Time to Catch Up

It has been almost 2 months since my last post. Let me just say that a lot has happened the past couple months. First off, I started a photography company, Stengel Photography, LLC. I am still trying to find my niche, so I do not have a specialty and would be very interested in taking photos for your special occasion. I never realized how much paperwork and headache there could be in the process. Thanks to my accountant and people able to answer questions within each agency I had to deal with, it remained a fairly smooth process.

The first photo shoot I completed after turning professional was for Kari's family. We had a blast going to a local playground to take their family portraits. There are some really cute shots. Kids, while challenging, can be so much fun to work with. They definitely made my job of capturing natural and fun expressions easier.

I found myself in Atlanta for Thanksgiving visiting my sister and brother-in-law. We explored in a local nature preserve (more photos to come from that) and enjoyed an awesome dinner over at the Nacke's on Thanksgiving day. I was only planning on taking family portraits for my family; however, I ended up getting recruited taking the family photos for the rest of the families there as well. It was a blast and led to some great photos.

Following my return from Atlanta, my roommate, Matt, and I continued our sneaky ways to help him make the final preparations for his big day. On November 30th, he proposed to his now fiancee, Sarah. I was there to take photos to record the day for them. It was absolute privilege! I look forward to helping them take some more staged photos to add to their live action shots!

December led to another new experience for myself and my company. I assisted another great photographer, Blake Dieringer, with a wedding. I had never shot photos for a wedding before. Saying that I learned a lot would be an understatement. It was an awesome experience to take photos throughout the day. The shots look great too!

The last update I want to briefly touch upon is our most recent excursion down to check out the Cursed Pyramid Ruins. I know what you are thinking. What are the Cursed Pyramid Ruins? Or perhaps, why were you guys in Egypt? Great questions! The Cursed Pyramid Ruins are located halfway between Bloomington and Bedford in Indiana. Along the way, we found some great icicles hanging off of the rocks that I-37 cut through as it traverses south. They were absolutely massive! We had to stop and take a few pictures.

Needmore, IN, is a really small town with a single road leading off of I-37. We were fortunate that we did not zip right through the uncontrolled intersection. The road snaked through this small Indiana town until it reached a dead end at one of the largest limestone quarries I have ever seen. It was gigantic! With the Cursed Pyramid Ruins being an abandoned attraction, there is no address or landmark to go off of to find it. We wandered around the area for as long as we could handle the cold without finding the ruins. While we were bummed, our journey was not a complete loss. We found a really cool cemetery completely surrounded by the limestone quarry that provided some awesome photo opportunities. We also decided to come back on a warmer day and hike around more to find the ruins. We know they are out there somewhere!

Smugmug

I am working on establishing a new account with Smugmug as my primary picture depot. This is a place where I can take advantage of the e-commerce associated with my new company.

Fall in Milwaukee

On Sunday, Daniel and I went out to enjoy the day and take pictures of the beautiful fall landscape. I rented a wide angle lens to practice with a different type of lens. The day started out exploring Grant Park. It truly is a gem along Lake Michigan south of Milwaukee. It has beautiful hiking trails including the 7 bridges trail, several beaches, a golf course and other amenities that the wide angle lens did a phenomenal job capturing.
Gotta love being taller than a tree and adding a few inches, or feet, to one's height, :)

After we had hiked around taking the beauty of Grant Park, we headed up to Milwaukee's Lakeshore to take some photos of the Milwaukee Art Museum. The wide angle lens was incredible. I've heard it's been said that the Art Museum is one of the most, if not the most, photographed structure in the Milwaukee area. It has awesome lines and stands a stark contrast of the city to its West and Lake Michigan to the East.

Following a great day taking photos, I dropped Daniel back off at his place and swung in one of my new favorite places to get fresh meat - Rupena's. To my great surprise, they had some beautiful filet reduced from their normal $9.99/lb to $6.99/lb. Talk about an awesome surprise! I grabbed a few steaks, a couple potatoes and a loaf of fresh bread to head home and grill out. Delicious! The sunset and moon were absolutely beautiful. While my steaks and potatoes were cooking, I was out taking photos. The results were amazing, for the food and the photos!

