Would you look at that, it’s been over a year since my last blog post! That’s easy enough to explain, I have not had any TIME to dedicate to such endeavors. That said, the lovely folks over at Redfin (yes, the folks who operate the website/app that you always open to look at houses you’ll never be able to afford. Just me? No, I know it’s not just me)…. Anyway! The folks over at Redfin offered me & Joe U Photo the chance to be featured in their blog about what locals love about Chicago. I’m honored that they reached out for me to be a part of it, although I’m still not totally sure I deserv ..read more

  Over the past few months it has been such a thrill to see the world of live events come back to life. I’ve been busy again for the first time since 2019, and it’s just so exciting to be back in action now that the city of Chicago is back to business. I’m feeling very confident that covid is totally over and everything is great and there won’t be any more problems…. Okay, that may be a tad optimistic, but what I am confident about is that it’s going to be a great summer of exciting events, wonderful celebrations and gatherings of all kinds. In April I got to shoot my first event in over ..read more

CORPORATE EVENTS IN CHICAGO: DONT’ CALL IT A COMEBACK? As more and more people get vaccinated and the possibility of in-person events begins to become more and more realistic, I thought it would be a swell time to continue sharing photos from some of my favorite events from the past that I never got around to including in a blog post! During 2019 and early 2020 I had the opportunity to team up with the wonderful folks of CSI DMC, a national destination & event management company. Before they had reached out to me about shooting one of their events, I didn’t even know what a “DMC” was but ..read more

 HAPPY WORST ANNIVERSARY! YES, IT’S another “IT’S-BEEN-ONE-YEAR-Since” post. We all are experiencing very strange anniversaries of the last time we did insert activity here before uncle Covid came to town and overstayed their welcome by a long shot. For me, March 12th marks the one year anniversary of the last time I shot an “event” in the traditional sense of the word. March 12th, aka 312 Day, is a holiday that celebrates all things Chicago and was created 10 years ago by Goose Island Beer Co. For the last couple of years I’ve had the pleasure of capturing some of the 312 Day festivitie ..read more

Let me start out by saying that this post, along with most of my blog posts, is long overdue! For those who don’t know me personally, I have been VERY cautious/paranoid about Covid, essentially sending my photography/video pipeline spiraling into the abyss. I had turned down a number of opportunities I didn’t feel comfortable or safe pursuing, and didn’t expect to be able to do much until the pandemic was largely under control. CUT TO: sometime in the summer when my cousin reached out to me about the possibility of creating a wedding film for his downsized, outdoor pandemic wedding. A GIF BECA ..read more

 i’M GOING ALL-IN ON EVENTS IN 2021 & BEYOND View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize STAYING THE COURSE To say that it’s been a rough year for event photography would be a….drastic understatement. Since March of 2020 the entire live events industry has been at a virtual stand still, pun intended. But I have a plan. Over the past year I tinkered with swinging Joe U Photo more towards couple and family photography, with my pandemic portrait photography project “#TheNewFormal” keeping me occupied (and sane) for most of the summer. But wh ..read more

 It’s happened MANY TIMES BEFORE During the course of the pandemic I’ll be offered an opportunity to shoot something, I’ll accept it without thinking and then I’ll start thinking about it and get anxious about what it’s going to entail. Which is exactly what happened when the lovely ladies of Once Upon a Dollhouse asked if I would be interested in helping them create a video for the delightfully stylish gender reveal they had planned. I immediately said yes, not only because it sounded like a wonderful affair, but also because video is something I’m planning to integrate even more into m ..read more

THE PANDEMIC PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT CONTINUES Back in May, when it seemed like we were at the “peak” of covid (lol, we were so young), I embarked on a project called #TheNewFormal where I visited my friends and took portraits of them wearing fancy clothes in front of their homes. It was a wonderful way to interact with actual human beings while we were all still pretty much locked down, and an excuse to take my camera out, which had started collecting dust for the first time since I bought it. It was originally going to be a one-and-done, self-contained project. BUT! Towards the end of s ..read more

In today’s edition of “events I should have written about, but didn't” I’m sharing some photos from Brienne & Jason’s wedding celebration aboard a trolley that trekked all around Chicago! For a bit of context, I’ve never really considered myself a wedding photographer. To me a wedding photographer is someone who dedicates their time and energy to focusing soley on weddings and wedding-adjacent types of photography. It’s such a comeptitive market that you have to not only excel at that kind of photogrpahy, but also love it very very much. Since I had decided to cater my business to events o ..read more

When I quit my job last July to pursue photography full time, I was excited for a myriad of reasons. One of those reasons was that, in the weeks leading up to my last day, I was offered the opportunity to work as a photographer at Lollapalooza by my friends at Do312. Here’s a look back at that experience! I don’t know why I didn’t post about this….you know, a year ago. Fun Fact Break: I’ve actually won tickets to Lollapalooza like…5 times? And the first time I won was by entering a contest HOSTED by Do312 (oh how life comes full circle). For the contest you had to create a mashup band featur ..read more