National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame

Saturday's wedding was held at the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame located in the "Little Italy" area of Chicago. This museum has been open for the past five years and holds some very interesting memorabilia pertaining to Italian Americans who have made their mark in sports.

But beyond the museum, they have an incredible view of downtown Chicago from their rooftop! Not only was it spectacular during the day, but wait until night! The glow of the lights on the street and the buildings in the horizon really is breathtaking.

The wedding was held outside in the fountain area across the street. But after the wedding, we all headed up to the roof of the NIASHF to take in the view and to enjoy cocktails before the reception. As usual, I had great clients who were a real pleasure to work with. We all had a great time!

Goodall RCJ

Goodall Concert Jumbo

Photo by K. Proctor

This guitar just came in this evening... a Goodall RCJ (Rosewood/Sitka Spruce Concert Jumbo.)

I've been waiting for it so that I could post something about it. Yes, I know, I didn't post on Thursday again, but this is the reason I didn't do it!

The Goodall guitars are hand-built guitars in Hawaii from James Goodall and his small but capable staff. He produces about 500 guitars a year.

James Goodall was originally from San Diego and hung out at the American Dream guitar shop in the early 1970's... a small guitar manufacturing shop where Bob Taylor (Taylor Guitars) worked and eventually bought. Goodall was a seascape artist at the time and actually traded a painting in 1972 to afford some tonewood to build his first guitar! Although Goodall never worked for Taylor, they did know of each other. As many guitarists know, Bob Taylor along with partner Kurt Listug went on to form a huge company called Taylor Guitars that currently produces over 70,000 guitars per year. It's one of the most successful guitar companies in the world.

Goodall's yearly production of around 500 guitars is nowhere close to what Taylor builds. But each guitar is almost entirely made by hand. Considering that approximately 15 people work at the Goodall factory (from what I'm told), 500 guitars is an amazing amount of product. The attention to detail and the quality of the instruments are top notch. In comparison, The R. Taylor factory (Taylor's hand-built division) makes about 400 instruments per year, but they have about five people working in that division. R. Taylor shares a lot of its technology with the standard Taylor guitars and so they can produce more guitars with less people.

Goodall's guitars are very highly regarded by guitar enthusiasts. These guitars are often cited for their bell-like overtones and incredible clarity and sustain. From just the short time I've played the guitar, I can tell you that these claims are true. The Concert Jumbo is one amazing acoustic guitar!

This Goodall RCJ is outfitted with an LR Baggs Element undersaddle pickup. This pickup is considered one of the best of its type. I've yet to plug in the guitar to an amp, but will do that very soon.

More photos and a detailed description of the guitar and its sound will be coming in the near future after I've had a chance to live with it for a while. But in the meantime, the photo you see above was taken by its previous owner, Kyle Proctor. It's a wonderful photo and I asked his permission to show it to all of you.

The Luvabulls

On Friday, I had a chance to see the Chicago Bulls play the Dallas Mavericks in an exhibition pre-season game. We won 100-92!

This was the first Chicago Bulls game I have ever been to in person and I had a great time! But surprisingly, as much as I liked watching the Bulls play, I had an even better time watching the Luvabulls!

The Luvabulls is the team's cheerleaders! They really helped make the game a lot more fun. Totally professional and tightly rehearsed (each member even put their pom pons in the same spot behind them when they weren't cheering); I was really impressed by them! It figures that a wedding photographer would photograph the girls rather than the game, right?


My daughter was in cheerleading several years ago and was also on the pom pon team as well. Today, she's on her school's Orchesis dance team. So to watch these girls on the Luvabulls was a natural thing for me. I kept telling my wife that the high school teams should attend these games just to pick up some pointers from these girls! (10-15-07 Note: My daughter reminded me that one of her former teachers, who was also at one time the High School Pom Pon coach, was formerly a Luvabull too!)

So even though I photographed the Bulls while they played, I shot probably just as many images of the Luvabulls too! Go see them if you can! And if you want to watch the ball game, you can do that too...

No Thursday Post!

Hmmm... Thursday came and went and I didn't post anything!

I think I'll hold off another day and try to post some photos from a Chicago Bulls exhibition game I am going to be attending on Friday. This will be the first Chicago Bulls game I've ever been to!

The United Center's website claims it's ok to bring cameras, so I will do my best to take some shots. I'm not sure if our seats will be good or not, but we'll see.

Look for my next post for some shots of the Bulls!

Homecoming Weekend

This weekend was homecoming for many high schools including my daughter's. We spent Friday watching our team lose the football game at the high school. Of course, having the game ball delivered by helicopter was kind of fun!

Oh, there were a lot more people at the game than you see here. That's the opposing team's fans on the other side of the stadium. Our side was packed with people!

