Couples+Families+Seniors=October Awesomeness

September was a memorable month for 5th Street Photography! Putting on the Photography Benefit was one of the most wonderful things we've done thus far. We raised $1100.00 to go towards the Meriter NICU and met so many wonderful families and children in the process. It was great getting to know each one of these people and seeing them come together for a united cause was beautiful!

Coming in October there will be some additions added onto 5th Street Photography's website. We will be now offering things like: prints, albums, canvases, extra DVD's, and wedding websites! We are super excited to offer these exciting new features to you!

This coming month we will be meeting so many new people: Couples, Seniors & Families. We look forward to seeing you all very soon!! Now, I must go before I burn my daughter's dinner...

Every blog needs a picture, so I thought I would leave you with an image from winter. So we can all remember, it's not that cold yet ;o)

Nicole

Before & After Tuesday: Aubrey Addition

With the birth of Aubrey, Nicole and I have tried starting a few family traditions. One of these traditions centers around one of our favorite holidays - Halloween. Green Thumb Farm is one of the many farms surrounding our small town. It sits about a mile from our house and has a whole setup for Halloween, such as: Spooky town (rides), a small cafe which serves delicious cider donuts, decorations, and hayrides to the pumpkin patch.

Last year we went, aubs was almost 6 months old and couldn't do much lifting of the pumpkins. This year was a much different story as she tried lifting any pumpkin she could find.

Today's Before & After is a reflection on Aubs and how far she has come in one year.

The Before: Aubrey in 2008 when we visited the pumpkin patch for the first time.

The After: Still in moms arms, but a year older.

That one might be too big to lift... but I love that she still tries!

Are haul this year...

There is no post today

Just wanted to post on the blog that there will be no posting on the blog today. : )

With the benefit family sessions half way done, our crack team of editors are working overtime to get them done before the week is over. So I leave this non-blog post with an image of one of our editors at work. No need to worry, your photos are in safe hands! : )

Benefit participates - special print/canvas pricing!

Attention all families who participated in the Benefit for Rocco:

When you receive your disc of images in the coming week or so, if you are interested in getting professional prints or a canvas done, we have a deal for you. We are offering reduced rates on all prints, canvases and albums for anyone who participated in the benefit. It is another way for Nicole and I to say Thank You for helping us raise money for Meriter NICU!

Prices are subject to change and orders must be placed by October 31st when the offer ends! Email Photography@5th-Street.net to find out what the special rates are.

Every blog needs a pic! Here is a motley of photos of little August from the Rocco Benefit...

"Choo Choooo"

It seems every time we go into a store that has one of those wooden train tables, Aubrey goes nuts. So going into Toys'R'Us the other day to get diapers, we see they have them on super-clearance type sale and ended up getting one! We told ourselves it was going to be her Christmas present. Well we must have hit winter pretty quick cause Nicole had it assembled the next night!

Aubrey loves it! She shouts "Choo Chooo!" whenever she wants to play. And she always wants to share her trains. If you are not at the table, she will bring you a choo choo. I am very happy we got it, and really happy we set it up earlier than Christmas! It's so worth seeing the look on her face every morning she runs to it.

A Maze of Corn

This past Sunday we treated ourselves to a corn maze with some friends. Near our small town are several large farms, one of them is the Treinen Farm which is known to be the largest Corn Maze in Wisconsin. Every year they come up with a different design for the maze. How it works is they give you a sheet with the first part of the map. The goal is to make your way to checkpoints in the labyrinth and collect the other pieces of the map until you make your way to the end. It's quite an experience and really fun for kids of all ages!

This years design was a mermaid. Years past have been castles, dragonflies, etc.

Aubrey actually walked thru half of the maze. She slept in the car on the way home. : )

Which path to take?

Children of the Corn have nothing on the Rooster of the Corn.

The farm had a lot of fun and unique stuff for kids - slides, playground, and this corn-pit...

Before & After Tuesday: Child Care Edition

Welcome to a special edition of Before & After Tuesdays. Normally on B&A Tuesdays I show how I took a photograph straight out of camera and what I magically did in post processing to get the end result. Today is going to be slightly different though.

As most of you may know, Nicole and I do child care at our home during the 'work' week. Aside from our 18 month old Aubs, we care for two other boys who are around her age, and once in a while one of their older sisters when there is no school. Below are some Before & After shots of our 5th Street Child Care, which shows a small portion of what our 'work' week is like... Enjoy! : )

Benefit for Rocco - Final Tally & Sneak Peeks

The Benefit for Rocco (story here) has come to a close. Nicole and I had a wonderful time meeting all the different families and would like to thank each and every one of you for helping us raise $1100.00 which is all going to the Meriter NICU!! We would also like to thank Angie & Rocco for letting us help do something in Rocco's memory!

Now I have a few weeks of editing and polishing to do. But if everyone enjoys their sneak peaks I have posted, then I know you are going to love the rest of them! Look for an email from us letting you know we have sent your disc in the mail - and again, if anyone would like professional prints, canvas wraps, or albums done - please email or give us a call.

