That one time we were artist of the month...

So Erin and I were chosen to be artist of the month for Wassup magazine.

which is a local magazine that can be found in bars and restaurants.

we even got to do an interview. We felt pretty famous.

so here is our interview and some photos of this month's issue with us in it...

How and when did you get started in photography?

It was different for both of us. Erin was always around photography because she has family members who are photographers but she didn't take a formal class for it until it was her major in college. Alicia had a canon ae1 that her dad gave her and took photo classes in high school and was hooked the first time she saw a print in the developer.

What was the most interesting photo shoot you have ever done?

We have some really fun photo shoots as far shooting a bride in the snow, and the hot hunky hairdressers but we think every wedding is interesting because everyone has a different love story and we never stop getting surprised by our clients.

What inspires you?

Alicia says Jack white. Erin says Hanson. but outside of those two probably Mary Ellen Mark for her documentary work, Erin and I are interested in real moments. It's hard to tell what is real and what is fabricated in Photoshop these days and we are really big believers that Reality is extraordinary and that the people we photograph  are interesting on their own without us having to add to them. We look for those moments when we photograph, where people are themselves and we aren't posing them or making them into what we want.

If you had to pick one insect to eat, what would it be? we say a grub. we hear they are slimy yet satisfying

What is the most interesting place that you have photographed? Erin got to photograph outside on the second platform of the sears (willis) tower. Alicia went to Russia and photographed in an orphanage.

What cartoon character best describes your personality? Alicia's would be scat from Ice age because she is a hot mess most of the time and Erin has to wrangle her.  And Erin would be Manny from Ice age because she is the ring leader and she makes me be the poop checker.

If you were a rapper, what would you call yourself? Erin would be E-diddy because I tease her about going by so many names. She has her Photography name- Erin Lynn, Her maiden name and her married name and I never know which one she is going to use.

 

What is the worst thing you have ever eaten or drank? Alicia says an Irish car bomb. I instantly puked. Erin says sushi- but she's insane.

What was the worst experience you had during a photo shoot? Erin got into a car accident on the way to a reception one time- she hit the videographer. That kind of sucked because she had to sit there and eat dinner with him afterwards. Awkward!

Is there any advice you would like to give to a new photographer starting out?

shoot all of the time. work as a freelance for a lot of different companies so you get a feel for a lot of different styles. And take classes. In the digital age it's easy to think your photos are amazing because you have 25 friends on face book commenting and saying they like it, but  getting constructive criticism from people who are in the field and know their stuff is the only way you will grow as a photographer and the only way you will be challenged to see your work critically  .

If you could have any pet in the world, what would it be? Alicia wants a Llama and Erin has the best dog in the world, Wrigley, She's a bullmation and she's so ugly she's cute.

If you could photograph any person, dead or alive, who would it be? Alicia says Dolly Parton. Its a actually a lifelong goal of mine. Erin says Marilyn Monroe, how could you not want to photograph her? she's just got everything you could want in a model. 

How do you feel about today’s editing programs? I think they are tools and it depends on how you use them. I think they should be used to enhance what you already have not make up for what you don't have in an image. If you can't have a great image out of camera you need to look at why you have so much post-processing. Photoshop is a whole other art form and we respect it for that but Photoshop isn't photography. That's why there are graphic design artists. Erin and I are interested in the photograph itself, not the actions you can run over them.

If you had to add an extra limb to your body what would it be and where? Erin would have an extra arm so she could hold another camera, Alicia wants another mouth so she can eat more.

If you were a fortune cookie, what would you say? we would say "Life is like photography, you develop from the negatives."

If you were in a circus, what would be your staring act? Alicia would tightrope walk, because she has freakishly awesome Balance. Erin would be the Lion tamer because she always takes a situation that could potentially be disastrous and makes something interesting happen.

 

that one time we got our boudior album!

