Naperville Wedding | Chicago Wedding Photographer | Destination Wedding Photography » Engagements http://corlisgrayphotography.com Christian, Father, Photographer :) Sun, 18 Jul 2010 21:53:24 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Wonderlicious Woods :: Ben & Emily http://corlisgrayphotography.com/engagement/wonderlicious-woods-ben-emily/ http://corlisgrayphotography.com/engagement/wonderlicious-woods-ben-emily/#comments Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:58:57 +0000 Corlis Gray http://blog.corlisgrayphotography.com/?p=93 I couldn’t tell you where this location was exactly.  Our initial meeting place was going to be Gebhard Woods in , , but when I arrived there the park was closed! Oh no! As usual I showed up about an hour early, so I started driving around frantically looking for another location.  Ben and Emily had expressed to me that they wanted a nature “theme” for their engagement session.  So I immediately thought back country roads, which aren’t in short supply in .  I came across this parking area in the middle of nowhere that looked as though there were hiking trails.  I took a quick stroll and surveyed the area.  This was it!  A quick call to the happy couple and some, albeit, hazy directions and we were all set.  Ben and Emily were great sports and we ended up getting some wonderful shots.

It was a beautiful day with some beautiful people.  Thanks for all the fun you guys!

-Corlis :: Contact Me!

Morris, IL | Destination Wedding Photography | Chicago | Naperville | Wedding Photographer

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]]> http://corlisgrayphotography.com/engagement/wonderlicious-woods-ben-emily/feed/ 0 The piano man and the monkey watcher. :: Ben & Abigail http://corlisgrayphotography.com/personal/the-piano-man-and-the-monkey-watcher/ http://corlisgrayphotography.com/personal/the-piano-man-and-the-monkey-watcher/#comments Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:39:12 +0000 Corlis Gray http://corlisgrayphotography.com/blog/?p=3 Ben is a VERY talented pianist in .  Abigail studies monkeys in Africa.  When I put it that way you might assume these two couldn’t be more different, but you’d be wrong.  Being that Ben is a musician, and his name isn’t P-Diddy or John Mayer, he isn’t exactly making billions.  Abigail is, what I consider to be a genius of sorts, holding something like 1,000,000 degrees in anthropology, so she’ll be paying off school bills until her grand-kids have grand-kids.  They don’t have all the money in the world.  What they do have in excess is LOVE.  Not just any kind of love.  Hot pink, Hollywood, roman candle, kinda love.  I thought I knew what love was until I met these two.

So being that they have more school loans than the U.S. deficit, but all the love in the world (literally).  God was smiling on them one day and led them to me.  I just so happen to do 3 pro bono per year for couples in exactly their predicament.  After reading the most heart warming email from Abby, I decided to meet with them.

We met in a little coffee shop in , called Brewed Awakenings.  From there we sat over a couple hot cups of joe and got to know each other.  The rest is history.

Here is their engagement session shot at Starved Rock State Park in Utica,


Thank you Abby and Ben for the great time we had!

Your Friend,

Corlis – Contact me!

Destination Wedding Photography | Chicago | Naperville | Wedding Photographer

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]]> http://corlisgrayphotography.com/personal/the-piano-man-and-the-monkey-watcher/feed/ 0 Not Just Another Walk in the Park :: Tim & Madison http://corlisgrayphotography.com/engagement/not-just-another-walk-in-the-park/ http://corlisgrayphotography.com/engagement/not-just-another-walk-in-the-park/#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:37:10 +0000 Corlis Gray http://blog.corlisgrayphotography.com/?p=57 It was about 11 am.  I started packing up my camera bag with all the essentials…you know…camera’s, lenses, flashes, cards.  I headed out for a quick brunch and ran some errands.

Sounds like a normal day as a .  I headed out at about 2 to scout the area where I’d be shooting Tim and Madison’s engagement session.  Little did I know I’d be driving around for the next 2 hours back and forth past the very place I needed to be.  LOL.  Nobody’s perfect right?  Good thing I left 2 hours early.

Enter Gebhard Woods in , .  A pleasant little treasure trove of green foliage and manicured lawns.  We had a great time hiking and getting a little dirty to get some great shots :)

Thanks to Tim and Madison for the great time :)

-Corlis :: Contact me!