Taylor Guitars Road Show - Tobias Music

Ballydoyle Irish Pub Restaurant

Dave Hager takes apart a Taylor GS

Wayne Johnson Performs on a Taylor 910e

Wayne "Taps" On A Taylor T5

Wayne plays the new Taylor Custom Solid Body

Tonight, I attended another Taylor Road Show... this one sponsored by Tobias Music in Downers Grove, IL. I bought my first Taylor guitar from Tobias Music, so it was great attending this event.

Wow... this was standing room only! It was held at the Ballydoyle Irish Pub Restaurant in Downers Grove. There was a line running outside of the room that was set for the event!

Essentially, this was the same presentation that was given at Gand Music & Sound, but in a different venue. I decided to keep the nice feel of the room by allowing the white balance of the photos to have that nice amber glow so well associated with incandescent lighting.

Another fun evening for guitar fans!

Taylor Guitars Road Show - Gand Music & Sound

Wayne Johnson inspects an x14ce guitar

with a florentine cutaway, ES electronics,

Sinker Redwood top and Macassar Ebony back & sides

Wayne tries out one of the new Solid Body Taylors

Dave Hager shows off a cutaway version

of a GS body with ES electronics inside

Dana Behl works on a neck reset

Dana shows the proper technique

for restringing a guitar

Last night, I attended the Taylor Guitars Road Show which was held at Gand Music & Sound in Northfield, IL.

Wayne Johnson who had played with The Manhattan Transfer for many years was on hand to help demonstrate various Taylor guitars and also to help unveil the new solid body electric guitars that Taylor Guitars will be offering very soon.

Taylor's regional sales manager, Dave Hager and Taylor Guitars repair technician Dana Behl were there as well to help explain the various technologies offered by Taylor.

The new solid body electric guitars look very promising. This is a new venture for Taylor and they have high hopes for it. A couple of years ago, Taylor started making electric guitars with the introduction of the now legendary T5 model which is a hollow body guitar. The new solid bodies have a lot of competition but I think these models will do just fine in the marketplace. To see more photos from the Road Show, click here.

Photo notes: These images were taken with just the ambient light at the store. The Fuji S5 pro was set for both aperture priority and manual modes depending on what was being shot. A strong floodlight was directly over Wayne Johnson which confused the camera's aperture priority mode. Switching to manual mode saved the day. (Exposures: ISO 1600, f2.8 and various shutter speeds which hovered around 1/80 second to 1/125 second.) Lenses used: Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR and Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 XR DII SP.

The Hallway

I love taking photos of the bride as she walks down the hallway. This one has been cropped to give a pseudo - panorama look.

Something about the converging lines of the ceiling and wall moldings and the darkening of the lighting in the background always looks interesting to me. Add a little camera tilt and it completes the effect.

I'll bet the brides are always a little anxious too whenever they leave their hotel room. After all, in just a short time, they'll be married! That's got to be a little scary! LOL

New "Simulated Leather" Albums

A new flushmount album has become available and it's a really nice one!

These albums are less expensive than my standard leather albums and about $100 more than the bordered vinyl albums; but their simulated leather look (ok... it's vinyl too) is much nicer looking and feeling than the older vinyl albums.

These albums have padded and textured vinyl covers and have less of a "sheen" to them compared to the other vinyl albums. The corner edges are rounded too, just like the leather albums. And, because they are true flushmount albums, you can easily put panoramic page spreads on two pages as well! The photos go from page edge to page edge... no borders to mess with. Another nice feature is the gutter (the space between panoramic prints.) It's the smallest spaced gutter I've ever seen... even smaller than the leather albums!

Construction of the albums seem to be very high quality as well.

I think you will really like these albums. For 2008 weddings currently booked, the new 11x14 album has already outsold all other album sizes and types and I haven't even had a demo until now! These albums are available in 10x10, 12x12 and 11x14 sizes. Cost? Well, the large 11x14 album is about the same price of the 10x10 leather album! Keep in mind that a panorama print in an 11x14 album measures 22x14 in size! That's HUGE!

You may be wondering why someone would buy the leather 10x15 album since this album is so great. Well, the leather versions do have advantages. They are a little narrower and a little longer. There is a bunch of leather options (standard leather, glove leather, suede) and a bunch of color options. The vinyl only comes in black, slate or brown. Also the leather album has a front cover cameo option at no additional cost. That's not available on the new albums. And you can specify the gilding color (page edges) on the leather album but not on the new albums. You can also add additional pages to the leather albums if needed, whereas the vinyl albums are only available in 12, 16 and 20 page varieties. Lastly, the leather albums have spray coating protection on the pages. That's an option on the new albums.