So Erin and I have been in the process of making two sample albums to test out the paper options, different album companies and all of that good stuff and we just got our boudoir album back from GraphiStudios which is an Italian company.
We are really pleased with the album but the costumer service and promptness left much to be desired so we are trying a few more companies to see which one fits us best.
however  we absolutely love the metal cover and how large the book is.
its a 16x16 book. its a coffee table album the size of your coffee table!
like I said we absolutely love the books and are looking forward to getting our wedding album in to see the differences and being able to offer our clients great albums to hold their wedding photos for years to come

Christmas Boudoir session

I love being a girl. I love being soft and smelling pretty and wearing makeup and being able to change my clothes 5 times before I walk out the door. I love pink fuzzy slippers and lace undies and painting my nails. That is why I love photographing boudoir sessions, because it celebrates femininity, being girly and sexy and soft and curvy and a confident and being an individual. There is nothing sexier than a girl who is confident in her own body. and with the media telling girls they have to look a certain way to be beautiful I find it an absolute miracle that any of us like ourselves at all.
So it completely makes my day when girls book a session with us and walk away feeling sexy for exactly who they are in exactly their own skin.

These are some of the highlights from our Christmas boudoir session.

we hope you enjoy them! and we will be doing another session in January in time for Valentine's day.

send us a message at fstoppoetry@yahoo.com for a session.

that one time we almost killed Alana...

why Alana let us photograph her outside in freezing temperatures  let alone trust us with her life inside of my car is beyond me but she did and we love her for it.

Erin and I presented the idea of doing an outdoor winter photo shoot to Alana, and she didn't even hesitate to say yes. not for a second. this is the kind of crazy awesome girl Alana is.

we felt like winter gets a bad rep and we wanted to bring some beauty to the season. It may be cold and it may suck shoveling your car off or bundling up in a thousand layers, but if you are from the Midwest you know we all endure it, and we all stay because we love the changing of the seasons and when winter fades into spring.

not to mention winter is prime cuddle season. so for that reason alone we thought it would be fitting to do a trash the dress in the snow.

We started again at north ave beach since this is where we got the idea when we were shooting Jenny and Anthony's engagement session. The lake when frozen looks like another planet. Erin and I thought it had a quiet beauty and serenity that we wanted to capture. Erin and I both love to shoot people and don't often shoot landscapes. we talked on the ride up there about how we will see these beautiful landscapes and immediately  want to stick people in them. even if they are small in the frame.

Alana was such a trooper. She wore as many layers as she could underneath the dress and we would run to and from my car to warm up and then to start shooting again.

I swear to you she did not complain once. not even once did the words "its cold out here" leave her mouth. That woman is bad ass. I would have been complaining for anyone who was listening. Actually I was complaining and I was dressed like this... 

Erin on the other hand didn't have as much luck as Alana did this day.

she fell in the snow...

 twice.

 and hit herself in the face with her camera.

and at one point she stuck her foot up to her ankle in a massive, gross puddle, which we for the rest of the day referred to as "poo soup"  but she marched onward, camera in hand. This is the kind of dedication that I admire in her. even after falling in the snow she yelled "why are you not taking pictures of this!" when I tried to help her up. I love her. and I am fairly confident she would still be my friend had I really peed my pants laughing which was a legitimate concern at this point.

. 

We also made friends with a dog name honey. I was especially stoked about this because I love great Pyrenees and her owner chatted us up about Janis Joplin and numerous other topics and didn't seem to notice how Cold Alana must have been standing there waiting for us to finish. 

Alana also let us make a spectacle out of her even after I almost killed her driving the wrong way on a one way street to get there. I blame that mishap on the woman who erroneously told me to turn left on a street I could not turn left on, never mind that they have signs that say otherwise. This may or may not have been Karma getting me back for cheating the parking gods a second a time.

We went to the contemporary art museum to shoot in their incredible stairwell and Alana trekked around the whole museum in a wedding dress despite stares of bewilderment from the museums patrons. 

we are really happy Alana let us talk her into going on this crazy shenanigan of an adventure with us and that she remained beautiful and cooperative the whole time. and that she didn't hold it against us that we promised her hot chocolate and then didn't get her any.

and we hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed shooting them.  We hope that in the seasons of winter when you're forced inside because of the cold everyone will remember that "in the midst of all this ice and snow our hearts stay warm because they are filled with hope." 

that one time we were eskimos...

Erin and I went to Chicago to photograph the most adorable couple Friday and the whole time we gushed at how crazy it is we get to do these fun things for a living.

It was a normal cold winter day in Chicago so we hunkered down and braved the elements at the thought of great photos.  Erin said I looked like an Eskimo in my Russian hat, but she likes me enough to still be seen with me... sort of. 

The first place we went too was millennium park. Erin and I said how romantic it was to skate here with the greatest city in the world directly behind us. Erin said she wanted Mickey to take her there so she could hold  hands and skate eight grade dance style around the rink. the cheesy things are always the cutest.

