Jenna Cole Photography-Chicago, IL » Lifestyle and Wedding Photographer

L is lovely and sweet and for a few hours agreed to be my own little Indian princess. I loved her twice as much when she revealed that her sari was her mother’s wedding outfit (I wore my mother’s wedding dress for my own marriage), and that she will be wearing it as well for her own (yet to be determined) wedding date.

When she put on her chudas (bracelets) and dupatta (the jewelry in her hair) I loved her three times as much. She posed like a true model, making slow gentle movements with her head, eyes, hands, and arms, allowing me to focus on capturing beautiful images. I hope you adore the results as much as I do L!

L was my first client to request getting out of the city and using nature as a backdrop. I love the way that she pops out of the neutral background.

We know that L is really an Indian princess because princesses are taught from birth to be graceful at all times, even when bending over to adjust their sari.

I would not be patient enough to wear a dupatta, it needed a lot of adjusting. But do you see how gracefully she does it?

Can you see me in this picture?

Nice gentle wind, will you be my companion for all of my sessions?

L suggested we hang the end of her sari from a tree for a moment. I wasn’t sure how it would look while I was taking the pictures, but I love it because of the completely different shape it brings to her outfit.

2nd favorite shot of the day!

L asked me if I would like her to get in the water for a moment.
Future clients, the answer to this question is always “Yes!”.

SOOC Shot!

Before:

After:

I love the serene quality this photo has when it’s in sepia. And the way the light is falling on her face.

Don’t worry L’s mom, we were careful to take good care of your sari no matter where we were!

I’m usually not a fan of partially desaturated images, but I went with it because of the nice touch of soft pink it adds to an otherwise very dark photo.

That Shot!

Indian princess. Enough said.

L was willing to go anywhere I asked her to. Like shimmying up onto this big log over a cold stream.

This one gives me the shivers. She is so gorgeous!

As we parted, L told me “I hope we meet again.” I hope so too my dear! It was a pleasure to work with you.

Best,

Jenna

Helena and Prashant are both doctors. She’s in internal medicine, and he’s in neuroscience. They are so dedicated to their professions that they are enduring a long distance relationship in order to finish their residencies. They are very serious folks doing very serious work for the sake of humanity.

See what I mean? Totally and completely serious.

Helena and I actually have a lot in common. She spent some time in Washington (that’s where she and Prashant met), she’s Polish (I like to call myself Polish-by-association), and we both know what it’s like to endure long distance relationships. We also both know what it is like to have almost no pictures together since you only see each other once every month or so.

While we were wandering around looking for good spots Helena mentioned that these pictures would more than double the supply of shots they have together. I’m more than happy to oblige in the building up of supplies such as this.

I was buzzing with excitement when we stumbled upon the All Good Cafe. These two are coffee lovers (they frequently tease each other about who makes the better pot of coffee) and this just happened to be the perfect spot because the terrace doesn’t have any windows!

I was able to get a bunch of cute shots of them at the coffee shop together without having to deal with any reflections. What a find!

They both did such a great job at pretending like the two of them weren’t having a fake conversation over old gross cups of coffee left behind by previous patrons.

We found this bright blue wall and I attempted to fashion them into a cute pose that didn’t look like they were at the Junior Prom.

All of the sudden Helena was laughing and screaming “I hate being lifted up!”

Does this look like the face of someone who just endured something they hate?

Everyone seems to be enjoying the SOOC shots, so I thought I would start showing you a few more of them per post.

SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera)

After:

I love the way their skin tones contrast with each other.

This is the closest I came to a “ring” shot the whole day (I realized that I haven’t been taking them and I plan on doing so from now on). Helena and Prashant aren’t “officially” engaged yet because they aren’t ready to set a date, but she was wearing a really beautiful silver band with diamonds all around. I loved it!

Isn’t this the coolest garage door you have ever seen?

And isn’t this the coolest jumping picture you have ever seen? Helena warned me that they were famous for their jumping pictures.

These two are thinking of eloping. Don’t you think they should have the kind of wedding that allows a first dance so they can show off these mad skills they have? I’m anti-elopment because usually it means no photographer, and I just can’t bear the thought of a wedding without pictures!

Doctors are just sexy! Look how great these two look when they are running.