So the choice is yours... leather or simulated leather (vinyl). Either way, I think you'll agree that both albums are top notch!

Tale of Two Guitars

On the left is my 2006 Taylor GS-MC (Mahogany Back and Sides / Cedar Top) and on the right is my 2006 R. Taylor Style 1 (East Indian Rosewood Back and Sides / Engelmann Spruce Top.) Although the body shapes are the same, there is a night and day difference in the tone of these two guitars.

It could be argued that the differences in the woods is what is causing a change in the sound, but it's more than just that. This is the third GS guitar I've owned and each one was different. But none of them compared to the richness of tone from the R. Taylor.

The GS-MC (now called the GS5 for 2007) is a warmer sounding guitar than my GS-MS (Maple / Sitka Spruce, currently known as a GS6) or GS8 (Rosewood / Sitka Spruce.) I think it's a great guitar for fingerstyle playing, but it holds its own when strummed as well. Like all GS guitars, the bass response is much better than on other Taylor guitars.

But the R. Taylor - Style 1 guitar is a totally different guitar! It may look similar outside, but it's made differently inside! The bracing is different, the wood quality is higher and from what I've been told by Taylor Guitars, the wood is thinner as well. This guitar projects a lot louder, the mid-frequencies are the best I've ever heard and it has incredible overtones, sustain and string separation! As for bass, well, there's no comparing the quality of the bass to a standard Taylor. The R. Taylor blows them all away! Deep, rich and powerful.

R. Taylor guitars are made by five of Taylor Guitar's top luthiers. Less than five hundred guitars are made each year from this group of artisans and each guitar is hand built. Although a lot of technologies are shared between the regular Taylor line and the new R. Taylors, the limited production R. Taylors get special treatment. The best woods are used on these guitars and hand construction techniques are used to make them as well. This all adds up to guitars that sound different from the main production guitars.

Both guitars have K&K Pure Western Mini pickups installed. The GS-MC has Gotoh 510 Delta 1:21 tuners retrofitted as well. These come standard on the R. Taylor guitars. Both guitars are keepers! At least for now...

Tight Squeeze

Every week, I look for images and interesting stories to put up on my blog. This week, this image grabbed my attention.

At Saturday's wedding while heading down the elevator to get to our ride to the church, the bride, one of her attendants and I squeezed into the small elevator in the hotel. I immediately took a quick shot as the attendant was adjusting the bride's dress. Inside the cramped elevator were mirrors all around. I figured it might make an interesting shot because we'd be able to see the bride's face in the mirror. But not only do we see the bride, but you can clearly see me taking the photo! Not often do you see me in any photos... so to see me at work is something that's very rare.

On occasion, a guest will try to take my photo. It seems they like seeing me at work and try their best to photograph the photographer. When that happens, I usually turn quickly and take a shot of them, taking a shot of me. It's just a little retaliation on my part!

This shot is interesting though. I caught myself while working!

Two other things made this wedding stand out.

While heading to the church in the rented trolley car, a car tried to turn left in front of the trolley and almost hit us! At the last moment, the trolley driver swerved and we missed the car. I was ready to take photos of the impending accident, but never got the chance.

Also, while at the reception, one of the priests came up to me to tell me that he appreciated the fact that I was very unobtrusive at the wedding. "I hardly knew you were there and I appreciate you making the effort to not disturb the ceremony!" (It was a LONG Catholic ceremony!) How nice! I was really touched to hear that because many photographers have been blasted by the clergy lately for being such trouble at weddings! I thanked the priest and told him how much I appreciated his comment.

It was a fun time shooting on Saturday for a very nice couple. I'm lucky to have such wonderful clients!

The Truth About Wedding Photography - Anyone Can Shoot It!

There. I said it.

It's TRUE! Anyone with a camera can shoot a wedding!

Let's say your friends just bought a new Nikon D80 camera. Better yet... let's say they spent the money and got themselves a new Nikon D200. And, they splurged and bought one of the fancy 17-55mm f2.8 DX lenses to go with it. And, to top it off, they got themselves a Nikon SB-800 flash with a nice diffuser too.

Wow! They must be really able to shoot your wedding right? After all, they have the same basic gear that many wedding photographers use. Same camera, same lens, same flash. Oh, and they bought plenty of Compact Flash cards too, so they can shoot 2000 or more images as well!

But to be safe, you went ahead and contacted a couple of professional photographers. Wow, that guy is going to charge you $2500 to shoot the wedding! And then, another guy had the nerve to say it would cost $5000 to shoot the wedding and to make an album! Are they crazy? The whole camera system doesn't even cost $5000!

So you decide that perhaps your friend with the new fancy camera can do just as good of a job. And you don't expect him to do this for free... so you offer to pay him $1000 for his time and effort. That's more than fair right? You had checked out Craigslist and found some "pro" photographers offering to shoot weddings for $500. So giving your friend $1000 is more than fair!

