Clients always ask me what I think are some of the great locations in Chicago to take photos for Engagements, Weddings and Portrait sessions… Honestly there are so many cool locations in Chicago it’s hard to tell or show them without digging out a map

For those of you that have iPhones or iPod Touches – I have just rolled out a cool new feature for my Studio’s Client Connect App – Photo Spots.

Photo Spots is a really fun way to check out some of my favorite Chicago locations. Right now there are a few dozen of my favorite locations listed, but I will be adding a bunch more when I get some time in the coming weeks.

Photo Spot Feature Highlights

• Move, Pan, and Zoom an interactive map of the Chicagoland area that displays pin locations of some of my favorite Photo Spots.
• Tap on the pins to see highlight detail, drill through to view a short POI (Point of Interest) commentary on the location with tips for photos to be taken there.
• View a sample photo shot at the Photo Spot.
• Click on a “Locate Me” icon to show your real-time position relative to the Photo Spot (only works with iPhone w/GPS) – if you are an adventurer you can use the map to navigate to the exact spot as displayed on the map!

Photo Spots Screen Shots

Something exciting is coming very soon.  Can anyone guess what it might be?

Let’s just say that it rhymes with “myPhone Frapplication”

Coming very soon to an iPhone near you.

- Andrew

Past, current and future/prospective clients – feel free to “Friend” me on Facebook to keep up with current studio happenings…  Also, if I shoot your Portrait, Engagement or Wedding I always post up some of my favorite Artistic images and “tag” my clients.  You’ll get some cool photos to share with all your friends that way!

Andrew

My father-in-law is a very talented wood worker.  I would even venture to call him a “master craftsman”.  Over the years he has made many many wonderful pieces of furniture for my wife and I as gifts, as well as so many toys for my children that will be loved for generations to come.  Maybe some day I’ll post up some photos of the full size rocking horse that he hand carved for my daughter, it’s absolutely stunning!

Earlier this year around Christmas I was talking with him about creating some custom made wood mounts for some photos of my children.  As a photographer I have access to millions of different photo frames and canvas wraps, prints etc…  But I wanted something a little different for my house.  He came up with an idea of creating solid frames that would “float” off the wall when mounted, and also have a floating mount for a print.  He made up a prototype out of some extra pine that he had so that we could test the idea and the manufacturing process.  I wanted to make these “solid”, no cheap particle board or fake veneered wood.  For reference in the photos below the photograph portion is a standard sized 11×14 mounted print.

This is just one style that we came up with that features an off center floating photo mount surrounded by a solid exotic wood frame.  For our first prototypes we made up 4 different frames in different species of exotic woods.

Here are a few quick pictures that I took.  Sorry for not being able to set up better product shots, but I was excited to post these – it was hard to avoid the specular reflections.

For pricing details or other information, please send me an email to fineartgallerymounts@johnandrewsphotography.com and I’d be happy to talk to you about the possibilities.  Any size and / or material can be used and the frames can be supplied without photo or with photo printed and mounted in your choice of print (gloss, lustre, metallic etc).

Information about the wood species used.

http://www.exotic-wood.com/wenge.htm

http://www.exotic-wood.com/african_padauk.htm

http://www.exotic-wood.com/honduras_mahogany.htm

African Wenge

African Wenge

African Wenge

African Padauk with Wenge Inserts

Honduras Mahagony

African Padauk with Wenge Inserts

African Padauk

Honduras Mahogany Close Up

African Wenge Close Up

African Padauk Close Up

African Padauk Close Up

I’ve been really busy designing and delivering albums for past brides over the winter.  I have a couple albums going out tomorrow and just wanted to post a few photos of some prototype album packaging.  I love how these turned out and have some ideas on some twists to make them even cooler, but this was a first attempt.

Of course the albums that are wrapped up inside are the most important part, but who says you can’t have a super slick presentation?

The materials that I am using in case anyone is interested:

• Handmade textured Mulberry paper
• Mulberry ribbon
• Skeleton leaves from the Rubber Tree plant (Thailand)

-Andrew

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now… I’m setting up a gallery on my photo cart system to showcase some of the various cool shots that I’ve taken over the past few years that I think will make really nice wall art.

Starting with this really cool shot of the northern Chicago Skyline. This view is a southern view of the Hancock skyline from the North Avenue Beach perspective. I was lucky to catch the very cool clouds on this day as I’ve been down in this location many times and the sky never looks this cool.

This image is available for purchase. It will be printed on a Canvas Gallery wrap and mounted on a 1.5 inch museum stretcher frame. It will come ready for hanging with the appropriate hardware. You can also add a Tyvek dust cover, upgraded hardware and bump stops for a nominal additional fee. This image will look fantastic in your home and/or office if you are a fan of the city of Chicago!

Click Here to View My Fine Art Gallery

Example Museum Gallery Wrap Profile

Example Non Covered back with Hardware

Example Tyvek Dust Cover back with Hardware

I finally got around to updating the look and feel of the Blog! Hopefully you’ll like it. I like it because I will have a little more room in the middle of the page to display larger images. Stay tuned for new posts to see the new layout!

-Andrew