1/15/365
I stacked my extension tubes on my new 100mm f/2.8 macro lens and played with some craft glitter. Somehow, the out of focus blur of this image was my favorite of them all. Because technically perfect isn't always best.

Week One Check In :: Chicago Photographer Personal Project

I can't tell you how happy I am to have shared my 2009 recap video in my previous post. Part of the reason I fell away from blogging was feeling like I needed to catch up with everything that had happened since my last post. And as it grew further and further away, it became a more daunting task. Now that we're all caught up, I'm also excited to have my daily photograph project to give me the perfect excuse to update a few times a week, too!

This week has been challenging, due mostly to Mother Nature. I draw so much inspiration from nature and wildlife, and when it is -1 F, nature and I don't get along so well. So I've turned to things like low light and playing with lenses I don't usually use. It's been so much fun!

Without further ado, images 2-4:

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1/2/2010 (palindrome day!)
Playing with low light and a kitty who thinks he can tuck himself under a little rug and become invisible.

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1/3/2010
More low light play. This time I got out a flash light and some cat toys.

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1/4/2010
Bacon and chocolate. It might sound scary, but it is oh, so delicious!!

Also adding to my 2010 excitement: an email notification from B&H informing me that my shiny new macro lens and Lensbaby are on their way to me!

2009 Recap

If you are reading this in a feed reader, you'll likely have to click through to the entry to see the video below (don't forget to check out the entry from yesterday for more videos, as well!)

Since I wasn't the best blogger this year, I thought it would be fun to select 100 or so of my favorite images from the year to include in a slide show. Hope you enjoy it!

While I watermarked the images I captured while working with other photographers, some of the watermarks got cut off in the final product. So another special thanks to Imaginative Studios, Melissa Lin Ellis and Edyta Szyszlo for letting me share my summer with them!

You can also check out the HD version here.

Zen Photography Workshop :: Oak Park, Illinois

In my post about photographing the Shuso Hossen for the Zen Community of Chicago, I made mention of a photography workshop I attended back in May. It really reaffirmed for me that my style of and approach to photography is not only valid, but something that others might actually strive to achieve. It was a very rewarding and enlightening weekend. On Saturday, we began by spending time with one another and taking each others' portraits. We then went on a photo walk throughout the Oak Park neighborhood housing the Zen center, and continued on to a community cultural event. The next day, we were honored to photograph a Zen ceremony.

Throughout the weekend, we continued photographing both one another and our surroundings. We even continued to document and capture our experiences as we went to our respective homes for the evening, and the during the next morning, before we gathered once again, as well. Once all the images were collected, they were combined and all the meta data was stripped from them. Suddenly, we were not individuals, but a group presenting one final art piece to represent our weekend. The images were sorted by date, and the juxtaposition of our portraits of one another, combined with the images captured by the photographer in the portrait, creates an even larger portrait of sorts.

Our final goal was to create our own presentation for this larger group of images. Unfortunately, due to the amount of images captured (after we pared down our selections quite a bit!), I had to break up my version of our final project into 3 separate videos, found below.

Shuso Hossen :: Chicago Event Photography

Back in May, I participated in an absolutey amazing photography workshop with Peter Cunningham at the Zen Community Center of Chicago in Oak Park. I'm still in the midst of putting together my final project from the workshop, which will be a slideshow of the photographs taken by all the participants. I hope to get that completed by the end of the summer. The final project is a collaboration of 2,000 photographs, so there is quite a bit to assemble before presenting.

Since I enjoyed my time at the Zen Community Center so much, I jumped at the opportunity to photograph their Shuso Hossen ceremony on June 14th. I had a wonderful time and would like to extend my thanks again for letting me share in the special event.

Patience is a Virtue

I know, I know. I'm the worst blogger in the entire universe! But I have good excuses. I've been so busy getting ready behind the scenes for a new, fresh look to go with my gorgeous new logo designed by the ever talented Jamie of JamieH Designs. Instead of gradually switching this and changing the color of that, I thought it would be best (and the most fun) to get everything ready behind the scenes in a test blog and then unveil it all at once! Although the new logo will be displayed in the watermark of any more recent photographs.

Also in the works, Boudoir by Amy Beth! The site should be rolling out by early July, but be on the look out for special offers here and at my Facebook page.

Chicago Fashion Photography Session :: Manda

Manda was kind enough to brave a very cold morning with me last month. We both had visions of shooting in the garden next to the Art Institute - until we realized it wasn't quite open yet. We made the best of the situation, though, and Manda was a rockstar! Thanks again, Manda, for braving the cold for me and working so hard!

Atlanta, GA Area Portrait Session :: Lindsay

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of photographing Lindsay, an aspiring model looking to update her portfolio. After just a few frames, I knew there was nothing aspiring about her - Lindsay is already a pro! She radiates beauty from within, and she definitely knows how to work the camera. Take a peek at a few of my favorites from her session.

I offer special packages for Atlanta area shoots, and I waive all my regular travel fees. In the interest of full disclosure, I'll let you in on a little secret: my boyfriend lives in the Atlanta area, and I live in Chicagoland. So any time I have an extra excuse to head down there, especially if it's business related, I will take full advantage of it! Contact me about my special Atlanta area rates if you're in the area!

Lincoln Park, Part III

I can't think of a better way to celebrate Friday than with some more furry friends!

This chimp seemed lost in thought

You might not be able to tell from the photograph, but fortunately, this guy was behind plenty of glass



I was smitten with this pretty little bird



A rather stately giraffe

Lincoln Park, Part II - A Bit Squirrely

I got to the zoo a bit early. Some of the animals were out, but when I made my way over to the gorilla/chimp house, I still had about 15 minutes left before it opened. Fortunately, there was a gentleman feeding the numerous squirrels nearby. I took full advantage of the friendliness of the little critters.

Lincoln Park, Part I

I took advantage of the temporary heat wave (we made it above freezing for two consecutive days!) and made a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo for some quality time with the animals. As always, I was not disappointed. I have so many favorites from my morning at the zoo and the nature center, that this will spill over into two or three more posts later this week.

The Post in Which I Apologize for Not Posting

My apologies for the sporatic posting thus far in 2009! I had a bit of medical craziness that popped up in December and took a good month to resolve. Nothing serious or photography impacting - just a crazy giant renal cyst. Mostly harmless (except for the pain that accompanied it), but it needed to be my first priority for a while.

Fortunately, it was kind enough to strike during the cold winter, when not many folks feel like venturing outside for a photo session.

Now that I'm finally back on track (I expect to get a clean bill of health at tomorrow's follow up appointment), it's catch up time. I have many images to share, including another fabulous shoot with Females in Focus.