I had them posing in this doorway which caused the tenants to come out and discuss whether or not we were on their property. I think if they could have seen what my camera was seeing they would have been a little bit nicer about letting us hang out there. This is some hot stuff!

I believe when we met these two both told me they were “shy” and “not very good at pictures’. If this is what shy people who aren’t very good at taking pictures look like, I’d like to be one please!

SOOC!

Before:

After:

The only changes I made to this one were warming things up and upping the contrast a teensy bit. I can’t really put my finger on why I love it so much!

In case you were wondering, she has a really cute laugh.

As I was taking these pictures I asked Helena “I’ve been expirementing with depth of field photos, where the person in front is in focus and the person in back it blurred, do you like those?”

Her reply was classic: “I like them when I am the one in focus.”

I love each of their reactions to her comment!

That Shot!

This shot makes me think of cotton candy and fluffy clouds and merry-go-rounds. I love the purple in his shirt, the pink of her coat, and the lovely blue of the wall behind them.

I can’t visit Deep Ellum without paying my respects to the flag wall. Apparently Prashant (just like my Polish husband) has become very Americanized during his time in the States. He drives a pick-up truck and everything!

SOOC!

Before:

After:

I definitely went a little out there with the editing on this one. What do you think? It’s a little crazy, but I like it.

At the very end of our session Prashant told me he would do a carthweel. Knowing this would be the only time in my life I took a picture of a neursurgeon doing gymnastics I told him to go for it.

This is the very last shot I took that day, and I think it’s my second favorite from the session. These two are such a perfect mix of professionalism and crazy fun. They didn’t fly in specifically for the shoot, but they are both living in different states (neither of them Texas) and so I’m very grateful to both of them for spending such a huge chunk of their (very limited) time with me.

Whether you have an Indian wedding with 700 people, an American one in a field of wildflower, or a Thursday afternoon affair at the courthouse, you two are going to go far. I know from experience that the day after the wedding, the day when you are finally together forever, is one of the best times you can imagine.

Best,

Jenna

The night before this session I tossed and turned all night. Did I charge my battery? Did I set my alarm? What if there was an accident and traffic was so backed up I couldn’t make it? What if I couldn’t even give them one good photo after it was over?

Kim and Zak were my first “real” engagement shoot (remember the others were married couples in my ward who agreed to let me practice on them), and I was definitely stressing. Turns out I was worried over nothing, since these two brought smiles and kisses and the cutest red coat I think I’ve ever seen. I’ll be shooting in Deep Ellum several times over the next few weeks, but the location has special meaning for these two since they will be getting married at an art gallery in the area on October 10th of this year. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many colors and textures all in one place before!

SOOC Shot!

The before:

The after:

I actually chose this photo as the SOOC because I had someone ask whether I Photoshopped the wall to make it that lovely purple color. As you can see, I made some adjustments to the vibrance, contrast, saturation, etc, but I only made changes to the overall photo. I didn’t isolate the wall, or Kim’s bright red coat specifically. I love the way the two colors contrast against each other!

Steamy.

Kim and Zak were really great about letting me expirement a little bit. I had some fun playing with shutter speed for this shot, although I wish I would have slowed it down just a little bit more for an even blurrier effect.

For Zak, all roads lead to Kim.

These two have such a great sense of style.

Here I am expirementing again, with Kim in focus in this shot…

and Zak in focus in this one.

When I woke up and saw that it had rained the night before, I got really excited about trying out a puddle/reflection shot! What do you think about flipping the shadow so it is right side up?

Kim and Zak are both Dallas natives, and it was really fun to see how excited they got about some of the “elements” on the Periodic Table of Dallas. A band they know, the place where they are getting married. I’ve never seen anything like this before!

When we found the American flag wall I told them we had to do something very iconic. Dipping poses are iconic.

And so are American Gothic poses. I realize American Gothic is the most overused pose in the history of engagement photos, but how can you pass it up when it’s in front of the flag?

I loved this blue wall with Kim’s coat.

Aren’t these two so pretty?

We snuck up a set of stairs and through an unlocked gate for this photo. Zak was a little bit nervous about doing so, but I assured him that photographers get kicked out of places all the time!

The requisite Jenna Cole make-out shot.

Where can I get some of those cheekbones Kim? I really neeeeeeeed some.

