we have a ton of amazing blog posts waiting in the wings for you guys! here’s just a taste of what’s to come.

first up will be alicia&curt’s super fantastic wedding in ottawa! (er, that would be illinois - not canada.)

then we were off to st. louis last weekend -

- where we shot jen&matt’s fantabulous engagement session in lafayette square.

and finally back to chicago where we had ashley&steve’s engagement session in a very unexpected location!

stay tuned!

-gina

gina&tony

 
 

Date Posted: May 18, 2010
Filed under: Engagements, Personal, Weddings by gina&tony
Tags: chicago engagement photographers, chicago portrait photographers, chicago wedding photographers, couple, engagement session, lafayette square, ottawa illinois, st louis arch, st louis missouri, wedding
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so for everyone out there wondering where the heck we’ve been for the last few weeks, let me tell you. it involves a trip to delaware, the sound of music, a sinus infection, 9 hours in the philadelphia airport, a stomach flu, the tossers, 24 packages of chicken ramen noodles, and lots of puppies and kitties. not necessarily in that order.

march was a crazy month of traveling, visiting family, and volunteering. at the beginning of the month we went out to delaware to see my little brother play capt. georg von trapp in the sound of music. the whole cast did a smashing job, and it was so fun to see our delaware friends.

in between bouts of illness, lots of ramen, and 2 trips to see the tossers perform live, we’ve been doing some volunteering at some local animal shelters. and this crosses off #50 off my list - “donate our services to a good cause.”

everyone that knows me, knows i love anything small, cuddly and furry. so in our slow season, we decided to pop by some local animal shelters and take photos of all their puppies and kitties up for adoption. here are some of our favorites.

we have met the cutest and cuddliest animals, and heard some sad, sad stories. if you’re in the market for a new dog or cat - please, please, please check out our friends at the du page county animal care and the naperville humane society. they are awesome at what they do! and if you’re looking for a good place to do some volunteer work, give them a call!

now that spring is in the air, we are back in full swing! so expect some awesome sessions and weddings coming your way soon!

now i’m off to sit in the sunshine and have some iced coffee. enjoy the green.

-gina

gina&tony

 
 

Date Posted: March 29, 2010
Filed under: Personal by gina&tony
Tags: animal adoption, chicago engagement photographers, chicago pet photographers, chicago portrait photographers, chicago wedding photographers, dupage county animal care and control, just for fun, kitties, naperville humane society, puppies, volunteer
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i know i’m way behind the times with this list, but i thought it would be fun to post something totally personal up here. 101 in 1001 is a list of 101 goals that you hope to complete in the next 1001 days. that’s a little less than three years. it’s kind of a fun alternative to new year’s resolutions.

here’s probably WAY too much information on what i hope to accomplish in the next three years. i wrote things that i can prove i accomplished (for the most part), so expect lots of fun updates on what actually gets done!

so without further ado:

