Chicago Wedding and Family Portrait Photographer | Otto Rascon

My New Blog!

2009-09-22T22:09:00.001-07:00

I am very excited to announce that I have updated my blog and have moved it to a new home: ottorascon.com/blog

You can also see my portfolio site over at: ottorascon.com

My many thanks to Google and Blogger for the great intro to blogging. I will continue to upload new content and share about my shoots. So check it out and please update your Google Reader to the new address. Thanks and Rock On!

//Otto

Jason - 2nd Year Portraits

2009-09-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

The last time I saw Jason was about 6 months prior to our shoot. Now if you have a kid, or are close to one, you know how incredibly and ridiculously fast they grow. So this was my reaction to seeing him on the day of the shoot: "WHOA, YOU ARE SOOOO BIG!" I hope I didn't freak him out, or his parents. But here he was with his cool flowing hair and a lot taller than I remembered him. Gone was also his little baby face that I was used to. You can tell by the photos that it took a while for him to warm up to me. But I had him by the end, just look at that smile on the last photo!!! I love it.

Prepping For The Shoot
I wanted to give the parents a different look for Jason's 2nd year portraits. You see, up to this point I had only photographed Jason in the studio. But now that he was running around and climbing stuff I figured shooting outdoors might be a lot of fun. His parents liked the idea, so we went with it. I had with me my strobes and light modifiers, but quickly realized that I wanted to shoot with natural light. Having strobes would have slowed things down way too much and would have felt cumbersome. So I just followed him (ran around) along with a lens. You have to be quick with 2 year olds, my daughter reminds me of this fact on a daily basis!

The Set-Up
- Nikon D700
- Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens
- Lightroom for processing and exporting of RAW files

Henry's 2nd Year Portraits

2009-09-01T15:37:00.001-07:00

I have been photographing Henry since he was born. He probably thinks that my camera is a permanent fixture that drapes around my neck. We met his parents while attending a Bradley Method birthing class. They are both very cool, thus they have a very cool son. Both Henry and Jocelyn (my daughter) are the same age. In fact, Henry is exactly one day younger than Jocelyn. So it is really a joy to photograph this little one and it is great that I have seen him grow up right in front of my eyes (lens). What I also like about his shoots is that I know that afterwards we will hang out with his parents and have dinner and hang out. And just for the record: I love his red curly hair!

Prepping For The Shoot

I really wanted to bring out Henry's eye and hair color for this shoot. I also wanted to do an outdoor shoot since the previous portraits had been in the studio. So I used my trusty Alien Bee strobe with a medium softbox. I was able to power the strobe with a Vagabond portable battery pack, which allowed for quick recycling of the strobe. This is good thing since I knew I would need to fire a bunch of flashes in a row in order to capture any fleeting moments. The funny thing about plans is that they do not always go the way you want. Henry is a vivacious little dude that LOVES to run (he's 2!), so I had to be ready to capture him away from the strobes. The first couple of images are non-strobe images.

The Set-Up

- Nikon D700

- Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 lens

- Alien Bee 400 with a medium softbox

- Vagabond battery pack

- Pocket Wizards

- Lastolite grey card for white balancing

- LIghtroom for post-processing and exporting

Morty the Dog

2009-08-26T18:32:00.001-07:00

This amazing bulldog belongs to a co-worker of mine. She LOVES her Morty. About a second into meeting him for the first time I could see why. He has this amazing feel and warmth to him that you cannot help but be drawn to him. It's kind of like when you met your best friend for the first time. You just clicked. I wanted to get down and hug him and wrestle with him, but I figured that would not be the best 1st impression to make on a dog.

I had been wanting to photograph a dog for some time. I really love dogs, but I am allergic to most so owning one anytime soon does not seem to be in my future. I also wanted to give to my co-worker, and I thought that a handful of portraits of her amazing dog would be encouraging. She loved the photos and I had a great time working with Morty.

Prepping For The Shoot
So how do you approach photographing a dog such as Morty? I had a few to ideas:
- One idea was to use an off-camera flash with an umbrella. I would use my 80-200mm zoom and use a Pocket Wizard to blast my flash. This was my preferred method. I thought Morty might stand still long enough to blast off a few flashes. That DID NOT happen.
- My second idea was to go all natural, which is what I ended up doing. There was no way that he was going to stand still. He seemed pretty excited and full of energy that evening. I also really wanted to capture him in his environment and the strobes would have gotten in the way.

