Chicago Wedding Photography Family Portrait Photographer | Otto Rascon » Otto Rascon is a Chicago photographer specializing in wedding photography and family portraits.

04-06-2013

Ana + RJ // Woodstock Wedding at the Concorde-Centre

Ana and RJ are really down to earth and are both a ton of fun to be around. The engagement session was enough to prep me for their wedding at the the Concorde-Centre in Woodstock – the prep, ceremony and reception all took place there. It’s always a bit more relaxing to not travel to a handful of locations throughout the day. So everyone was pretty relaxed and ready for the day by the time I arrived.

Ana had on a beautiful vintage dress that day and RJ a traditional shirt that all worked together really well. The ceremony official is a close friend of RJ’s, so needless to say it was great. Afterwards we walked around the beautiful grounds of the Concorde-Centre and found it to be an amazing place for the bridal party portraits. It seemed like everywhere we went it was a perfect location for portraits.

Thank you again Ana and RJ for allowing me to be a part of your families history. I hope you guys loved the albums!

Here are a few of my favorite images from Ana and RJ’s Woodstock wedding. I took a bit of a different approach and designed most of the blog photos like a wedding album – I hope you like them:

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04-06-2013

Lucy + Ted // Hinsdale Wedding at La Grange Country Club

I was really looking forward to the wedding after Lucy and Ted’s engagement session earlier in the year. I knew that it would be detailed, heartfelt, and fun – and boy was I right!

I could go on and on about Lucy’s energy and excitement (she rocked!) and about how relaxed Ted was (he looked great in his tux). But I do believe that photographs are worth 1,000 words, so I’ll let them tell the story (mostly).

The wedding and preparation photos were taken at the beautiful Union Church of Hinsdale. The rain was on and off that day, but we lucked out and the rain was held back just enough to visit the Katherine Legge Memorial Park and Lodge for a brief bridal portrait session. We were only able to take a handful of portraits at the Katherine Legge Memorial Park since the rain peaked for about 10 minutes. But Lucy and Ted were so cool that they didn’t care that it was raining! We got some great shots there and moved on to the beautiful La Grange Country Club where we met up with the rest of the bridal party.

I’ll just say that the bridal party was one of THE most amazing parties I have ever met. They were a blast from beginning to end, making my job so much fun. They were, how should I say it… crazy! They were being themselves and allowed the bride and groom to be themselves as well. Just look at the photos on the golf course – so much energy and fun. Thanks to Lucy,Ted and their families – I appreciate your willingness to be silly and to go along with my ideas. I hope you had as much fun as I did (I’m sure you did), and I hope that the west coast is treating you both well.

Here are a few of my favorite images from Lucy and Ted’s Hinsdale wedding:

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04-06-2013

Ana + RJ // University Village Engagement Photos

My wife and I met Ana through a friend of ours. I was pretty pumped to hear that she had gotten engaged and was hopeful that she would have me photograph her wedding. So I was giddy when I received her email requesting my photography information, and we shortly set-up a meeting over at her place. It was cool seeing Ana again and meeting RJ for the first time. He’s a good mix of serious and funny (as you’ll see in the photos below) and complimented Ana very well. We chatted about their wedding plans and I had a good feeling about the flow of their wedding plans.

The next step was to schedule the engagement session. We stayed near their place in University Village and started the shoot at Holy Family Church and St. Ignatius College Prep. The entrance to St. Ignatius is a location I had been wanting to do an engagement session at and was really pumped to see what we shot there. We then stopped by the Showplace Icon Theater, which is their favorite theater in the city. The photos with the green and purple looking light sabers were taken near the theater. We were stopped by security at least twice before we moved along and ended the shoot over at Ping Tom Memorial park in China Town.

Here are a few of my favorite images from the Ana and RJ’s engagement photo session:

Well that’s it for now guys! Their wedding photos will be up on the blog soon enough! More to come.

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02-14-2013

Nathan: A Million Dollar Smile – Chicago Toddler Portraits

Can I just say that Nathan rocked! There, done. End of post. Okay, just kidding.

