American Girl by a Nebraska Boy

It unfolded something like this. As a newly married man, I hear the best thing I can say is "Yes Dear" and in that frame of reference I arrived at this assignment. The idea of shooting dolls all day long wasn't overwhelming at first and really didn't change until I arrived... just being honest.

Our church Glenview Community Church was sponsoring a fundraiser that involved the American Girl Fashion shows. that would help three charities that specialize in helping children in need. Common Threads, Youth Services and By the Hand Club. So check out those links and feel free to help out!!!

Whether it's youth hockey, model rockets, boy scouts or American Girl, every kid has his/her thing and that's what this comes down to. To see the excitement on some of these kids faces being in this environment was a great moment for them. So really it was the proverbial "Win-Win" as the kids there were happy and on the back side the Church was able to raise some good funds to help the kids who are involved with the charities or groups above.

In short it was a two-day, four-show fashion show, lots of volunteers and wonderful youth models. Most of my pics came from the runway. I shot more than 2400 pictures in the two days and edited that down to more than 650 so parents could order prints (I'm giving back to the fundraiser too). So here are a few pics from the event. Thanks for stopping by!

Shaun

Of government, football, motorcycles and kids sports

The few weeks have been flying by, with lots of shoots both hired and special projects and a few favors for friends.

The other big news is that I added a Canon EOS 5D MK II to my fleet of cameras, well, I don't have a fleet, but it sounded fun. The "5D" is a great camera, while not the best for shooting sports as it doesn't shoot at the 11 frames per second that it's big brother does, it does posses excellent image quality and also will allow me to shoot HD video. Editing it is a whole other ballgame.

One of my first assignments was to cover the Israel Idonije Foundation's Kick-Off event on the Southside. I'd never met Mr. Idonije, but have met plenty of other athletes through my years in newspapers. I'll say the first thing you'll notice if you have the pleasure of meeting "Izzy" is that he is a genuine guy. He cares about these kids that are the focus of his foundation.

Two days later, I met James Brown, a football player for Evanston Township High School. James had recently lost his father to cancer and since had put together some spectacular games, he was being profiled for the Tribune's prep sports preview. What a mature young man. One of the things I love about newspapers is meeting people, this was harder as the root of the story was him losing his dad, but this young man seems to have perspective. I wish him the very best in the future, which seems very bright.

Fast forward a week and it was onto Irish Gov't and photographing the Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland, Mary Couglan, for the group Education Ireland. If you or one of your kids/relatives is thinking of studying abroad, you want to consider this!

The day before my dip into Irish culture, I was fully back in Italy when I spend the late afternoon photographing one of my friends motorcycles, a 1975 Moto Guzzi T-3 that looks nothing like it did when it left the factory in Mandello Del Larrio. This will be used for promotional use in the near future.

Lastly, while practicing to be a father, I took picture of our friends kids last weekend partaking and learning the lessons of team sports. While both of their teams lost their games. Little Ella scored a hat trick in soccer and Mitch broke a nice 30 yard run... maybe he'll be the next Taylor Martinez!

Ravinia Brouhaha

When I got the call mid-morning on Saturday to cover an event at Ravinia Festival, I wasn't think much about controversy. After all, it was the celebration for an esteemed lyricist/composer, not some edgy alternative band that was pushing the bounds of morals in our society. Frankly I was more concerned about parking and access.

I arrived about an hour before the assignment started according to request, but for events of such a large nature, I always like to get in and assimilate to the mood and happenings so I can better photograph the event.

Upon arrival and seeing all the black tie's, I immediately flashed back to my time in Naples, FL when I would go to the Ritz Carlton every Saturday night and shoot a society ball... I had to giggle a bit. I ended up finding my PR contact who was great at getting me what I needed to shoot some of the "who's who" of the night. As the concert to celebrate Stephen Sondheim, was about to begin we moved to the band shell area and I got the grounds rules for shooting. @ 15 minutes or three songs and then I would be done and go to shooting the lawn crowd for additional images.

The light was really beginning to fade when I got to my lawn crowd, but after a quick survey of what was happening, I started to shoot an overview before moving into some details. I finally found a couple who was situated in a way that they popped from the crowd and seemed to be into the music. However, they didn't want to give their names, so I cast about to find a new situation. The hard part at Ravinia, is that many in the lawn seats are daydreaming, reading the paper, sleeping, eating, I wanted a nice moment and nice light would hurt either, I finally found this nice couple and their 4 month old daughter... perfect.