Here are the final sneak peaks from this weekends Rocco Benefit Family & Child Sessions. (more can be found on the 5th Street Photography Facebook page - become a fan! : )

The Gatica Family - the parents didn't know what the kids were doing, they thought it was a nice portrait, but this sums up the fun this family has together! : )

Little Cooper & family
Mya - and that is her actual eye color, I didn't do any enhancements except boost a little contrast!
The Ruelas Family

Zac & Kristin: Engagement Session

Welcome to a special Sunday post of the 5th Street Photography Blog. Normally I don't post on the weekends, but I felt it was needed in order to show off this wonderful couple!

Zac & Krisin are Science Majors who attended UW-Madison and currently live in Chicago. We were given our own special UW-Madison tour as we traveled across campus for their engagement session. We had a blast hanging out and getting to know Zac & Kristin, and are super-excited for their big day next year! Enjoy!!

Nicole and I loved this sculpture! Though still not sure what it is supposed to represent... : )

As seen in a prior 'Behind the Scenes' post, this is a free flowing water wall.

Early morning on Lake Mendota off Union South. Slight fog still on the water.

Nicole grabbed this one, which I think is my favorite of the set.

Another Nicole shot - she has a wonderful way of capturing the connection...

Last Chance for Benefit & Short Hiatus

Due to illnesses with some clients, we had to reschedule some of the Rocco Benefit sessions to this week. Because of this, we are still honoring the reduced family/children sessions where all but $5 will go towards the Meriter NICU. However you only have until September 19th to book and get a session in!

Due to the amount of editing I'll have to be doing in the coming weeks, I'm going to take a short hiatus from blogging this Friday thru Sunday. At the beginning of the summer, I made it a personal goal to do a blog post every day M-F and think I've done pretty good - even posting more than once a day and on a few weekends. So if anyone follows this on a daily basis, I apologize for missing this Friday ahead of time - but I got a stack of files calling my name asking for the creative magic dust to be sprinkled upon them, and I must oblige! So I leave you with a couple shots from a recent visit to the Madison Henry Vilas Zoo...

Self-Family Shot taken w/the point'n'shoot...

And seriously, I think Aubs and this Tiger have some connection! He was lying on the ground until we came up and then he started pacing again and rubbing up against the glass where aubrey was standing.

Hope everyone has a happy Friday and a wonderful weekend!

-mJc

Idea's for your photographs

I have a helmet on, rations and something to drink. You could say I am hunkering down for a while as I work on the pile of Engagement, Family, Couples, and Children Sessions we have shot over the last few weeks. With this at the top of my mind, I wanted to remind people of the many different things one can do with their photos besides just putting them in an album.

Last year Nicole and I were saving our pennies, so we couldn't spend too much on Christmas gifts for family. So we decided to take photos from Aubrey's first year and make a 2009 calendar to hand out to everyone. The response we received was way more than we anticipated and so we are tinkering around with doing the same thing for 2010.

So with the holiday season approaching (just look at the stores selling x-mas next to the halloween stuff!), don't forget to use photographs you have had taken over the last year to help make great gifts - calendars, cards, t-shirts, mugs, etc.

On a side note, I just had to post this image of one of our Child Care kids who has literally grown up with Aubrey. We decided to have spaghetti on this day - and the spaghetti exploded!

Behind the Camera Scenes #2

I feel like I am coming up for air today after a long week of Family/Children/Couples shoots from the Rocco Benefit we put together this last week. We had an outstanding turnout and I have a lot of editing to accomplish in the weeks ahead. But I am super-excited after seeing so many great images and smiling faces as I went through them all trying to pick out sneak peaks.

For todays post, I thought I would share some more recent behind the camera scenes of Nicole and I in action from recent shoots...

After photographing a couple by a free-fall water wall, they said you gotta look straight up at it. Mike was there in a heartbeat and sure enough, its like looking into the Matrix, like the water was slowed down!

Here Nicole is shown working a low angle for the shot. We usually climb, crouch, jump, and sometimes crawl to get our unique look. Plus its a good workout!

Sometimes we us props that we bring with us during shoots. Here Mike is demonstrating the proper way not to use the frame during a family session.

Family/Children Portraits for Rocco - part 4

Sorry for the super long blog today with lots and lots of pictures! Here is part 4 of the benefit for Rocco. These were all taken this past weekend all over southern Wisconsin. We had so much fun with everyone and still have a few more scheduled this week. Enjoy!

The Stratton Family

Corbin was really awesome during this session and really deserved his chocolate ice cream as a reward :o)
The Marcell/Wurdeman Family
Awwww.... so sweet!

Adorable!



The Galle/Sylvester Family
Magnific!

CJ brought his Impala for the session! We got some awesome shots... Thanks CJ!
Angie & Rocco Jr - Fantastic and cute couple!

Rocco Jr is currently serving in the military and we want to say "Thank you" for the great service you do for our country! Angie had this cute camo dress and I have to say it totally made the shot :o)
Thank you everyone who has participated thus far for such a fantastic cause! More to come still :o)

Nicole