This little guy came in ready to be photographed. He smiled and played the entire time he was over. I believe he screeched a couple of times as well. Having Jocelyn (my 2 year old daughter) helped as well as she shared her toys and played with him the entire time.

Toddler photo shoots can go in so many directions. The little one could be cranky due to no nap or hunger. They could come in being really clingy to mom, etc. But this was one of those shoots were it was just a blast to shoot. All of the pieces came together and out came some amazing portraits of this little handsome dude. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the session:

Set-Up

  • Nikon D700 – shooting in RAW
  • Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 (studio shots)
  • Nikon 50mm f/1.4 (natural light shots)
  • Alien Bee strobe with medium softbox
  • Pocket Wizards (2)
  • 36″ silver reflector for natural light portraits
  • Adobe Lightroom 2 for editing

    • My many thanks to Angie for bringing Nathan over and for being such an AMAZING help! Angie, you made sure that your little guy smiled no matter what. Your energy was awesome. Thanks!

    orp portfolio Nathan: A Million Dollar Smile Chicago Toddler Portraits   orp contact Nathan: A Million Dollar Smile Chicago Toddler Portraits   orp facebook Nathan: A Million Dollar Smile Chicago Toddler Portraits   orp twitter Nathan: A Million Dollar Smile Chicago Toddler Portraits   


    By The Way: I have been mixing up my portrait shoots lately. The 1st half is all studio strobe lighting. The 2nd half is all natural light. This way I get to give my clients a more varied session.

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    01-12-2013

    Kim + Ed // Oak Brook Wedding at the Doubletree Hotel

    Connections are made in the funniest of ways. I met Kim and Ed through Jennifer, whom I had met years ago at a Collages.net gathering for photographer. Fast forward a handful of years and I get an email from Jennifer saying that her step-mother was getting married, get this, at the VERY SAME hotel that she and I had met. Kind of odd, I know, but also very cool.

    Seeing Kim’s excitement for her wedding was amazing. She’s a little older than my typical bride, but her sprit was just as pumped to be getting married. Seeing Ed I knew why – he’s kind of a stud. We met up at a Starbucks in Orland Park and talked about their wedding day plans and had a great time. There are some couples that I just love right away and Kim and Ed were one of them. Just look at the photos of them together and you can see that they really admire and care for each other. It’s easy taking photos of such a couple – they kind of make it easy. Thank you Jennifer for introducing me to this amazing couple!

    Here are a few of my favorite images from Kim and Ed’s Oak Brook wedding:

    orp portfolio Kim + Ed // Oak Brook Wedding at the Doubletree Hotel orp contact Kim + Ed // Oak Brook Wedding at the Doubletree Hotel orp facebook Kim + Ed // Oak Brook Wedding at the Doubletree Hotel orp twitter Kim + Ed // Oak Brook Wedding at the Doubletree Hotel

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    12-28-2012

    Yezenia + Vic // An emotional Chicago Wedding

    I met Yezenia through my Facebook page. We met at a Starbucks near Hinsdale and hit it off. I was finally able to meet Vic a few moths after that at yet another Starbucks, this one near Lamont – thanks Starbucks! I knew this would be a chilled out wedding because both Yezenia and Vic are both down-to-earth and easy to be around.

    The ceremony took place at the beautiful St Agnes of Bohemia church on Chicago’s south side. The Catholic ceremony included some Hispanic traditional moments like the tying of the Rosary around the couple by a beloved family member. Yezenia and I had previously decided to visit the IIT campus for the bridal portraits. We were on a tight deadline, so things had to move quickly. The extreme heat also made things move quickly! I had done a little IIT campus reconnaissance in the morning, so a couple of places had been designated to shoot the bridal portraits.

    Here are a few of my favorite images from Yezenia and Vic’s wedding:

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    Yezenia - Love your work!! Otto did an amazing job! My family & friends loved the photos! You definitely helped to make this a very special wedding day for us!