…throughout the plain ol’ midwest. The west coast is rugged and beautiful, the east coast has some of the oldest, biggest, most interesting cities in the country, but what’s in between? Farms, for one, great plains,maybe some rolling hills. The density of civilization is not the same as on either coasts (excluding cities like Chicago and vicinities, of course), but scattered around you can find some pretty stunning (maybe even out of place) historical towns and old settlements. One example, Galena , Jo Daviess county, northwestern IL. Towns come and go, building get destroyed, others reappear, people leave, other come; not here. This little town seems to be frozen in time, it’s historic downtown looks like something out of a hollywood classic. I drove here a few months ago, and of course, took a long walk throughout the town in the morning before sunrise. During the day it’s a mad frenzy of tourists, gift shops, restaurants and cafes, but at the crack of dawn, the empty streets look pretty surreal. Definitely check it out if you’re ever in that corner of Illinois.
Check the slideshow for some shots.

About every once a year I drive up to Harbor County, Michigan, for a few days to kick back, relax on the beautiful beaches, enjoy the sunsets, the (relatively) warm Lake Michigan water, do some body surfing, and just get out of the busy Chicago life cycle. We usually stay at a quiet hotel in Lakeside, Mi, but this time I decided to camp on the beach, which ended up being a slightly frustrating experience (note to anyone wanting to attempt: go early in the morning if you want to find a spot anywhere in the area, they get booked really fast), but all was well in the end. The landscapes (or beach-scapes) in the area are also some real eye candy, so the camera never leaves my side, it was a real pleasure photographing the sea-green colored water of lake michigan, the blue skies, and, umm, my girlfriend of course.

Click throught the gallery for some more shots, all with my 20D with 135mm f/2.0 and 15mm f/2.8 FishEye   -  which BTW, are all water resistant according to my recent findings (disclaimer: attempt at your own risk)

Cheers,
cmM

It turned out to be a rather slow beginning of the wedding season, so I’ve found time to do some travelling, and more excitingly, get a bike! From very little prior experience, I woke up one morning with a bike on my mind… 2 weeks later I was trained and licensed, and another week later I had a brand new 2007 Honda Shaddow 600: best thing I’ve ever bought. My new cruiser has a little over 400 miles in the 3 weeks I’ve had it, and it is a blast to ride around, and affordable. It accelerates like a corvette and gets 60mpg, so at this point I look back wondering what took me so long to get a bike.
Click through the gallery for a couple shots of my new transportation

Cheers,
cmM

[Show as slideshow]

This has been coming for a while now. My portfolios haven’t received much attention lately because I’ve had a website update stuck on my head for a good part of this year. What’s coming is a simpler interface with, here it comes,…. larger images. (actually, it’ll be a more dynamic portfolio so they’ll vary in size). Either way, some real eye candy on the way.

On a different note, I’m making a radical change to my pricing structure. No significant increase or decrease, just a complete obliteration of my old approach.

Big month!

Cheers,
cmM

This past weekend I had the opportunity to shoot a rather unique wedding. The wedding took place at the groom’s residence (both the bride and groom are public figures, him being a former professional athlete and current coach and writer, and the bride being an actress/model - reason for which, unfortunately, no images along with this post - special contractual obligations). So, the wedding started under the pretense of a dinner party (note: none of the guests had any idea of the real reason for the gathering). A couple hours into the party an announcement was made by the groom to unveil the true meaning of the day, and uncover the previously hidden altar on the patio and introduce the bride. It was a big surprise, to say the least, for everyone to see the bride walking down the stairs in her wedding dress. All in all, it was a pretty cool thing to take part of, I very much enjoy weddings that are even a little out of the norm every now and then.

Cheers,
cmM

So what is the difference between the Wedding Photojournalist Association and the Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association? Short answer: standards - neither higher, nor lower, just different. While they are both related, the WPJA is theoretically the equivalent of raw photojournalism, and on the other side, the [AG]WPJA is photojournalist with a fine art touch added to it. When I first was accepted and joined the WPJA the [AG]WPJA did not exist, only after a while did it make its way around. This is a much better fit for me as a photographer, because, even though I have a predominantly photojournalistic approach to my photography (there are the rare exceptions, but those are usually not by choice), I almost always manipulate the images in post processing. To elaborate on that, I never ever alter scenes (I don’t change skies, I don’t move people around, because that would change the reality of a moment captured into a big lie), but I do enhance what is there (I will increase the contrast in the sky if will add to the drama, I will convert a lot of my images to duotones, I will continuously experiment with color and tonal corrections, and so on). Going back to my WPJA history, when my membership expired I decided to try to become a member of the Artistic Guild of the WPJA. I filled out the application then waited to for an answer. I got an e-mail just a couple days after my application submission (which was surprisingly fast) form Joseph Victor Stefanchik (very reputable wedding photographer), who did my portfolio review and granted my acceptance. If JVS says I’m worth a dime, I must be!

Cheers,
Cristian

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