ae photography » illinois portrait photographer

and the winners are…

ae photography — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:14:18 +0000

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first place:

BROCK

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second place:

EGAN

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third place:

GAVIN

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fourth place:

KYRA

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fifth place:

IT’S A TIE! HOLDEN & CALEB

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*First Place will receive a free session with ae photography.

*Second Place will receive half off your session + a $25 “ae credit”.

*Third Place will receive a free print set when you book a session with us which includes: (1) 8×10 (2) 5×7s (8) wallets.

*Fourth Place will receive a free 5×7 when you book a session with us (remember you also get $25 off your session fee for being part of the contest!)

*Fifth Place will receive a free set of 8 wallets when you book a session with us (remember you also get $25 off your session fee for being part of the contest!)

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE WINNERS! CONTACT US TO BOOK YOUR SESSIONS!

THE NEXT CONTEST WILL BE IN APRIL & WILL BE FOR ALL OF YOU NEWLYWEDS OUT THERE CHECK BACK SOON!

p.s. The next post will be full of photos!

a final bit of info on the contest…

ae photography — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:07:40 +0000

We received a comment from an upset voter who feels there has been some cheating, and I wanted to go ahead and address that. We put the moderation up so we can check for duplicate votes/voters before they get posted to prevent that, but sometimes once we accept, it allows that person to comment again without moderation. That is what happened in the case of 5 or 6 votes from the same person, and we apologize for that.

I want everyone to be aware that while you may see duplicates that slipped passed us, don’t feel like what you see will definitely be the end result. The reason the announcement of the winner is going to be made Monday and is not just obviously known by reviewing the comment box is because we will be be meticulously going through each and every comment and deleting those that appear to be duplicates in any way. We want this to be 100% fun and fair. I know the “1 vote per person” was not stated in the contest info. I assumed everyone would figure to only vote once out of fairness, plus I knew we would be going through all of the votes at the end anyway ; )

That said, I know tomorrow is the last day for voting, so I’m sure we will be getting a slew of last minute votes–which is wonderful! I just wanted to post this bit of info before then so you can be sure to only vote once. Be fair to everyone else in the contest. Keep it honest and fun! We have been amazed at all of the votes and how the blog has 1000 or more hits a day Horray! We hope all of you continue to follow the blog!

Another thing people have been emailing about is to make sure the votes that we posted in another blog post comment section get counted. We will definitely make sure to include all of those Now worries!

Also, as stated in the comments awhile back, if you voted and have facebook–please click the “become a fan” link at te top of our page or click here and become a fan of ae photography. It really helps spread the word about the contest and our business, plus you will be able to see our future contests right away. The next one is in April!

Have a fun final voting day! We have weddings today and tomorrow, so please be patient if you don’t see your vote posted for a bit. It is there–we just have to accept it first. Looks like we beat 100 comments (haha) so there will be something for 4th and 5th place, as well! Thanks again to each and everyone of you who has taken place in the contest and made it so successful!

-ae

cute kiddos {top twelve}

ae photography — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:08:58 +0000

I can’t even begin to tell you how hard this was. You can obviously see I upped up from a top five posting to a top twelve. We had about 40 submissions–all of which were so adorable. Thanks to everyone who took the time to send in photos. We really enjoyed seeing your kids and reading your stories. I considered just posting all of the submissions and making you guys do the hard work, but I figured we would end up with 1 vote on each photo and be right back where we started! So, I really tried to stick with the “kids will be kids” theme and select the images that best represented it. BUT! Good news All of you who sent in a submission will receive $25 off your sitting fee if you book a session with us (good until October)! You will be emailed the coupon.

Each photo below is numbered. Please post the number of your favorite image along with the child’s name in the comments section. The more votes, the easier it will be to have a distinct 1st, 2nd and 3rd place–so tell all of your friends and family to vote!! Post it on your facebook, tweet it, blog it… get it out there : ) If we hit 100 votes, we will add on something special for 4th and 5th place. We have never even gotten close to 100 comments, but hey–I think it’s worth a shot…. plus, I know how many hits our blog gets daily, and if everyone who looked voted, we would have waaay more than 100. Let’s just see how high we can go. Yes, you can vote for your own photo : P

1 - KYRA

2 EGAN

3 HOLDEN

4 AUTUMN

5 DREW

6 PEYTON

7 GAVIN

8 CHARLES

9 CALEB

10 JACOB

11 SCARLETT

12 BROCK

I wanted to make sure to include some tiny ones : ) While they may not be doing anything crazy, they still have a look of sweet, childlike innocence–and I love it. I didn’t realize how almost all of the submissions were boys! Let the voting begin!

taite-a-mate

ae photography — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:37:16 +0000

Yesterday was a not-so-good day. Well, to be frank, yesterday was a terrible day. But, when I returned from getting groceries and sat down to start at it again, I had the sweetest thing ever happen.