Boutwell Wedding

I had the honor of being one of the groomsmen for Ben and Megan Boutwell's wedding. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. Ben, the groomsmen, some family and the photographer all met at the Broadmoor the morning of the rehearsal to get in a round of golf. Some had played before, while others of us, like myself, were experiencing their first round of golf. Unfortunately the off and on rain squashed any desire for me to carry my camera and capture some shots. I did, however, have the pleasure of spending about 3 hours throughout the weekend talking with the photographer, Corey, about photography. It was one of my favorite parts of the weekend.

Following the round of golf, I raced back down to Bloomington to grab Kari and head back up to Indy for the rehearsal and dinner. One of the meanest ladies I have ever met was running the show. She was the wedding planner that came with the church. Yikes! We made it through the rehearsal and headed off to a delicious dinner at Buca di Beppo. I love family style Italian food! :-)

The morning of the wedding was rather crazy, but we managed to all get dressed, eat and make it to the church on time. This was quite a feat as it was the first time we had managed to all be on time the entire weekend! :-) The ceremony was stressful, but it turned out very beautiful. The bridal party all jumped into a trolley to capture pictures around the downtown area including monument circle and the new public library.

The reception kicked off for the rest of the guests with a cocktail hour that included a chocolate fountain among other tasty items; however, the bridal party grabbed some golf carts and trucked around the course for some final pictures with the setting sun. By the time we made it back to the reception hall, the rest of the guests were already in their seats waiting for the meal. We made our entrance (during which I was trying to find Kari) and found our seats. Food was served not long after we arrived. The groomsmen were extremely thankful as many of us had not eaten since our pizza lunch in the hotel room. Following a delicious dinner, we enjoyed a wonderful evening of dancing, the toasts, glass clanging and car decorating. Kari and I agreed that when we get married, we want a much smaller and less stressful endeavor! :-)

Fall in and around Bloomington

Kari and I took a nice relaxing day as a couple following Ben and Megan's wedding (pictures still being edited) by driving around Bloomington and the surrounding areas. Fall is an especially beautiful time in the hills of southern Indiana. We tried to capture as much of that as we could.

This was also the weekend for the Hilly Hundred. The start point is in a little town just West of Bloomington, Ellettsville, IN. It is a great little event spanning two days and three nights with 50 miles being ridden by thousands of cyclists each day. Sunday's route has several great hills. Kari wanted to watch people suffer on the big hill, Mt. Tabor, so we trekked out there to see some suffering. Along the way we saw some beautiful farms, crazy cows, bails of hay dressed for halloween and cyclists enjoying the last few miles of their quest.

Both Kari and I wanted to check out an orchard, so we headed to Musgrave Orchards to hopefully pick some apples and sample some cider. Unfortunately, we discovered that the public portion of the orchard was only the shop where you could buy things. This was a bit of a let down, but the cider was pretty good.

Afterwards, we made a quick pit stop at Kari's to grab some supplies to snack on before heading downtown Bloomington to walk around downtown and campus. It was absolutely gorgeous! Definitely a great way to cap off the afternoon of wandering before our date that evening!

Updated Photos on Flickr

I have been trying out a new piece of photo editing software - Lightroom 2. It has been a fun experience and something that I'm continuing to improve my skills at. The photos I have previously edited using Aperture 2 will be re-done with Lightroom. Look on Flickr to see how the differences. New photos from the weekend will be posted soon.

Chicago

I've spent the majority of my life the last two days in Chicago attending the Society for Neuroscience. It provided me the opportunity to present some of my work and see what other people are doing throughout the field of neuroscience. During breaks from the conference, I tried to take some time to capture some of the magic of the city of Chicago.
One thing that really impressed me was how blue the water in Lake Michigan was. It reminded me of the lakes feed by glacial runoff in Alaska. I only wished I would have had more time to capture the city. It is such an awesome place!