A couple of years ago I met Svena and her beautiful son E (you can see them here), we happened to have a rainy afternoon by the time she got out to the old Wilmington studio and we ended up playing outside in the rain.

Now that a couple of years have passed E is now a big brother to a little sister.  I had the pleasure of photographing her and her beautiful mom the other day at one of my Marmalade Locations.  Althought we didn’t have rain but just the right amount of sunshine to make some amazing images together.  Thank you Svena for coming back and trusting me with images of Little E (#2!) at age 1.  What a beautiful baby girl.

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Isn’t she GORGEOUS!!?!

Posted in Chicago Baby Photographer and Chicago Suburban Newborn Photography, chicago family photographer
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I met little A and her mom back this past fall when they came out to the studio for a session.  We created some amazing images together (you can see them HERE).  To celebrate Little A’s birthday her mom created this spectacular event at Cantina Laredo on State Street with a large gathering of friends and family.  Barkha did an amazing job with the event, I cannot imagine how much work she put into it.

Barkha (and family) -here’s a quick little sneak peek!!  ENJOY!

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That sums it up, FOR NOW!  I believe that a wonderful time was had by all!  Thanks to Barkha and her huge (and REALLY REALLY fun!) family & friends.  I loved being a small part of this great celebration!

Posted in birthday party photographer chicago, event photography chicago, Photography Related
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  • Taylor - October 24, 2013 - 7:28 pm

    Hi I was trying to find out how much u would charge to come out to do a party for a 2 yearold

  • Anuja - October 8, 2014 - 12:44 am

    Hi … I m trying to find out how much would you charge to capture birthday party for our baby… We live in the city…. Would you be able to come In the city and capture some memorable moments for us ???

I had the pleasure of meeting Faye & Harry yesterday at their beautiful home near the Gold Coast yesterday morning.  It was a joyous day for photos, they were celebrating their baby’s 100 Days of life.

Yesterday was a perfect day to photograph Baby L and her beautiful parents (and grandmother).  I enjoyed photographing her for her first formal photos and am completely honored to have had the opportunity to be welcomed into her home by her parents to capture this momentous occasion.  She is a beautiful baby girl with equally beautiful parents.

Let’s have a sneak peek, shall we?

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and finally…

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I was absolutely in love with this little babe.  She was the absolutely sweetest little baby.

Being that I was so fascinated with this cultural celebration of 100 days I did some reading up on it, for the more curious blog readers out there:

The Chinese are not the only culture to celebrate Baby’s first 100 days.  As a general rule for Asian cultures baby’s first 100 days are celebrated because the baby wouldn’t meet the extended family until the end of the 100 days.  It was to prevent illness in the baby whose immunity would not be developed yet.  The baby + mom and any caregivers would stay inside during those first 100 days.  Also in Chinese culture the 100 day celebration is significant because it signifies that the baby will live 100 years.

What an amazing tradition, I love ANY excuse to celebrate!!

Posted in Chicago Baby Photographer and Chicago Suburban Newborn Photography, chicago family photographer
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This past weekend I had the pleasure of photographing some pretty awesome brothers and their beautiful sister at their home in Chicago’s North Shore.  It’s been a couple of years since I saw them last and they were as fun as I remembered them being and a really great set of kids.  I was delighted when their mom called me to schedule this session, teen sessions are some of my favorite to shoot because (obviously) they’re fun and they can do what I need them to but more importantly I love that they participate and make sessions their own.

Here’s a sneak peek for some pretty cool kids.

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These kids are really awesome but those dogs…those dogs were pretty awesome too.

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I absolutely LOVE N’s blouse and those shoes!  Isn’t she beautiful?  I kept telling her she looked like Natalie Portman.

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I can’t believe how tall he’s gotten.  Handsome guy!

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Him too!  What a great looking family!

Here’s the blast from the past (Oh my gosh my old blog images were so SMALL!  LOL) – click here to travel back to 2007!

• • • • • • • •

Since we’re on topic…we’re searching for graduating highschool seniors for the Class of 2013 to be part of our newest venture: our Senior Models program.  If you (or someone you know!) is going to be a graduating senior in 2013 (or 2014 even!) please let them know about this awesome opportunity to be part of something pretty awesome.