I already had facebook open. I’m rarely actually on it, but it’s always minimized. I was emailing a client when I heard the sound of a facebook message, so I opened the facebook window only to find this:

I had to hold back the sobbing. I have been overwhelmed lately and with all of junk that was going on yesterday, I can’t think of a better pick-me-up that something like that. Taite just got a facebook of his own. The day he got it, I wrote ” momma looooves you :p ” on his wall to “embarrass” him. Well, this little guy wasn’t embarrassed at all. He loved the way I did the smiley with the tongue sticking out, and apparently figured out how to do that on his own. Eric and I are so amazed at how smart that child is. He created a facebook account, started creating those annoying farming games, took screenshots of his games, uploaded them to facebook and put them on his wall with a caption. Seriously? How in the world did he know how to do all of that? I guess he also knows how to start chatting, as well! He just turned 8 last week.

Anyway, I just thought I would share that special moment with you. It may not sound that great, but it sure came at a much needed time. I’m so blessed to have my babies. They are all that truly matters in my life. They are the reason for me.

**Notice I’m on Eric’s faebook page. Apparently I just can’t get enough of that man… faebook stalking my own husband. Goodness.

P.S. You know what else brightens my day immensely (probably way more that it should… but I’m just a loser, so oh well); blog comments.

leslie | sneak peek | illinois boudoir photographer

ae photography — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:15:39 +0000

I had a great time shooting Leslie’s boudoir session about 2 weeks ago. Once again, I want to thank Rachel Streit for her amazing styling!

I want to give a shout out to pishposhes on Etsy for the use of the awesome headpiece. I absolutely LOVE it–along with everything else in that shop! I’m happy to say I will be creating a stash of some of these great items to have on hand for our sessions! So you will be free to use them as you wish if you book us! Check out her shop!

More to come from Leslie’s session along with a bunch from our Boudoir Event!

Keep those submissions coming for the “Cute Kiddos Contest”! We’ve really enjoyed seeing your adorable children : ) I will posting some of our kids soon, as promised! Now it’s off to take my little miss to dance class, and then we are headed out for a consult. Let the crazy busy season begin!

CUTE KIDDOS CONTEST

ae photography — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:49:53 +0000

We have a new & exciting contest to announce today; THE CUTE KIDDOS CONTEST! While similar to the “cutest kid contest”, this one is a tad different. Of course, the standard way would be to see adorable photos of sweet little children and pick one one we feel is the most beautiful but, being a mom, that just seems sad to me. : ( However, we still wanted to do this type of a contest for something new and fun and to use it as a way to offer a free “child session” instead of the wedding and mini session discounts we typically give!

SO HERE’S THE SCOOP:

Send us your favorite image of a moment you caught of your child doing something cute, silly, etc. Stick with the motto “kids will be kids” for this contest. Think silly faces, doing naughty (but adorable!) things, dressing up, playing with their favorite toys–there are a lot of possibilities. It doesn’t really matter to us. We are looking for natural moments, not “sears portrait studio” photos of gorgeous children ; ) The point is, there is more to it that just a beautiful face. All children are beautiful : ) We want to showcase the happiness & joy they bring to our lives!
We will narrow the submissions down to 5 and post them on the blog.
Blog readers will get a chance to vote for their favorite image. Results for each images will be posted for everyone to see!
First place will receive a free baby/child lifestyle session with ae photography (see session details below). Second place will receive half off their sitting fee and a $25 “ae credit” to be used toward prints, albums and products. 3rd place will receive a free print set which includes: (1) 8×10 (2) 5×7s (8) wallets.
You are free to send in images that include all of your children (as long as it follows the “kids will be kids” guideline). If you do, and your image is chosen, your session can include all of your kiddos! You are also free to send more than one image (as long as it is of a different child).
You can start submitting your photos right away. Please email images to aephotography.info@yahoo.com. Feel free to include a small paragraph with the story behind the photo (if there is one!), and also include the child’s name. Submitting time ends on Saturday March 13, 2010. Sunday, the top five photos will be posted on the blog and the contest will begin. You can simply select your favorite by leaving a comment with the number of the photo you like best! The contest will be closed Saturday, March 20th, and the winners will be announced on Monday, March 22nd.

