Chicago Photographer for PROFESSIONAL FAMILY and CHILDREN’S PHOTOGRAPHS
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My name is Marianne and I'd like to thank you for taking time out of your day to stop by and check out what Marmalade Photography is all about. We create distinctive, one-of-a-kind images of your children and family to cherish forever. Our outlook on photographing children and families is unparalleled and the experience is filled with fun (we promise!)
Enjoy the sneak peeks on our blog and remember to check out our portfolio by clicking here. Give us a call when you're ready to book your very own custom photography session with one of the leading photographers in the Chicago area. 815.603.8450
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I so very much enjoyed meeting Christine & her gorgeous (I mean *gorgeous*!) baby boy. I am a sucker for sweet babies who have beautiful heads of hair and boy, was I not disappointed!! 
Thank you so very much, Christine, for coming out to the studio yesterday and allowing me to photograph this sweet bundle. Here are just a couple of sneak peeks!
I am so in love with this spur of the moment shot to test the light. LOVE moments like this!
- What a handsome little man! Love these!
- He is adorable - love his hair!!! These are beautiful images of him.
- Beautiful! I just love that second shot of this baby. That hat is to die for on her!! Love it. Great work as always! I know the parents are always pleased, and they should be! I know I would, but you are too far away from me.
You may remember the beautiful mom to be & her son from a few posts back…if so prepare to meet the beautiful & sweet baby D. I was privileged to photograph her this past weekend – she was just under 2 weeks old and is absolutely gorgeous. A big huge thank you to the W Family for allowing me to take over their home for several hours (probably longer than any of us anticipated, little D wasn’t into sleeping too much that day!) to create these amazingly beautiful newborn shots of baby D.
oh I love those sweet newborn pouts
I did mention she didn’t want to sleep didn’t I? These images make me look like a liar!
Thank you Corey, Ted & the kids for allowing me into your lives to capture these early sweet moments with your beautiful family!!
- Oh gosh, how sweet! These *almost* make me want to have another.
- Gosh, these are just precious. The light is perfect.
- So beautiful and peaceful!
- Oh those are beautiful, soft and so precious. That second image is one I can SOOOO see on my wall if I were the Mom!!
- These are beautiful Mare
- So beautiful! Love the soft colors in the first one!
- You can so easily tell she's a girl - look how pretty she is! Beautiful light Mare!
- Awww, she is gorgeous and I love that black and white image, timeless.
- Amazing photos and gorgeous baby!
- such a beautiful baby! What beautiful images!
- Gorgeous! Look at those lips too! I really love the colour in the first one.
- beautiful, beautiful baby!!
- Ooooo, she is so amazingly pretty. Love them both, but the second one, her little lips, precious. I would get that one big!
- Oh man, those little baby lips are amazing....Gorgeous!
This past weekend was filled to the brim with Marmalade favorites! On Saturday I got to photograph beautiful P and her big brother M. I have known M since, well, since before he was born even! It has been wonderful to watch him grow. I wasn’t disappointed when he came to the door to greet me with: "Miss Marianne, what car do you drive?" as he did back a few months ago at our last session.
P had just turned one years old (seriously WHERE is time going?!) and this was really mostly about her (altho we did get quite a bit of M in there too!)
I adore the way her hands are grasping at her outfit. This was such a great outfit for her. One of my favorite shots of 2010!
It’s no secret that I find the little quirks of family life fascinating – I love the implied interaction here – the happy goofiness of 2 kids under four years old sort of moment – it’s one of those lifestyle moments that I adore. With kids this age, THIS is the kind of fun shot that I wished I had of my own family. Ah, if I could only go back in time to recapture this stuff…
Thanks for stopping in…
- Beautiful family portrait. These are the moments we will want to remember.
- A beautiful family portrait. These are the moments we will want to remember.
- These are the lifestyle moments I adore too... and you do them so well! Beautiful beautiful...
- What a fabulously fun and modern family image! Love it!
- What great photos! Thank you for capturing these moments. Can't wait to see the rest.