101 in 1001

1. return my library books. (seriously, i’ve had them for an embarrassingly long time. they’ve sent me very threatening letters.)
2. get a dog.
3. start playing piano again.
4. double the number of people that i have listed in my family tree.
5. lose 10 pounds.
6. host a christmas party for our friends.
7. visit asia.
8. find a church we love.
9. join a book club.
10. do something completely spontaneous.
11. go to a midnight showing of a movie, and actually STAY AWAKE.
12. go to a wine tasting.
13. design and order our wedding album.
14. cook tony a dinner all by myself.
15. drive a stick shift by myself.
16. become fluent in italian.
17. get an illinois driver’s license.
18. go to a bears/eagles football game.
19. go on a road trip with my mom and sisters.
20. have a photo session with all my siblings and cousins for my grandparents.
21. double our website traffic.
22. have a portrait session for tony and i with a photographer who inspires us.
23. reconnect with someone i was good friends with in high school.
24. write someone a letter.
25. volunteer.
26. buy a pair of shoes that are entirely too expensive.
27. interview all of our grandparents and videotape it.
28. drive down the pacific coast highway.
29. get published in a photography magazine.
30. get published in a wedding magazine.
31. ride a horse.
32. spend a day being a tourist in chicago.
33. spend a night stargazing.
34. wear a bathing suit in front of more people than my family.
35. read a book someone recommended that i wouldn’t normally read.
36. buy tony a present for no apparent reason.
37. spend a week with extended family in puerto rico.
38. find the greatest oatmeal raisin cookie recipe of all time.
39. double our income from 2009.
40. bake a birthday cake for a friend.
41. visit mexico.
42. buy furniture from a respectable furniture store and not ikea.
43. join the wpja.
44. go to comicon in san diego.
45. pay off a credit card.
46. invent my own signature cocktail.
47. have a girl’s vacation with my two best buds from college.
48. take my parents on a cruise.
49. do something nice for a total stranger.
50. donate our services to a good cause.
51. learn how to use our espresso machine.
52. visit 5 states i haven’t been to before.
53. visit canada.
54. play in a real poker tournament.
55. get two spanking new d700’s.
56. host a sold-out boudoir marathon.
57. get a huge canvas print of one of our photos to hang in our house.
58. go to a cubs game at wrigley field.
59. take a yoga class.
60. visit the caribbean.
61. read a book in a foreign language.
62. buy something from etsy.
63. finish a crossword puzzle without cheating.
64. spend a whole weekend unplugged - no phone, internet, or tv.
65. plant an herb garden.
66. go apple picking.
67. buy a wine rack and fill it.
68. brew our own beer.
69. watch 26 movies, each starting with a different letter.
70. have a snowball fight.
71. read all of jane austen’s novels.
72. buy a star.
73. see wicked.
74. visit washington d.c.
75. completely rebrand our business.
76. go to cedar point and ride the biggest rollercoaster there.
77. play in the rain.
78. have a picnic.
79. go to a concert.
80. watch the sunrise.
81. solve a rubik’s cube in under 2 minutes.
82. have an un-birthday party.
83. take pictures of me and tony in a photobooth.
84. complete a jigsaw puzzle.
85. visit all the major chicago museums.
86. eat at a traditional middle eastern restaurant.
87. learn to make pasta sauce from scratch.
88. be accepted to modern photographers.
89. shoot a wedding for free for a deserving couple.
90. buy an ipad.
91. write a thank you note to everyone that has helped us in the past year.
92. buy a point and shoot so we can take photos of us!
93. do something crazy with my hair.
94. make a blog and/or site for hello gorgeous | boudoir.
95. foster kitties in need.
96. start submitting photos to stock sites.
97. start a retirement plan.
98. shoot more personal work.
99. overcome my fear of deep water enough to take pictures of PRETTY fish. no sharks. or lake monsters.
100. visit friends in new york city.
101. buy a house.

cosimo hasn’t made an appearance on the blog for awhile, so i thought it was due time!

hello little treat. i’m going to eat you now. k?

wasssssssuuuuuuuppppppp!

-gina

gina&tony

Date Posted: February 9, 2010
Filed under: Personal by gina&tony
Tags: 101 in 1001, chicago engagement photographers, chicago portrait photographers, chicago wedding photographers, cosimo, just for fun, kitties, total randomness
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one of the most asked questions we get is if we retouch our photos. and the short answer is - yes! but the real answer is sooo much more than just that.

one of the major reasons professional photographers charge more than the average joe is because taking the photo is only the first step in a pretty long process. you’re not just paying for them to snap a shot, but to then take that shot, and turn it into something extra awesome! and that my friends, takes quite a bit of knowledge, time, and practice to get juuuust right.

so we thought we’d give you a little insight into how our post production process works!

here is an example of a “before” shot:

on the left is the photo as it was straight out of the camera without any adjustments to it whatsoever. we really loved everything about it, but as with most photos, it could use some extra love. we use adobe lightroom to tweak things like exposure and color balance to get them just right. (and just in case you were wondering, we shoot RAW!) on the right is the color corrected image.

after lightroom, we take everything through adobe photoshop. we sharpen them up a bit, add some contrast, and then do some selective editing to make things 100% perfect. now, there are a ton of great photoshop actions out there that a lot of photographers use to give their photos an extra pop. right now, our favorite set is jesh de rox’s colorshift actions. on this particular shot, we used “a winter sun” at 30%.

of course, it sounds like we just hit a few buttons and the photos are done! but really, that whole process can take a few hours. we put a lot of love into this aspect of our business, and it is one of our favorite parts. it’s taken us a lot of experimenting to find the right “look” for our photos, but i really think we’ve found our style!

all this being said, please understand that it’s super important that to end with an awesome photo, you have to begin with an awesome photo! there is a big difference between using photoshop to save a photo, and using it to enhance a photo. but that’s a whole different post, my friends.

hope we were able to give you a little more insight into the world of us!

-gina

gina&tony

 
 

Date Posted: January 25, 2010
Filed under: Personal by gina&tony
Tags: before&after, chicago engagement photographers, chicago portrait photographers, chicago wedding photographers, lightroom, photoshop
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