My Boy

My son came into my studio the other day with a fresh hair cut from his mom. He had his Carhart jacket and a very somber attitude that just completed him. It struck me, as those moments always do, that my little boy is growing up...

Christina

This is the gal who is going to be 100% responsible for the interior design of the new studio.... no pressure or anything :) Meet Christina Depola.
She's got an amazing eye and knack for textures and colors and she can give a room it's own mood and personality with a wave of her brush. She's like the Wonder Woman of interior design, atleast in my mind. I can tell her and Kari are really going to get into this phase of the project :) Me? I'm leaving it up to the women to do what they please... I know, I know, all of you girls are wondering how I ever came to be so wise, right?

Be Mine

Last Day

Just a quick reminder to our 2004/5 brides and grooms...
There's still one day left to get your images.
Girls, tell your Guys, One day left before Valentine's....One day left to become the knight in shining armor...all over again. :)
(Tug, Tug, Tug) Those would be your heartstrings :)

The Windy City

Kari and I had the opportunity to travel to Chicago this week.

It was a very quick trip. We got there late at night, spent the entire day in a photographer's seminar that didn't get over until after sunset, and then we drove out just as the sun was coming up, so, I guess you could say we didn't see much of the town.
It was 20-30 below with the winds whipping the way they were, and everywhere we went we had to walk. Needless to say we didn't trek very far.
We did ride our first ever subway together, and we had some authentic Chicago Pizza, which was fun. I even managed to snap a few pictures of the skyscrapers on our way out of town. It looks like a very happening, vibrant, bustling town, doesn't it?

But there's a very real part of Chicago that you won't see in my images...

Because the forgotten Chicago, in the shadows of those tall buildings, was the homeless man who marked us 3 seconds after we walked onto the street, asking for a little help, telling us one story after another, his breath creating a fog with the strong smell of wine. He'd just jumped out of a taxi cab a few moments earlier, and here he was telling us that he'd served his country, and he needed something to help keep him warm on such a cold night.
The next night we were bundled up as tight as could be in our winter jackets and gloves, running for the subway. I left my camera in the room because I didn't think it would be wise to tote it around so late, but looking back now I wish so much I had brought it, because the forgotten Chicago was the guy lying flat on his back at the bottom of the stairs, wearing next to nothing, his feet bare and numb to that deadly cold wind, his gaze just a vacant stare into nothing.
It showed me that a camera can be a powerful tool of communication, whether that the message was meant for you, or as a way to speak to my own heart.
Instead of shooting images of pretty buildings and castles in the sand, my focus should have been a little more down to earth...Christ had that figured out, didn't he?

Kari was the first thought on my mind, keeping myself between her and him.
My second thought was trying to discern the why's..
Why was this man here? Why did he pick this place? Was this just part of his game?
I stepped around him and a cop was standing there, calling in for an ambulance to come and cart him away.
Zooming through the tunnels in the subway I began to think about my natural reactions...

Here we were in a big city, completely on the defense.
I didn't know my way around, and even got turned around in the subway. The Elliott boys pride themselves on never, ever being lost. I couldn't have pinned any tails on any donkeys, i didn't know up from down.

And I was worried about Kari, protecting her, keeping her safe. I was ready to scrap.

Then that morning, breakfast had cost us over $30.00 for nothing more than whipped oatmeal, and the hotel charged us double what they said they would for parking. All of this had turned me skeptical... to a fault.

Then I remembered the verses that my son had just learned a couple of weeks ago, the same verses I'd posted here just a few days ago.

It got me thinking that I must not have really understood the passage, because I certainly missed the point in Chicago. so i'm posting that verse again, more for me than for any of you. To remind myself what the right reaction should be, and what real love looks like...
Real love is when the words become action.

'Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, "How can I help?"
That's exactly what Jesus did. He didn't make it easy for himself by avoiding people's troubles, but waded right in and helped out.
"I took on the troubles of the troubled," is the way Scripture puts it.'
(Rom 15:2-3)

Dabbling

I was working on Steph & John's Zookbook digital album this week, and a couple of images just seemed to reach out at me. So I dabbled just a bit. If you click on the image it will enlarge. The web doesn't do it justice as small as it is, but there's some great textures and blends in this montage...


Just a reminder to the 04/05 Brides, there's 9 days left to take advantage of our first ever February special!

Our First Ever February Special !!!!

Hello from Dan & Kari,

Mom's, Dad's and Not-so-Newlywed's, Pay Attention! :)
This is our first ever studio special, and it won't be made available again any time soon.

We'll be moving into our new studio within the next month or two, and we just won't have the storage capacity to keep everyone's pictures. We've looked at different solutions for the new location and some changes are going to be made... 39 hard drives are just getting too difficult to manage! (no, that was not a typo!)

What's the benefit to you and yours?

Married Couples:
To help make some room on our drives we'll be offering all of our high resolution, large format proof disks to our 2004/5 wedding couples at a cost of $350.00, now through Valentines Day only.
These disks all come with your own Reproduction Rights to the images from your wedding day, so you can make as many copies as you'd like. They are wall portrait-sized and touched up, including the original and toned images.
What a great way to preserve your special day, and it's like having the digital negatives!

Parents:
Get your proof disk from any of your 2004/5 family sessions for $50.00, now through February, 2007. It's a cheap way to make sure you'll always have those pictures, mom's.

Let us know if you're interested and we'll get your images off of our drives and into your hands. Any images from sessions through 2005 will no longer be guaranteed for archival and storage purposes.

Spread the news, tell your friends. :)

If you have any questions, you'd like to book a shoot or you'd like to place an order, just give us a call at 582.8259, and you're welcome to leave a message, or shoot an email to dan@danelliottphotography.com