The Set-Up
This ended up being a pretty easy shoot in terms of gear. I used the following gear:
- Nikon D700
- Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens
- Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 lens
- Tokina 12-24mm f/4 (this lens rocks!)
- Post processing in Lightroom 2

Baby Camden

2009-08-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

Babies are amazing little things. They move, cry, make noises, pee on you and fuss. They are also warm, affectionate, funny and beautiful and there is something absolutely magical when they smile. They also mean the world to their mom and dad. I love baby portraits for all of these reasons.

Babies and kids are awesome and I love being around them. Who else will allow you to tickle them, make weird faces and even weirder sounds, and yet still get a laugh? Try all of those things on an adult and see what happens! Wait... that might be a good thing to do.

So back to babies. Babies do not pretend to be something that they are not. They are exactly who they are supposed to be.

I have known Camden's mother for a few years now. We have worked together in the past, so I was totally excited when she told me that she was having a baby boy! News like that is always pretty darn amazing and cool.

So fast forward about a year and she emails me about taking some portraits of her little dude. I was excited to see Camden's parents again and VERY excited about meeting him. The session took about 25 minutes and we were done. In between shooting Camden made sure to drink a bottle, fuss just a little, and then pass gas on his dad. We were all so proud of him.

The Set-Up
For anyone interested in the techno-babble, here is my set-up:

AlienBee 400 (1 strobe) on a medium-sized softbox as the main light to camera left
Nikon SB-800 as fill light with plastic diffuser to camera right
Black sheet material for the background
Nikon D700 body with Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 and Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lenses
Post processing in Lightroom 2

Vanessa & Luis

2009-07-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

I met Vanessa a few years ago at her parents place, though I wonder if she remembers meeting me back then. I am friends with Vanessa's brother, Johnel, who is a dear friend of mine. He casually introduced us, we chatted for a second and that was that.

Fast forward a few years into the future. I see Vanessa at her sister-in-laws baby shower and she tells me she wants to talk about wedding photography (for her wedding, of course). I feel both excited and honored that she would consider me to photograph her wedding. We then email each other back and forth and set a time for me to meet with her and Luis. We chatted, connected, booked the wedding, and then later had a great engagement session. Awesome!

Vanessa and Luis are the kind of people that you want to be friends with. They are kind and love their friends and their families, which was evident at their wedding. These are just a few of the reasons why I was excited and honored to be there at their wedding.

So about the wedding. The ceremony was at the BEAUTIFUL Holy Cross Church. The church was amazing to shoot in. Period. Luis grew up attending this church and knows the Pastor, so there is an emotional tie to this amazing building.

After the ceremony the entire party went out to the Adler Planetarium for a few portraits near the lakefront. The weather was perfect (yay, no rain) and the smiles were genuine. What more could a photographer ask for? There was just enough cloud coverage to provide some texture to our portraits and to block out the sun. We all hung out there for a bit and then started to feel the heat of the sun. It was time to get in the air-conditioned bus and off to the reception.

Vanessa and Luis planned the perfect party. The reception was held at the Chateau Del Mar. One of the coolest things about this place is the golf course. The perfectly mowed grass and trees made for a fantastic view. They had a mariachi band play for the cocktail hour. Those guys could SING! And they looked pretty darn cool to boot. The DJ spun a few tunes while the guests ate. After dinner the band came on stage and played a variety of spanish music. They were an amazing band (I will have to get the band name and post it later) and really pumped up the crowd and got them dancing. It was so cool seeing the dance floor so full. I think that the majority of the guests were actually dancing. I know that every last square-inch of the dace floor was taken.

My many thanks to the Flores and Mugnaini families for having me be a part of such an important day in their families history. Luis and Vanessa, you guys are amazing and I hope the absolute best for your future. I look forward to hearing your part of your wedding story. I hope that you both had a blast.

I want to thank Gary Middendorf for his assistance and for his amazing shots. Thanks dude, you ROCK!

You can see the still images on my Facebook page: Click here!