Well, almost perfect... suddenly the concert was over, many folks were getting up and leaving and most were confused, my mind set was more like, dang, I'm going to get stuck in all this traffic! You could hear whispers of discontent, at the point I was stopped at the train tracks, I turned around and made a few grab shots, while talking to a nice dentist from South Bend, IN, turns out that was the picture of the night for the Tribune.

Photo Gallery

Story Link

Story Link2

Anyway, it was a beautiful night cut short for some, but looks like Ravinia is making amends to those folks.

Enjoy, Shaun

Doors of Italy, Cappicolo, Moto Guzzi a look back at my June Honeymoon

As I referred to in my last entry, I was missing in action for a while. Part of the reason was a honeymoon in Italy after my February wedding. We spent 10 days in Italy (Rome, Florence, Pisa, Milan, Como and Venice).

We did many great things on our trip. It was my first flight overseas and I can with ease say.... dang, wish I'd done that earlier. We both love Italian food... I know, doesn't make us very unique, but that was part of our decision. I must say, in hindsight, there are some great Italian Restaurants in the Chicago land area. We got engaged at Vivo last July and celebrated our one year anniversary of that occasion at the same spot. http://www.vivo-chicago.com/websitedark/home.html They were great when I arranged our big day there. Tracy's other favorite is all around the city and suburbs, http://www.miafrancesca.com/ Plus I love Italian Motorcycles, OK European motorcycles as I ride a 1994 BMW K1100LT, but hope to ad a nice Guzzi in the future!

So back to Italy... we had such a wonderful time, the trains, the food, the people, the culture, the history. From cured meats like the Cappicolo at a open market outside our hotel in Milan, all the cool doors that were everywhere, the tour of the Moto Guzzi museum, to all the historic places we visited (Coliseum, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, The David, half a dozen Doumo's and Venice as a whole) . It really makes the United States still feel infantile in it's history.

Soon I'll be breaking into some more specific photo oriented entries, just wanted to share a bit more on the personal side.

The return to blogging, an apology for my absence.

Hope everyone is doing well, my apologies for the absence. A honeymoon, a few crazy weeks and a motorcycle ride then suddenly it's been two months. I won't let it happen again.

After I moved to Glenview I thought how cool that there was this little hardware store so near to our place. After a few visits, I realized this was a store on the decline. A few months back they shuttered this location and since then it's slowly been deteriorating, as I was walking my dog Nigel today I couldn't help but stop and make a picture of the place with my iPhone. There is still inventory in the store, but mainly empty shelves, outside is broken asphalt and bits of everything, piles of mulch, broken pallets, and general decay. I'd love to make this place a doggie daycare, right by the train would be perfect for commuters.... ahh dreams!

Anyway, we'll see you again real soon. Cheers, Shaun

Trip to Nebraska

Took a trip home to Nebraska this last week. Needed to get home to see my grandma who wasn't able to make our wedding in LaJolla, CA.

Used the time to also meet up with some old friends and shoot some portraits of their kids and families, here's a little sampling of the nice kids who patiently smiled for me and their folks!

More soon. Shaun

Welcome Rivers!

On Wednesday, it was kinda of a cool grey Chicago day. Aside from having to rush up to Lake Forest and photograph a park for the Chicago Tribune, I also had the privilege to photography 4 week old Rivers and his older sister Keegan. While Keegan wasn't feeling overly photo friendly, she paused long enough to pose with her new little brother. Rivers was a bit sleepy, and probably a touch hungary, but we made some nice images. Thanks Knight family and I can't wait to shoot more of Keegan real soon!

Owen Take two

As I continue to figure out small children and photography... a few things to share

- if baby looks grumpy, step back... he can only projectile vomit about 8 inches

- Big cameras are imposing

- I'm not nearly as funny to a 9 month-old as I am to a 9 year-old

- patience, it's more than a virtue

- It's easier to shoot an NFL football game than it is children

OK, more on this as it develops, now need to go chase a Tribune request.

