Prepping for the weekend

This weekend is filled with epic photo events!

Michael & Lynn are coming into WI from MN to attend a wedding. We photographed their wedding earlier this year and thought it would be fun to get some more shots of them in Mad-Town. So they are making a special stop into Madison tomorrow for an early evening downtown couples shoot. Super fun!

Saturday is Mary-Bridget and Brian's big day! We met these two, who flew up from AZ to do their engagement session, a little over a month ago. Nicole and I had such a great time with them and introduced them to our little towns Blue Spoon (A ridiculously good Tuscany-type-feel deli/bistro). We are highly looking forward to their wedding and meeting the rest of their family and friends!

Sunday is going to be recovery for us as well as spending time with the parental units as we watch them play grandparents to Aubrey. Aubrey loves when her grandparents visit; She soaks up all the attention with a twinkle in her eye!

As every blog needs a pic - here is another shot of Riley from the recent family session. Happy Thursday everyone!

Stormy Weather Monday

Last night there was a couple severe storm cells which ended up merging into one gigantor storm that hit most of southern Wisconsin. It ended up producing a couple tornado's and large hail from what the weather folks on the television said... for over two hours of live coverage. It is funny sometimes to watch the news during times like this, cause they have to come up with something to say during that time. And unlucky for them, this storm moved by slooowly.

We were lucky however and were able to watch the storm float by the outskirts of our town. We maybe had a couple sprinkles, but that was it. The best part is when the storm was almost passed, the sun was setting. This made a great sunset! So of course I grabbed the camera and went out to take some shots!

This was taken at a playground near a school.

I love the colors and the tree silhouettes.
I tried racing over to this bridge where I had earlier seen lightning still shooting down from the tail end of the storm. However it had passed behind the bluff after I got there. The clouds still looked epic though!

Josh, Missy, Riley: Family Session - Sneak Peak

Had an awesome time this last Sunday with Josh, Missy and their son Riley for a family session. We hit the Union South in downtown Madison where there is a ton of construction going on. Here are a few sneak peaks...

Josh and Missy

A child's natural reaction to his parents smooching : )


"Riley, give me muscles!"

Saturday gatherings

This past Saturday was filled with festivities. We started the day with Nicole's long time friend Bitsy's Graduation/Going-to-Pharmacy-School party. Bitsy will be attending a Pharmacy School out in Nebraska in a month. We wish her the best of luck and can't wait to call her Dr. Bitsy!

Bitsy's dog, JulietFound the sweet spot
Bitsy sharing a balloon with aubs

Bitsy with her parents dog, layla

Later in the evening we were on our way to Belleville, WI for Crookfest '09. Crookfest is an annual event where friends get together to kick back and have a good time. This was the first year we were able to attend and we had a blast!

Crookfest was very family freindly. Aubs loved the swings!

Mr. Crook himself. Does that make him the King of Crookfest? How cute is this little lady?!

Several friends and family gathering around for a good time.

The view from their house was so beautiful.

Bean bag toss anyone?

This little guy looks to be making a long distance call.

-Nicole

Kenko Tubes = Macro Mania

Our recent investment into our photography world is an extension kit called Kenko Tubes (or Tooobzz as some photogs call them). Essentially these adapters fit between the camera and whatever lens you put on, thus turning that lens into a Macro lens. I have seen some pretty impressive results while blogstalking other photographers. Here are a few of our first attempts with this new and exciting toy!

Concerts on the Square: Madison

Nicole, Aubrey and I decided to get away from the house the other night and visit Wisconsin's capital for Concert on the Square. The Madison Symphony Orchestra puts on this free event every Wednesday evening at the Capital for about a month each year. Hundreds of people usually show up to sit in the yard and in the street surrounding the capital. It's such a relaxing and peaceful atmosphere. This time around though, we brought the camera and walked around everywhere. Below you can see a few of the photo's we took of ourselves.

On another note; Nicole had posted a free photo session on Facebook for this coming Sunday to the first person who responded to her. Michael & Lynn were first responders, but couldn't drive from MN this weekend, but could the following. As they are such a fun couple to shoot, we said absolutely! Can't wait to take additional shots of them in a week. Josh, Missy and their son Riley were next up for this Sunday. Should be a fun family shoot around town!

We will post more freebie's from time to time, especially during the winter months when wedding season slows down here in Wisconsin - so stay tuned to the blog and Facebook!

Now on to the mandatory pics for each blog:

This is my most recent favorite of aubs

Self-shot of the family on the steps of the capital. I love the snapshot-type feel to it.

Nicole and Aubs, great capture if I do say so myself! : )

Packaging our product

Nicole and I have been toying around with the best way to present our product packaging. The majority of our past couples and families have received a disc with a custom photo on it. Recently Nicole created this packaging which looked very classy!

Now we have discovered a place in the US which supplies 100% recycled paper and dvd cases which I think we will end up going with. Being eco-friendly is something that is very important to us. I will post a pic of the new packaging after we receive it. Very exciting!

Advertising Excitement

As Nicole mentioned in an earlier post, we are finally at the point where we are going to get some advertising. So far business has been wonderful thanks to word of mouth from all our friends and past clients. But going to the bride shows and seeing all the setups there gets us kind of excited to do it ourselves and become more known in the community.

We are glad to say that we are now a part of the Wedding Planner and Guide website! You can see our ad towards the top of the page under the Photographers section. We will also have a full page published in their 2010 book coming out this December. And with luck, we will be a part of the local bridal show in the Madison area next summer. So very exciting!

And because every post needs a pic... here is aubs at the park we went to last night.

Sauk Prairie Freedom Ride

Every year, the Harley Davidson store of Sauk Prairie puts on a Freedom Ride to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). Bikers from all over the area come to our small town and pay money to be in the ride which goes to the charity. When you have that many cycles running thru the town, it can be quite a site. So for our date night Saturday, Nicole and I went around town and into the camp ground to take shots of the cycles. We hope to play a small role with the event next year and hopefully help raise some money for the MDA.

There are more pictures on the 5th Street Photography facebook page, but here is a small sampling of the shots we took on our date...

Earlier in the day, we took aubrey down to watch the bikers do the ride. She loved waving at them and getting waves back!

We saw these bikes parked in the banks drive thru and had to take a shot. We ended up meeting some of the owners. (We do have more shots, just email us if you would like a disc.)

The main grounds for the event was at the VFW park where most bikers camped out for the night.
My beautiful wife in action.

Loved the old school helmet here.


My favorite bike we saw. It was very personalized.

Here are some details of the bike. It reminds me of the Bounty Hunter guy from the movie Raising Arizona with Nicolas Cage. The seat is a bedpan with a snake in it!

Brian & Mary Bridget: E-Session

We had the pleasure of photographing Brian and Mary Bridget a few weeks ago for their engagement session. They came up from their home in Arizona to visit family and meet us! We met up with them at Devils Lake and then brought them to downtown Baraboo where Johnny Depp filmed the Public Enemies movie. Their wedding is in a couple weeks here in Madison, and we can't wait!

I asked them if they knew the Captain Morgan pose...


We found this historic cannon that I shot with my canon. Ha!