Rowena & Ephraim

2009-07-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

I had such a blast second shooting Ephraim and Rowena's wedding with Hinojosa Photography. Veronica had informed me that they were a cool and fun couple, which is always good news to hear about the bride and groom you are about to spend the entire day with. What was extra sweet was that their bridal party (and family) were just as cool and fun. Looking at the photographs above is a testament to that.

You can see more of the images on Veronica's website here: Ephraim and Rowena.

Congratulations to a fine couple. My many thanks to Ephraim and Rowena and their families for making this day memorable. And my thanks to Veronica for having me be a part of it. Rock on!

My Sweet Victory Dance

2009-07-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

We, too many times, make commitments and do not keep them. We are basically lying to ourselves. Keeping our promises should have us dancing!

My New Website!

2009-06-23T20:23:00.001-07:00

I am so pumped to announce the launching of my new website: ottorascon.com. I am also super excited to be using the services of Showit Sites to design and create my site. This service allows me to design and export a Flash based site, which gives my clients and audience a more rich and vibrant experience . I am looking to add a few pages and I have picked out some music to accompany the galleries. So check out next week for a new experience. Thanks!

River North Shoot with MK

2009-06-11T20:15:00.001-07:00

Last nights shoot with Mary Kate was pretty sweet right from the get-go. The lighting was perfect and Mary Kate was a blast to work with. All equipment was working flawlessly, something I was very aware of since I was testing out my new portable power pack: The Vagabond II Portable Power System!

All was good except for the April-like weather in June. The wind started howling about and the chilliness was a bit uncomfortable. So we had to keep moving just to stay warm. I guess these weather conditions are a lot better than what Chicago normally throws our way: humidity and stale air.

There are a few more photographs to see. You can check them out on my Facebook page right here.

The "Criminal" Photo Shoot

2009-06-11T12:54:00.001-07:00

This shoot took place on the Amtrak rails. About an hour into the shoot we were stopped by the all might Amtrak Police! The photo shoot was cut short and we were all given an "insightful" lecture about the dangers of being around the tracks. Fun Times. Click here to see the rest of the shoot.

My New Biz Cards

2009-06-07T18:29:00.001-07:00

I just received my newest set of business cards from a company called myminicards.com. I am really happy with the service that the company provided. I uploaded my files via ftp on Thursday morning and then received my cards on Saturday! Not too shabby.

The print quality on the cards is really good. The thing that sold me was the fact that I could submit up to 25 photos for the back of the cards as well as 1 file for the front. Most companies will only print photos on the back of the card and then print text on the front.

My overall experience with myminicards.com has been great so far. The cards ship for free and come with a cool little card holder/dispencer. I might just go ahead and use them again for my next batch.

Vanessa & Luis :: Engagement Session

2009-05-19T19:21:00.001-07:00

I am so excited to be shooting Vanessa and Luis' wedding in July. So this engagement session meant a lot to me. I was looking forward to seeing them both again and working with them. They are a blast (man, I have some really cool clients!). I noticed that they both love to laugh, something that I am attracted to big time. They are also willing to try different/creative poses, something that I am also attracted too.

So we met up at their sweet place in Bridgeport and took off to Buckingham Fountain and Millennium Park. Vanessa's mom was ultra cool and drove us around the city. Seriously, how amazing is her mom?! We set up at Buckingham fountain and the walked around its perimeter. That whole area has some amazing landscaping and we took full advantage of it. If you have never walked around that area then do yourself a favor and check it out!

We then drove off to Millennium Park. This place has so many places to shoot at. We went to the Crown Fountain (aka water towers), the Cloud Gate (aka the Bean) and finally the Pritzker Pavilion. Each of these places have their own feel and look to them. The last image in the series is copmosed of about 8 photographs that were merged in Photoshop. After the series were taken we took off, literally, to meet up with Vanessa's mom who was double parked on Michigan Ave. I am sure that is was a funny site seeing three people running like mad through Millennium Park.

Kassie :: Senior Portraits

2009-05-19T19:13:00.001-07:00

I had the privilege to photograph Kassie for her senior portraits. We decided to shoot at the beautiful Lake Katherine in Palos Heights, IL. I had been there before to photograph a family, but I did not spend a whole lot of time scouting out the entire area. This time I gave myself plenty of time to scout and I was able to find a few great spots. I was able to find plenty of spot actually. This is a great place to shoot.