Air Guitar - Nordic Thunder

A few weeks ago, I spent a long evening shooting at Metro in Chicago after hearing that they would be hosting a Regional competition of the US Air Guitar Championships.

There would be 18 contenders and my plan was to go in and shoot portraits of the contestants

with some action shots to go along with it if I could.

I arrived early to set-up my lighting equipment, but in the end wasn't allowed in until the venue opened to the public. Despite some friendly help from the staff at Metro, I didn't really get a great place to shoot, it was just way too tight and allowed me to only shoot with a one-light set-up. I ended up shooting using my Alien Bee 800 with a 22'' beauty dish with the grid spot in it and it was all powered by the Paul C Buff Vanguard battery (basically a car battery with an inverter attached.) It worked great, but I lost a little only using one light and having a small space, as I had to shoot tighter than I wanted.

So here is Justin Howard aka Nordic Thunder, a three-time champion of Chicago Region.

Distracted Driving

There is a lot of talk in the media about distracted driving. Cell phones, maps, in-car entertainment, GPS, texting. You rarely hear anything about Nail Polish.

I was asked to go shoot at the courthouse in Waukegan on Wednesday to cover a case involving a distracted driver who allegedly hit and killed a motorcyclist at a stop light as she had been distracted by painting her nails. The charge was reckless homicide. I was looking for reaction from the family of victim and if possible the defendants family.

Court is always difficult. More so here in Illinois since we aren't allowed into the courtrooms to shoot as I have been able to in Florida and Kansas, so you have to keep an eye on the doors and keep in contact with the reporter inside the courthouse.

Anyway, this is from day one. The photo didn't run in the paper due to lack of space and I don't believe it ever made it online. To read more about the story follow the link.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/northnorthwest/ct-met-nail-polish-trial-0507-20100506,0,7086850.story

This photo is copyright the Chicago Tribune and Shaun Sartin Photography.

Working with Nigel

Wednesday presented an interesting opportunity. I was headed out to my old stomping grounds of McHenry County. I really don't like going out there for some obvious reasons, but I had two families to photograph. I decided I would take my newly adopted dog Nigel with me (link to his blog www.nigelchronicles.blogspot.com) . He's very mellow, almost a sedated dog 70% of the time and I knew I didn't want to leave him alone all day. So I grabbed some extra food and water and brought him along. I knew one family was dog friendly and was hoping the other one was too, but a nice cool day I knew I could leave him in the car with the windows down. Well, as the picture proves, even a girl who doesn't like dogs, ends up liking Nigel. He's a wonderful ambassador for Labradors and dogs alike. If you're interested in adopting a labrador, check out www.midwestlabrescue.org or search for Labrador and Rescue and your home area and see what you can find.

First Visit

This last week I had a chance to visit New York City with my wife Tracy. We had been invited out by Tracy's childhood friend Andrea and her husband Haynes. We spent two days hanging out with them before heading into the city by ourselves. It was a very rainy few days, somewhat limiting the photography opportunities as we did the tourist thing. Overall, I came out loving New York City, amazing architecture, like Chicago on steroids and even better restaurants available to all levels of incomes. So here are a few pics from our little trip, nothing too crazy.

Dorothy comes to the North Shore

On Friday night I attended a performance of "The Wizard of Oz" presented by the youth theatre company "Play" at www. playonltd.com. My wife and I were seeing our good friends' daughter play the lead roll of Dorothy. This image was shot with a 1/2 second exposure at f/2.8, 200mm lens during the tornado that sweeps Dorothy to the land of OZ. Despite some pretty horrific lighting, this was the fun shot of the night.

Welcome, Marriage and San Diego

In order to keep folks up to speed with what's going on at Shaun Sartin Photography,

I've added the blog and link from the website to let folks know what is happening.

2010 got off to a quick start, but was put on hold for a few weeks while I attended to some

personal matters.... like getting married! A week trip to San Diego/ La Jolla and then back

to the frozen midwest.

Regardless we had a great time, here are a few pics from after the wedding while Tracy and I were bumming around the San Diego area. The real honeymoon comes this summer. If you're in San Diego, head out to Ocean Beach for a quick trip through Hodad's, a heavy metal hamburger hangout, just don't tell your trainer you went!!

Anyway, as I get the big picture of "SafeLight" more focused, we'll tie work activities into

everyday sights and visions I have for things.