Gebhard Woods Morris, IL | Destination Wedding Photography | Chicago | Naperville | Wedding Photographer

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]]> http://corlisgrayphotography.com/engagement/not-just-another-walk-in-the-park/feed/ 0 Starved Rock :: Joe & Ashely http://corlisgrayphotography.com/engagement/starved-rock-joe-ashely/ http://corlisgrayphotography.com/engagement/starved-rock-joe-ashely/#comments Sun, 20 Jun 2010 17:57:19 +0000 Corlis Gray http://corlisgrayphotography.com/?p=173 Joe and Ash were a wonderfully fun couple to work with.  They had expressed to me that they wanted their engagement session pictures at in Utica, .  I was happy to oblige since I LOVE THAT PLACE!  They were such good sports when I had them laying on the ground and crawling through the poison ivy (eek), and especially when I got us a little lost on one of the trails and we ended up walking the entire perimeter of the park.  Sorry guys!  We had a great time non the less.

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ashley&joe-42_wedding_photographyThanks again guys for being so fun to work with.  I can’t wait until the wedding!!!

-Corlis :: Contact Me!

Naperville | Wedding Photographer |Destination Wedding Photography | Chicago

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]]> http://corlisgrayphotography.com/engagement/starved-rock-joe-ashely/feed/ 0 Hot Town Summer in the City :: Laci & Ian http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/hot-town-summer-in-the-city-laci-ian/ http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/hot-town-summer-in-the-city-laci-ian/#comments Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:34:23 +0000 Corlis Gray http://corlisgrayphotography.com/?p=182 Laci an ex-model turned hair stylist and Ian were a pleasure to work with.  They were just so easy going and surprisingly prepared :)   It was as if they were born in front of the camera, they were just so at ease and that made my job that much easier.  Their engagement session took place in downtown near the Lincoln Park Zoo.  It was a fairly hot day with some extremely harsh light, but we found lots of great shade to shoot in and had a great time!  I just can’t wait to do their !

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What I like about this shot: The light was perfectly soft underneath the umbrella on this bistro table which allowed me to perfectly expose for their faces.  I thought it was great that I could get the name of the cafe’ into the shot to document the beautiful location we were at.

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I added a little vignette to this image to focus our attention on the beautiful couple.  Notice how Laci has created a broken angle with her leg, adding more drama to this image.

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This close up is just amazing!  There are some beautiful highlights in their eyes giving them a sparkle.  We were in some beautiful shade on this one which gave us really great and even skin tones.

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I used a fairly shallow depth of field on this image to give it a more artistic look and to get rid of some of the distractions in the background.  I love the relaxed expressions on their faces, they were naturals!

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This is a really fun and playful image.  The light breaking through the trees in the back ground adds drama, and since the couple were fully shaded the skin tones are beautiful.  The shallow depth of field draws the viewers attention directly to the subject.

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I walked around for a while to find this spot.  It was pretty difficult being that it was downtown .  I love the contrast of nature meets urban landscape in this one.  It looks like they are spending the perfect afternoon downtown picnicking.

I cant say enough how much of a great time I really had with you guys.  I love any excuse to get to the city and just spend a day taking in the sights and I couldn’t think of two better people to do it with! :)

-Corlis :: Contact Me!

Naperville | Wedding Photographer | Destination Wedding Photography | Chicago

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]]> http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/hot-town-summer-in-the-city-laci-ian/feed/ 0 Starved Rock Engagement :: Audrey & Mark http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/starved-rock-engagement-audrey-mark/ http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/starved-rock-engagement-audrey-mark/#comments Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:34:23 +0000 Corlis Gray http://corlisgrayphotography.com/?p=200 Audrey and Mark are some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met.  They are truly genuine and kind spirited people.  I really enjoyed this shoot because they were just so playful! They had no problem gettin’ a little dirty AND WET.  It was just like going hiking with two good friends I’d known for years.  The engagement was done at in Utica, .  (It sure does seem like I’m there an awful lot doesn’t it? Maybe I should just move out there and become the “Starved Rock ” LOL.)

I just love doing this shot.  People are always so much more relaxed when the pose isn’t really a pose.  The greatest expressions always come when a couple is simply interacting naturally.

This shot is so great!  I told Mark and Audrey to play and have some fun and that is exactly what they did.  All of my clients and friends know I like to get a little dirty when I’m shooting, so I’m glad they joined in the fun.

This shot is great because Mark was being such a gentleman.  He volunteered to carry his lovely fiance’ out of the water.  Plus the contrast of the rock behind them was just beautiful.

I love this depth of field photograph.  It really draws the attention to the flip flops in the sand and gives you the impression they’re in some cove in the tropics or something.  Even though their just at Starved Rock.

Genuine Smiles!  They always come after the fake one people give for the .  LOL.  This is one of those special moments I look for when people think I’m not shooting. ;)

Audrey has some beautiful eyes and I wanted to capture that.  I love how they are dead center and your eye is drawn there immediately.