Whew. This weekend was a whirlwind of activity. The Marmalade home was awash with the stomach flu the weekend prior and I had to do some schedule juggling to make it all happen this weekend! We’ll kick off the weekend festivities with a blog entry from late last week’s fun session with A & A.
I have been photographing Bananas and her family since she was 3 months old – I *always* look forward to our sessions together and seeing her beautiful mom Beth. Now that she has a little brother – we spend time playing and photographing him as well. I love working with this family and feel honored that they allow me into their lives every time I get to photograph them.
Little brother, A, had some bath time – I got some amazing bath time images and this shot pre-bath just made me from ear to ear – I really love this shot so much:
Is he a handsome devil or what? He has the most beautiful lashes in the world.
Here’s Bananas in a more contemplative moment:
I love her curls and the way the light shines in her eyes here
Thank you for stopping in.
- Ohh the bath tub shot! So sweet.
- That bathtub shot simply must be made into a canvas and displayed in that bathroom!
- Oh my, you have inspired me to shoot a bathtime shoot of my daughter! That is GORGEOUS!
Happy 2010 to everyone!! Let’s start off the year with a bang!
This past week I had a wonderful newborn session with Baby Michael and his mom L. L is well on her way to sunny Florida (lucky girl! I bet she knew in advance we’d be experiencing -20ºF windchills this weekend, brrr…)
Here’s a couple little sneaks for you L. Thank you so much for coming out to the studio for a Marmalade session!
L- mission accomplished. Admittedly I worried for a few minutes but we got it!
I had to postpone this sneak peek because of a little blog issue on the backend and a huge thanks to the guys over at ProPhoto blog for their outstanding customer support. In this industry customer service is extremely hit or miss and it was a total hit. Thank you Matt for helping me out earlier this week – I really appreciate it.
- OH he is just lovely. Stunning images.
- These are wonderful I especially love the last shot
- Beautiful images! And I love the eye contact in the first one - so alert and sweet!
- Beautiful work, Mare! Love the eye contact in the first one.
- Adorable - the baby and the images! Timeless, priceless images.
- I LOVE them! Thanks for coming in on your vacation for Michael's photo session :-). We really enjoyed working with you.
I *cannot* believe it’s the day before the DAY BEFORE the Christmas Holiday. I’m certain I’ve forgotten something somewhere on some gift and/or to do list but no matter – I feel calm and cool. Why, you may ask, are you feeling serene around the holidays? Well my friends, readers, clients, loved ones & random strangers, I feel good because I was able to complete my holiday card in time for Christmas Eve delivery.
Now this may not seem like a large feat for anyone who is on the outside of the biz, but you busy photographers who may be reading this blog, you know who you are-readying YOUR home after every one gets their holiday deliveries for cards & gifts, putting off getting your card together so that your clients can enjoy their purchased goods from their beautiful photography session with you, ignoring your kids wishes until you know there are no more Zhu Zhu hamsters at the local Toys R Us because everyone (including your clients! LOL) got to them before you did. You busy photographers who are hurriedly packaging, ordering & reordering items (because of the inevitable rush & mistakes that come with it!) understand what a feat it is to have your cards ready to go.
The secret for me was that I simplified. I used a few images from our family session with St. Louis photographer Lauri Baker & Bay Area photographer Pam Biasotti from our trip to St. Louis this past summer for one side of the card. I simplified because I needed to & it made sense because Isimply love the images. Lauri did an amazing job with our session and I am so thankful to her for letting us hire her on and for being such a gracious hostess during our time in St. Louis. The other images on our card this year are from our trip to Isle of Palms on the beautiful South Carolina coast this past August. Had I taken the time to get images of my girls (like I usually do) just for the Holidays – sadly I don’t think the cards would be finished. Simplification was key.
I am finishing them up and cards go out today. Here’s some of what the recipients will see when they open the envelope. I hope the bit of sunshine-y mood from warmer times will warm your hearts during this frosty winter season.
Thank you very much for stopping in. May your Holiday Season be filled with everything good that warms your heart, mind & spirit.