Anthony and Jenny were especially cute. Anthony was a bit more confident on skates but Jenny held her own and I was convinced everyone kept looking at them not because they had a paparazzi entourage but because they were just so cute together and it was obvious. 

 

Erin said I looked like a midget bird. ha.

after that we headed to North Ave Beach. It is a strange experience to go to a beach in the middle of winter. Everything was frozen, peaceful and beautiful, where there is normally a crowd and the smell of hot dogs and tanning oil. It was a trip. 

 

 

However a diss for North Ave is their crappy pay system for their parking.

I was getting a little irate that their machine was not working, and being the self-proclaimed rebel that I am, I  just squeezed my tiny car around the arm and stuck it to the man.

Take that Parking Czars! 

Erin found this a lot more risky than I did and we had a good laugh. Jenny and Anthony did the same thing after us though, and I instantly liked them more.

We ended the shoot going to Wrigley field to shoot inside.  The cubs are a client of Jenny's and she wanted a few photos in the field and it was a crazy experience once again being at a place that holds so many people and so much life in the dead of winter with not a soul there. But Maybe that's what Love feels like.  like you are the only two people in the world anyway. 

that one time we got Business cards...

Erin and I are normally the type of people who don't like to make a scene. Not that we aren't fun, because let me tell you we are, but we are usually the girls making fun of the people who we deem awkward or inappropriate.  But not tonight. Tonight, we were those people.

Erin and I meet every week to do work. by "do work" I mean we eat food and talk about all the things we would do if we could tour with the Hanson Brothers and be their road photographers, but that's neither here nor there.

This week we went to the Department in Joliet to "do work" but this was no ordinary week. This week we had gotten our very first business cards.

and it showed. 

Like two 21 year olds on our birthday in the bar for the first time, we passed out our cards like they were hot cakes. (and When I say "we" I mean I did and Erin laughed at me. )

I gave our  cards to the waiter, to the two couples sitting next to us and to Adrianna who met us for drinks.  not to mention my mom who didn't even get all the way through the door before I handed her a stack.

and now I am blogging about it. Because this is how excited I am.

Be prepared world! We have business cards, which means we mean business!

Erin's thankful list.

Alicia inspired me to write about what I am thankful for.  Unfortunately, I am not as good with words as she is, but I’ll try.

I am thankful for so many things…

My husband, Micky.  I honestly love everything about this man.  He is selfless and loving.  I am thankful that he works so hard so that I can try and make my dreams come true.  He is so supportive and understanding and more than I could ever ask for.  I know that I don’t tell him enough how grateful I am to have in by my side, forever.  I don’t think I would have the self-confidence to do what I am doing without his love and support.  I don’t know how I got through life without you and I thank God everyday that you are in my life.

My mom, who is the strongest and most loving person I know.  She has the capability of finding the good in any situation and believes in me more than anyone.  I am hopeful that one day I will be just like her.

My dad.  He has worked so hard his whole life just to support our family.  I have never met a individual who works as hard as he does.  He doesn’t say much but I know how much he loves me and I am so thankful to have his obsession with making sure that everything is perfect.

My sisters and brother for being my lifeline.  For making me laugh and for being there, always.  For believing in me and for always having my back.  I love them more than words.  I wish I had Lindsay's strength, Kelly's heart, and Ryan's sense of humor. 

Tiffany, for being a constant person in my life.  I don’t know if Tiffany will ever understand how much she means to me but I really don’t know if I would be who I am without her.  She knows me better than I know myself and makes me laugh so hard every time we are together.

Tony and Michelle, for seeing something in me.  For believing that I could do what I do for a living and for having faith in me when I find that I don’t have faith in myself.  Every time I get down on myself, I think ‘if these 2 incredibly talented photographers see something in me, I must have faith in myself.'

Alicia, for reminding me that photography isn’t all about work.  For helping me get back to a place I was at in college where I was excited to photograph everything.  For being the only person I would want to start a company with.  And for her and her family because they make me want to be a better person.  I am also thankful that her dog no longer pees on me and that the professor has never ninja pissed me.

For all the brides and grooms that I have photographed this year and will photograph next year, for having faith in our little start up company and trusting us with the most important day of your lives.  I have been so honored to be a part of your lives.

For my Wrigley for loving me unconditionally!