SESSION DETAILS

-Baby & Child Lifestyle Sessions last approx. 2 hours. We leave plenty of room for snacks and breaks.

-We love to come to your home and shoot, using your child’s natural surroundings (room, toys, pets, backyard, etc.). Plus, your child’s closet full of clothes will be

right there, so it will be easy for you to change up their outfit/s if desired!

-We are also willing to meet at your favorite location/s (park, ice cream shop, etc.) and do some fun shots there! We will leave that up to you.

-You will receive 2 hours with unlimited poses/clothing changes and an Online Gallery to view and order prints.

So there you have it! We hope you enjoy the contest and send us a gazillion submissions! We want to have fun with this! Since we are asking you to share moments of your “kids being kids”, we figure it’s only fair if we do the same with you! So–we will post some recent faves of our 3 wild monkeys soon!

midmost | sneak peek | illinois band photographer

ae photography — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:12:32 +0000

Here is a quick frame from Eric’s session with the band Midmost a couple weeks ago.

Salvatore Cusumano

Caleb Foster

Caitlin Anastasia Prothero

Lawrence Gann

Jacob Anthony Koenig

another peek

ae photography — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 04:39:38 +0000

Just another quick boudoir peek for you : )

I wanted to do a full boudoir post today, but I just didn’t get the time. We have a senior session tomorrow and another boudoir session Sunday, both of which will be in our home–so it’s time to convert it from living space to studio space once again. These are the moments when I think having a real studio again might be worth it ; )

natural beauty

ae photography — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:00:37 +0000

There are so many routes to go when shooting boudoir. I feel like I hit a lot of them during the sessions, but the main style I wanted to go for was natural, raw beauty; shooting images that truly showed both the outer, as well as, inner beauty of the girls. In my opinion, that is what it’s all about. I feel this frame really captures the style I was going for. It is real and expressive, with the subject looking very relaxed and comfortable–and she and I had never met before this event! Not to mention, we are both shy girls ; )

There are plenty more photos of Dana, as well as, a dozen other ladies. All photos sets will be accompanied by a brief “interview” with that specific girl–just to give all of you who are considering a session but aren’t quite sure if you are comfortable with it or understand what it’s all about yet a bit more info. I, of course, can answer any and all questions you might have, but I’m sure hearing answers to questions you might have from girls who have already been in front of the camera and experienced “my type of boudoir shoots” first hand, might make you feel a little more comfortable about having a session done with me. I am planning on focusing more on boudoir shoots and, like I said before, will continue doing the “boudoir event” once a year. We will be launching a dedicated website in the near future : ) Please get in contact if you’re interested in having a session done or hosting a “mini boudoir event” for you and your friends (great for bachelorette parties ; ) ; ) ).

Many more shots to come…

Goodnight, everyone.

chris + natalie | engaged | chicago engagement photographer

ae photography — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:47:26 +0000

We’re finally getting back into the swing of things, and I’m excited to share some shots from Chris and Natalie’s engagement session from way back when : ) As you can tell–no winter coats… no snow… and there are still leaves on the trees. Yes, this was a fall engagement session! At least we got around to posting it. That’s what counts, right?

Eric and I really had a great time with these two. We had shot a wedding the day before, we we kind of bummed it and wore our hoodies and moccasins to help ease the aches from the previous day. It felt nice to walk around the city in cozy clothes and just have fun shooting. Chris and Natalie are such a great couple, and we could tell in just the short amount of time we were with them; they are perfect for each other. I’m pretty sure she said they meet in college–both “geeks” as she called it, butI would just say incredibly smart…. and I’m jealous : ) Not only are they fun to be around and extremely intelligent, they are quite artistic. I saw some walls they painted in their house through some Facebook photos and–whoa! They were incredible. I want Natalie to come paint my walls like that!

Love these two! Can’t wait to post them on our new “lifestyle sessions” website (coming soon, when we don’t have a million other things to work on ; ) )

(The building in shot above was actually the public restrooms. Find beauty in everything, people.)