- What a gorgeous card, and family. I agree with everything you wrote about putting everything before your own needs as a photographer leading up to Christmas. Good on you for getting it done.
- Amazing card! Just beautiful!
- Aw...I miss you guys! Have a great Christmas! I'm doing New Years cards too. LOL
- That is a stunning card - and stunning images - and stunning FAMILY! Happy Holidays Mare, I hope you enjoy this time with your crew!
Early last week I traveled to Wilmette for a photo session with a beautiful mom to be and her family. I am thrilled to present these gorgeous sneak peeks of this *stunning* mom-to-be. Doesn’t she look amazing??
and finally one with her handsome older boy:
A huge thank you to C and the W Family for allowing me into their beautiful home for a pregnancy photo shoot.
- What a beautiful mama. Gorgeous light too.
- Oh she looks so beautiful and serene! I can't wait to see the newborn images!
- Beautiful
Coming soon is this (what looks to be) beautifully filmed movie about one year in four different babies’ lives all around the world. I cannot wait to see this movie:
Does it not look adorable?
I was just musing about my daughters’ babyhood recently…I created some nice images when they were babies but nothing like I could do now. I wish I had known that professional photography catered to mothers & children and newborns. Having a baby now would be bliss…I’d photograph the heck out of that baby!
Seriously, if you’re reading this blog you have an advantage I didn’t have, the knowledge that professional photographers exist that cater to little babies and the relationship with their parents. Here are a few favorite newborn / infant and baby images of mine:
This little guy kept me smiling the whole session.
Thanks for stopping in.
- adorable little ones! Amazing job!
- Oh those are great. That mother and baby shot is PERFECT. Oh my gosh it has the best lighting and sweet hug and perfect. It's not always easy, but this Mom is obviously VERY comfortable with her new baby to hold her/him so tenderly and "squishy". =)
- I'm with you Mare; if I could go back in time I would pay ANYTHING for baby shots like yours at this stage in my life. This is from a nanna - take heed, all you young moms! You have the opportunity to do it!
- Cool trailer and great photos
- Thank you for sharing that trailer! This movie looks phenomenal!! My daughter is almost 11 months, and watching the babies in the different areas, I was really able to connect with the similarities and the differences. And I laughed out loud at the goat at the end of it. I am so glad I have been knowledgeable and able to get some amazing shots of my daughter.
Good day everyone!! I’m happy to report the turkey is put away, a good deal of our pumpkin pie is gone (thankfully not by my hands! ) and we’re on the count down towards Christmas, Hanukkah and the rest of the end-of-year holidays.
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I thought I’d try something never done before to ring in the 2010 year, if you look at the upper right hand side of the blog you will see CURRENT PROMOTIONS and there you can find out what our early 2010 promo is going to be. It’s a great one I promise!! The added bonus is for Black Friday & part of Saturday – don’t forget you have to click on the CURRENT PROMOTIONS tab above to see it.
Baby Loves Disco rounded out the rest of the 2009 season this past weekend and yeah, I know I’m a couple of days late on the updates. I feel like I’ve been late on everything this season…here’s a couple shots of the mayhem & fun of Baby Loves Disco Chicago November 2009 (by the way it was PJ Party day at Baby Loves):
Look at some of those adorable kiddos in the adorable pjs! Spiderman wearing guy cracked me up.
One of my favorite little BLDers.
Even the little littles join in on the BLD fun
This lucky family won the grand prize in the dance contest (I bet there was one of those awesome Paul Frank stuffed animals that I coveted in that bag!)
Baby Loves Disco celebrated their 5 year anniversary / birthday. Yes, we had cake!!
The moral of this meandering post has more to do with reflection than client work, personal work, whatever. It’s a reflection on some lessons I have learned (and will continue to learn). This past weekend I celebrated (yet another) birthday and have chosen to embrace this age with wisdom instead of ignorance about the passage of time. Yeah, so what I’m not 21 anymore – frankly while I loved it you couldn’t pay me enough to go back without the wisdom I have gained over the years.
Since I’ve become a ‘professional’ (you know vs. what I used to be before people paid me to create memories) photographer I’ve had a lot of fill-in-the-blank type moments.