Thank you guys for such a fun time.  You know how I like to get dirty and roll around on the ground and you had NO problem with that.

-Corlis :: Contact Me!

Wedding | Wedding | Destination | Wedding

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]]> http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/starved-rock-engagement-audrey-mark/feed/ 0 Chicago Botanical Gardens :: Chris & Jeanette http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/chicago-botanical-gardens-chris-jeanette/ http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/chicago-botanical-gardens-chris-jeanette/#comments Tue, 08 Jun 2010 17:09:17 +0000 Corlis Gray http://corlisgrayphotography.com/?p=392 Wedding | Wedding |

When it comes to happy smiling people, these two take the cake!  Chris and Jeanette have no trouble finding something to smile about.  We had a wonderful time exploring the Botanical Gardens.  I especially love the fact they didn’t have a problem getting a little dirty and going off the beaten path.  Although the day began a bit wet with ominous clouds overhead, God saw fit to open up the sky just for us, and we had a beautiful shoot.  Here’s a little peek :D

Thanks Chris and Jeanette for the really great time and all the laughs!

-Corlis

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]]> http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/chicago-botanical-gardens-chris-jeanette/feed/ 1 Jonathan & Jamie :: Engagement http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/jonathan-jamie-engagement/ http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/jonathan-jamie-engagement/#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 05:15:22 +0000 Corlis Gray http://corlisgrayphotography.com/?p=274 If you’ve visited my site before, or if you know me on a personal level, then you know I spend A LOT of time out at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, .  I just love it there.  Engagement sessions, , and even just hiking and being silent in God’s creation.  So this day was no exception, Jonathan and Jamie live in Ottawa, and wanted my suggestion as to where they should have their engagement session.  Since Ottawa is very close to Starved Rock, that’s immediately where my mind went.  This may sound contradicting, but to give the images from their session a fresher look i  gave many of the images a vintage treatment.  Here is a small sample.

I separated Jonathan and Jamie and shot with a wide angle lens to show the immenseness of this canyon.  The vintage processing really gives this photograph an aged appearance and brings out the contrast detail of the waterfall.

Here the sun is acting as a hair light intensifying the dimension and the separation from the background.

Here the shallow depth of field diminishes the distractions of the background and brings your attention to the beautiful couple.

I love this natural pose.  It really shows a true interaction between Jamie and Jonathan.  No fake smiles here.

I used a lot of negative space in this photograph to accentuate the towering trees and show how vast this forest really was.

This canopy of evergreens was just too beautiful to pass up with the sun setting behind them.  The long shadows add to the drama along with Jamie and Jonathan being silhouetted with a halo of light around them.

Thank you Jonathan and Jamie for spending the day with me in such a beautiful place just getting to know each other.  It was great to share a walk in such a beautiful place with some great conversation.

-Corlis :: Contact Me

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]]> http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/jonathan-jamie-engagement/feed/ 2 Julia & Shane :: Engagement http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/julia-shane-engagement/ http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/julia-shane-engagement/#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 05:15:21 +0000 Corlis Gray http://corlisgrayphotography.com/?p=375 Wedding | Wedding |

Julia and Shane are a super cute couple.  We had a really great time exploring the Botanical Gardens.  I absolutely fell in love with the Japanese garden!  I had no idea you could create Bonzai Trees that big!  LOL.  Although the heat was a bit intense we pushed through and were rewarded with some beautiful light at sunset :)   The sweetest part was that this was were their first date took place 4 years ago.  Awwww :D

Special thanks to Shane for the great tour of the gardens.

-Corlis

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]]> http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/julia-shane-engagement/feed/ 1 Cooler than the Flip Side of My Pillow :: Anthony & Kristin http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/cooler-than-the-flip-side-of-my-pillow-anthony-kristin/ http://corlisgrayphotography.com/wedding/cooler-than-the-flip-side-of-my-pillow-anthony-kristin/#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 22:42:27 +0000 Corlis Gray http://corlisgrayphotography.com/?p=371 Wedding | Wedding |

Yet another beautiful day at the River Walk!  I have to admit, it was a bit hot, but Anthony & Kristin were troopers!  Amidst the hustle and bustle of what seemed to be an entire town congregated in one location, we captured some truly beautiful moments of two wonderful people in love.  Even though we were surrounded by groups of people cheering on these two love birds, it looks as though no one else even existed at the moments they got lost  in each others eyes.

Michelle and I had a wonderful time  hanging out with you guys, just walking and stopping for the occasional Corona ;)

-Corlis

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