That Shot!

In our last spot we stumbled upon a cat, which Kim was brave enough to pick up and cuddle with. I tried to get the cat to pose in a few of our pictures, but  she/he wasn’t up for it.

Kim and Zak, thank you for taking a chance on me. I loved spending my Saturday morning with you. Thank you for being so happy and cuddly, and open to all of my crazy ideas and suggestions. I had so much fun with you.

Best,

Jenna

Jen and Ryan are another couple from my Church who volunteered to be test subjects in a faux-engagement shoot before I start doing real engagement shoots with strangers (we won’t be strangers for much longer!).

I knew going into this that working with each couple would be a new experience, but I didn’t realize how different it would be. I tend to send out orders like “Don’t smile, just look sexy,” and although Jen and Ryan were able to do this for me many times (as you can see below), that wasn’t who they are. They are shiny happy people who love to smile and laugh and joke around. I’m going to be learning a lot about photography within the next few months, and the lesson I took from this session is: Capture people as they are.

Girls don’t like the wind because it messes up their hair. Photographers like the wind because of the cool things for photos.

Here I am using my favorite set of stairs again. I wish I could pack these stairs up in my pocket and carry them around with me all the time.

2nd runner-up for That Shot. Ryan actually lives and works in Alaska, while Jen works as a teacher here in Dallas. And I thought dealing with a husband who travels for work was hard. I think moments like this are extra tender when you realize that they don’t happen very often right now for these two. I’m glad I was able to spend some time taking their pictures for them to remember their time together in the remaining months of long-distance marriage.

Like I said, Jen and Ryan are all about fun and laughter. When I saw this bright wall I knew it was the perfect spot to play around a little bit.

That Shot!

I hope Ryan can forgive me for revealing his secret identity-Spiderman!

Ryan wanted both of them to do a handstand. Jen suggested he do one by himself instead. The I suggested Jen tickle Ryan.

I asked them if they ever danced together and they showed me this. Those are some serious dancing skills!

After we had exhausted my posing creativity in front of the orange wall (posing people is really tough you know), we started exploring the alley behind a nearby hotel. I’m sure Jen and Ryan thought I was crazy for getting excited over recycling bins and blue fences, but this spot ended up being a nice little gem.

SOOC (Straight Out of Camera) Shot!

Usually I make my SOOC shot my “best” shot, the one that I do the least editing to because it doesn’t need it (if that makes any sense). This time I decided to show you a photo that I made drastic changes to using Lightroom and Photoshop. It’s a little bit risky, because seeing the two versions side-by-side might make not like either of them, but I think it’s really fun to compare the difference.

Before:

After:

To get the fence this blue color I actually didn’t isolate the background. I made some changes to the photo overall, and this gorgeous blue color ended up being a happy accident. I also used Pro Retouch on their skin, which is a divine little action in the Totally Rad Actions 1 pack.

What do you think? Is it over the top?

I love the contrast between the blue wall and Jen’s bright green shirt.

This is the blue fence! I’m definitely still in a  stage where I am fascinated by what simple little editing tweaks can do. I have to consciously work to make sure I don’t go over the top, but I’d like to have a portfolio that is a mix of natural and stylized portraits.

Again, that same blue fence, turned purple this time. See how well they pull off those sexy serious looks?

Apparently I like taking pictures of couples making out in corners. It wouldn’t be so bad if I turned that into one of my signature “things” right?

We left the alley and did some more exploring which led us to some docks sitting on Lake Carolyn.

I thought it would be cute to get them kissing with a duck swimming right in between them. Turns out that was not a good idea. This is a much better picture.

The reflections on the water prove why it’s so improtant to get up really early on Saturday mornings to have engagement photos taken. Yummy!

Love!

I realize the branches are in focus, they are not, blah blah blah. I love it anyways.

“Let’s get a mom shot!”, I said. Here you go mom(s)!

The last shot I took with my camera that day. Warm and sweet. Just like these two. (Am I getting overly cheesy? It’s apparently really easy for me to fall in love with my couples.)

Jen and Ryan, thank you for being my test couples, and putting up with my mediocre posing skills. Your creativity and genuine affection really made these photos what they are. Jen, I’ll miss having you in the ward after this Summer, but I’ll be really happy for you two when you are finally reunited once again.