"The PHOTO of the moment"
"The OUTFIT of the moment"
"The EXPRESSION of the moment"
The truth of the matter is this, I’ve missed a lot of fun, beautiful, silly, sad, smart, happy, goofy moments in my own families’ life because I’ve glossed over imperfect expressions, things about my children that seem meaningless or frustrating. Things that, in the big scheme of things, are part of what make parenting so fun/frustrating/bittersweet/happy/sad/fun/the-best-thing-I’ve-ever-done.
I vow to turn a new leaf. Starting now.
.
.
.
So I bring to you now several images that I have fallen in love with. Not because they are perfect – but because they are IMPERFECT. And we are imperfect. And I love every bit of imperfection of who we are.
The first set is from this past summer at my in laws fabulous property:
I glossed over this shot. WHY? I have no idea. Perhaps I didn’t love my photographers’ children frustrating high jinx that day.
Those dresses are from Matilda Jane (I’ve been asked a dozen times). You may remember how much I HART their little girls clothes from past sessions from several years ago. I love the almost patchwork girliness of their line.
The following images (circa 2005) woke me out of my reverie and allowed me to *really* look at images that back in the day I didn’t see as worthy of my time &/or effort – you know because I was looking for THE expression, THE moment, THE shot. Images of my then 5 year old’s beautiful soulful expressions – images that, as a mom, I long for now that my baby has grown up and is on the edge of completing her first decade of life. My tunnel vision (for a long time) failed to encompass who WE are as a family, who THEY are as children, as sisters, as daughters. In my efforts to find THE SHOT (THE MOMENT, THE EXPRESSION) I failed to see LIFE.
I now realize that in my quest for whatever perfection that perhaps never existed in the moment I neglected the real feelings, the real expression, the real THIS IS WHO THESE KIDS ARE, this is who my family is. Of the moment. Of all the moments.
There’s two that stand out to me & here they are:
She was still such a baby then – it’s funny how we (as parents) think of our oldest children as all grown up and perpetually think our youngest children remain babies. Perspective.
This was October 2005 – I mislabeled it. LOL I’m more confused than my camera’s data.
My personal lesson is this: Life is too short to focus on perfection. None of us is perfect. I’m embracing this motto for my perspective of my family (as I struggle to accept it in myself). As we round the corner to 2010 it’s time to remind ourselves that life isn’t about moments of perfection, it’s about connections.
Lastly I leave you with this: Love often, anger lightly, forgive frequently. Live and rejoice in the imperfect.
Namasté.
- Amen to everything you have written. You totally hit the nail on the head for how I feel when I photograph my children (that is when I remember to). Thanks for the timely reminder. I love all of these images.
- Those are some amazing shots. I love that the kids are barefoot, it just makes it feel more natural I guess. Great work.
- These images ARE perfect! I wish more parents would see what the real value is in having a custom children's photographer like you do their children's sessions; it's because they capture SO MANY images, each one grabbing a special glimpse into who they are. It's not about getting a good one - it's about the whole series fitting together and yeras later showing a real and objective look at just how beautiful and special they are.
- I wish that first shot was on Flickr, so I could fave the tar out of it.
- well written as always. I found myself in this same predicament not long ago when I realized I wasn't really taking snapshots around the house like I once did. Moments of the kids coloring at the table, sitting on the couch together, playing with trucks on the floor, etc. Life. I was only focusing on the "professional" moments getting them dressed up and going to some fab location to get those beautiful, perfect pictures to go big on my walls. Thankfully it was only 6-9 months, but a huge amount of time when I think about never getting it back. So, I always tell everyone, take pictures, lots and lots of pictures AND make sure you as the parents are in them too. After my Dad passed away I cherished every picture I could find with us together, which was sadly not that many. When the kids are grown, memories and pictures are all we will have. Memories will fade but being able to look back at all those albums is what will keep them babies in our minds forever. Love ya Mare:)
© 2005-2009 Children's and Family Photographer Marmalade Photography Blog ProPhoto Photography Blog by NetRivet
by Marianne
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