We’re looking for students from Lockport High School in Lockport, IL, Lincoln-Way High School in New Lenox, IL and Frankfort, IL, Joliet Catholic Academy students in Joliet, IL, students from Plainfield High School in Plainfield, IL and students from Minooka High School in Minooka, IL and Channahon, IL … however we’ll look over applications from students from other area schools.

DETAILS and APPLICATION are here

Posted in chicago family photographer, High School Senior, Informational, North Shore Photo Session, Teen Photography
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  • Annette M Simonich - March 17, 2012 - 10:18 am

    Mar’ ~ They ARE a BEAUTIFUL family!!! Great job in making them look so natural in these shots. I can’t wait to see the rest of the pictures!

  • Yvonne Chakraborty - March 21, 2012 - 6:23 am

    Lovely relaxed and natural group pose and great use of backlight!

Once again I’m pleased to share some of my personal works in this month’s ELEVATE blog carousel.  Monthly we showcase some of our work that isn’t necessarily related to the business of what we normally create.  This month I’m happy to say my good friend Paula of PRB Photography has joined.  Welcome to Paula!!

This month I’m showcasing some work I was pursuing several years ago, one could say it was during a ‘blue’ period of mine.  I had visited several cemeteries in the area in search of some sort of meaning…and of course the captivating weathered granite and marble that is so pervasive in that environment.  I started working on a series of works I had hoped to eventually “show” but I never made progress and some of these really cool images of these sort of forgotten places were gathering dust on my hard drive.  I’m taking this month (and maybe the next) to showcase some of the more interesting things I found in my 2007-2009 cemetery haunts.

I think these were from the summer of 2008 from an ancient cemetery not very far from where I live near the I&M canal:

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Angels Cry

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Yes, a worn dog figure.  I can only assume it symbolizes a pet as there was no inscription or other markings on this site

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My husband will attest that I have been forever obsessed with old wrought iron, this fence was no exception

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This image is particularly sad to me, the plastic flowers beaten up by the elements combined with the ramshackle nature of this sign…someone took great care to create this piece but it stands forgotten and beat up by the ravages of time.  What’s happened to its’ maker?

I apologize for the sort of dark theme of this post – my intention is to celebrate life in every image I shoot for the children and families that I work with and I love every moment of my work.  However nothing is constant but change…we all await the same inevitable fate down the line, I would be a liar if I stated that the fascination with what awaits isn’t a part of my being……

Thank you for taking the time to view these personal works.   I urge you to now virtually travel to Texas to visit with my talented friend Tamara Fort Worth’s From the Tree Top photography our next stop on this blog carousel.

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  • Stacey Woods - March 12, 2012 - 8:58 am

    Oh the last image breaks my heart. When I was a little girl, my grandparents would take my sisters and I to visit our local cemetery quite regularly, to “visit” my great-grandparents and leave flowers at their graves, clean them up, etc. It would always make me sad to see the faded flowers and unkept stones. I remember straightening every tiny flag we saw, and righting those that had blown over. I’m grateful for those little trips; they taught us so much about respect, patriotism, honor, and the fragility of life. Thank you for this trip down memory lane for me. Your images are poignant and so hauntingly beautiful, Mare. xo

  • Paula - March 12, 2012 - 10:00 am

    I love these, Mare. You have such a way of speaking with your images. 🙂 And, here, it is not a voice of sadness. It is a voice that says, ‘I see you. I understand you’. I think it is your experience as a nurse that makes you such a powerful artist. Thanks for the welcome! P

  • Tamara - March 12, 2012 - 11:43 am

    Hauntingly beautiful, serene and spiritual… I am quite fascinated by old cemeteries and also have collected some images from them. Loved seeing these..please share more in the future.

  • martha schuster - March 12, 2012 - 1:23 pm

    very beautiful mare! i too am fascinated with cemeteries, especially the very old ones. love the history and the reverence. your images are beautiful.

  • kamee june - March 12, 2012 - 11:42 pm

    i am so hauntingly magnetized to cemeteries as well!!! this was such an intriguing post!! bravo!!!

  • wendy - March 13, 2012 - 12:21 am

    Beautiful! I am intrigued with cemeteries. I was so disappointed a couple weeks ago when I was in New Orleans that the cemetery had just closed when we arrived on our last day there. I would have loved to have captured some of the history and ceremony of that old place. Looking forward to seeing more of your cemetery haunts.

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