Kassie was so much fun to work with. We talked about school and about the college she decided on attending. There were a lot of images of Kassie just cracking up that I did not post, but that just showed me that she is not afraid to laugh and enjoy life. Her lively spirit gave me a creative boost to try a few different ideas. I wish all of my portraits were this fun.

Oh Baby!

2009-05-12T13:07:00.001-07:00

Baby portraits are so important to me. These little ones grow up so amazingly fast that you cannot imagine how much they change in just a short time. That is why I love it when parents set up portrait sessions for their infants and babies, these are very unique and tender times to capture them.

Prom Portraits

2009-05-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was my nieces senior prom (I cannot believe that she about to graduate from high school!). I had the amazing opportunity to take a few quick portraits of her before she took off to enjoy her evening. I think she looked amazing.

Matt & Jessicas Wedding

2009-05-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

I was very excited about Matt and Jessica's wedding. I met them a few months back at a local Starbucks here in Chicago. As soon as I met them I knew they were a fun couple, Matt is especially funny and likes to make people laugh (my kind of guy). It felt like we all clicked pretty quickly and had a great meeting as we learned a bit more about each other.

The ceremony took place at the beautiful Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park. This church is amazing to look at and has plenty of room for a photog to move around. Pretty sweet. The acoustics were also great. We did not have enough time to shoot some alter shots (bummer), but the bride and groom were cool with that. So we took off to the reception.

The reception was held at the Morton Arboretum in beautiful Lisle Illinois. The actual reception took place inside the Ginkgo Room (Ginko trees have really cool looking leaves). This room has a great view of the arboretum, and a very beautiful pond just outside of the room. The sun was setting pretty fast so we made the most of the natural light and took a handful of fun portraits of the bridal party and a few sweet shots of the bride and groom. The grass was a bit mushy, so we worked as fast as we could.

So all in all it was a fun wedding with a fun couple. I really hope the best for Matt and Jessica as they start out their life together. They are moving to a different state soon, so I know that they have a lot on theor plates. But I have a good feeling that they will transition very smoothly. Thanks guys!

Photoshoot with Ginny

2009-01-19T19:22:00.001-08:00

I had the privilege of working with the very talented Ginny Brazier a few weeks ago. The goal of the photo shoot was to provide Ginny with a few shots for her portfolio. The look of the shoot was to be natural and welcoming. So I decided to use available light for most of the shoot. The set up was pretty straight forward: use the sun as my main light and then fill with a reflector. We were both very excited with the results we were able to achieve.

After about an hour of shooting indoors we decided to head over to Humboldt Park, which I thought would provide a very different look. I probably should have thought about this move a bit more seeing that it was about 25 degrees that day! We went to the park anyway and took about 20 photos and then immediately packed up and took off. We were all too cold to keep on shooting. I was really looking forward to spending more time at the park, but I guess we will have to reschedule for another time, a much warmer time.

We had the very talented Jules from Makeup by Jules join us for the shoot. She provided the flawless makeup that you see in the photos. My many thanks to the both of you for your time and energy. I hope to work with you both again sometime in the future.

Oh Babies!

2008-11-26T14:28:00.001-08:00

Babies, babies, babies! They are so priceless, tiny, and squishy. OK, maybe not so squishy... more like delicate. They are a blast to photograph and I know that these photos will mean the world to mom and dad as they see their little one grow up right before their eyes.

Mario & Liliana

2008-10-21T22:56:00.001-07:00

The Lopez wedding was an absolute party! Mario and I are co-workers, so I knew that his wedding was going to be full of energy. Needless to say, I was very much looking forward to his wedding.

The day seemed to be perfect. The weather was absolutely awesome (look at the sky in the photos... saweeeet). The church was beautiful and the priest allowed me to walk around the entire church. That was cool of him. And all of the family members were present for the family portraits. After the portraits we jumped in the limo and drove over to the Adler Planetarium. Oh, did I mention that there was little to no traffic, on a Friday night!!! That was sweet all on its own.

So we get to the Planetarium and the sky is looking luscious... it was just asking to be photographed. There was also some beautiful light bouncing off of the building right next to the Planetarium, which gave me some amazing fill light on Mario and Liliana. They loved the photos and I was a happy camper. My Nikon and I were best of friends that day. I guess the only negative was that it was pretty darn chilly that evening, so our shoot was crunched down to about 12 minutes (fun).

We then took off to the reception. The music was pretty much blasting from the moment we arrived and it never let off. I think my ears are still ringing from that night. I could not have had a better time with the Lopez and Galarza families. Thank you again Mario and Liliana!!!

Chris & Lindsay

2008-10-21T17:42:00.000-07:00

Joliet, Illinois was rockin' on 09.26.08. The Lotysz wedding was a very fun wedding to shoot (man, all of my weddings have been a blast this year. I'm not complaining). I met up with Lindsau and her girls in Flossmoor at the Marc Alan day Spa. These are some pretty awesome girls and you can tell so much from the company that you keep. So I know that Lindsay has some great friends and family.

From there we traveled to The Renaissance Center in Joliet. Let me tell you, the Rennaisance Center's website does it no justice. This place is very nice with plenty of room for great photographs. There is where I met up with Chris and his groomsmen. soon enough the ceremony started and the rest is history.

I am grateful to the Lotysz and Smith family for having me be a part of their special day. I must mention that Chris and Lindsay played "Always With Me, Always With You" at their wedding. This is the first time I have heard this song since MY WEDDING almost 7 years ago. Chris, you are one rockin' dude! Hearing that song made my day. My many, many thanks.

Rob & Jill

2008-10-21T17:29:00.001-07:00

Jill was very excited on her wedding day, as she should be! It has been a while since I have worked with such an excited bride. It was a joy seeing her this happy. I could tell that she was soooo ready to get married. Rob must be a pretty awesome dude for this gal to be so over joyed. Good job Rob!

Thanks again guys for having me be a part of your wedding. You all have such caring and loving family and friends. Rob, your friends are a blast, and boy can they dance.

Thad & Kristin

2008-10-21T16:50:00.000-07:00

My many thanks to Thad and Kristin for having me shoot their wedding. I always find it such an honor to spend an entire day with a couple and photographing them in one of the most important days of their lives. That is pretty darn special and amazing to me. There is so much trust in that relationship, one that must not be broken either before or after the wedding.

I am also amazed at how quickly the wedding day goes by. All of that planning... all of that worry... all of the anticipation... and then it is done. Then all that is left are the photographs and a few choice mementos of that day. Man, it is so cool to do what I do.

These photographs that I make mean something to my couples, and they mean a whole bunch to me as well. All of the hours and investment in knowledge and photo equipment all makes sense when the couple sees the photos for the first time and are in awe at how amazing they look. That is the moment that I look forward to every time. My thanks again to Thad and Kristin.

Matt & Joy

2008-10-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

I have to say that out of all of the weddings I have done this year, Matt and Joy's wedding stands out for a couple of reasons.

First :: Matt and Joy are a very warm and loving couple. I could see and feel this from the moment I met them at my Starbucks studio. They have an innocence that I have never really seen before in a couple. That was very refreshing to see and experience. The ceremony took place at the Linder Conference Center in Lombard, IL. This was a very cool place to shoot a wedding. The reception was at the Wyndham Drake in Oak Brook.

Second :: This was one of my first weddings to incorporate different lighting techniques during the portrait sessions. Mainly the use of Pocket Wizards to trigger my Nikon SB-800 flash unit. I also used a CTO gel on my flash giving me the beautiful warmth to my images. It was a different approach to the way I normally work, but I think that the results were very satisfying.

So my many thanks to the Ling and Shen families for having me be a part of their wedding day. Thanks Matt and Joy!

Color, Color, Color!

2008-10-21T15:55:00.000-07:00

Hello there everyone. Here are a few shots taken at my first Indian wedding earlier this summer. I second shot this wedding with the very talented Veronica Hinojosa. I loved this wedding for many reasons, and the main was for the colors! I have never seen such an explosion of color. It was soooo much fun photographing all of the details of the day. Thanks to Veronica. That girl ROCKS!