In this case, I would agree with you. Paying him $1000 is very fair! It's twice what some guys will do it for and they are in business to do this! Your friend is getting double and he's not really doing this professionally.

Ok. So your friend shoots the wedding, goes home and puts the images on Photoshop Elements and fixes some of the shots that did not come out too well and then prints up 4x6 images of all the photos and gives them to you. What? They don't look as good as you thought they would? Why is that? He's got the same camera, same lens, same flash, lots of Compact Flash cards to get lots of shots, but it still doesn't really look that good? Something's not right here. What is it?

Lack of experience! Lack of artistic vision! Lack of technical expertise!

Now you know why some of these wedding photographers are charging $2500 or $5000 or more for a wedding. What you are paying for is not the camera. You are paying for their ability to give you quality images and quality albums based on their professional abilities.

Anyone with a camera can shoot a wedding. But would you really want them to?

Einstein

Every now and then my daughter and I find a "stuffed animal" at a store that grabs our interest. But on a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, we didn't find a stuffed animal, but this guy caught our attention instead.

Anyone want to explain the Theory of Relativity?

"Before and After" - Lincolnshire Marriott

"Before"

"After"

In the daylight, the fountain at the Lincolnshire Marriott looks pretty good. At night, it takes on a whole different look!

Time exposure shots are lots of fun to do, but requires either a tripod and a remote shutter release or something to lean against and a steady hand. For this shot, it was the latter.

"Hey, Take Our Picture!"

While wandering around outside late at night trying to scout out some additional locations that I could photograph my bride and groom, I was approached by these two ladies who ask me to take their picture.

So I said, "Well, give me a good pose!"

This is what they came up with.

Sometimes you just get lucky! I find that without telling people how to pose, sometimes they surprise you and come up with some good ones on their own. Too often, photographers don't let their subjects try different poses on their own. I always try to let people pose themselves first. If they don't come up with something good, then I'll suggest something. But in this case, I just didn't need to do that.

September 11, 2001 - We Will Not Forget

Six Years Later...

9/11 - We Will NOT Forget.

Another New Blog Name

Once again, I've changed the name of my blog!

After reviewing the topics I discuss most, I found that it comes down to just a few things: Photography, Weddings and Guitars! So ok... perhaps there isn't a Lot More like the name implies, but that just leaves it open for me to be able to add more if I want! :)

Those three topics seem to be my favorite, so I figured I should name the blog after them!

My faithful visitors also seem to be from three catagories as well... current and potential wedding clients, photographers and musicians! Well, ok... a bunch of friends and relatives who don't fall into those three catagories visit often too.

Don't worry... things haven't changed concerning the blog... just the name.

Carry on!

Texas Guitar Show - St. Charles, IL

Today, I attended the "Texas Guitar Show" which was being held at the DuPage Expo Center in St. Charles, IL. It runs Sept 8 and 9.

My friends Jim and Alicia got there before me and had already purchased a "Lefty" Taylor DDSM (Doyle Dykes Signature Model) and a Fender acoustic guitar amp!

This is one of the nicest DDSM's I've ever seen! This guitar has got incredible Quilted Maple on it's back and sides!

Alicia met Doyle earlier this year at one of his Taylor workshops at Sam Ash Music in Lombard, IL (see my May 17, 2007 post about Doyle and Haley.) So now she owns one of his guitars!

Ironically, I had recently sold my DDSM and got an email message from Doyle yesterday about it! Don't worry, Doyle has forgiven me for that.... NOT! :)

The show was really interesting. I've never been to one of these kinds of shows. But from what Jim tells me, the show in Arlington, TX is much larger. Still, it was fun to go see all of these guitars in one huge room! I was surprised to see people buying guitars with CASH! Wow... that's a lot of $20 bills!

To see more photos from the show, click here.

Sometimes a Windy Day Isn't So Bad

While taking photos outside, we were hit with a sudden gust of wind.

Instead of just waiting until the wind died down, I decided to keep shooting. The movement of the dress and the bride's hair gave some "action" to what would typically be a static posed shot.

Sometimes having a little wind isn't such a bad thing...

Chu-Ske The Mouse Fighter

My nephew gave me the trading card on top because he knew I liked Bruce Lee.

The trading card is Chu-Ske, the Mouse Fighter. According to the card, Chu-Ske is "A fiery mouse, travelling the world to become the strongest fighter in the world of mice. Be careful not to touch him, or you will get burned."

This card is from the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game by Konami. The kids like playing and trading with these cards. When I was younger, we had baseball cards. But I also had James Bond cards (still have some from the movie Thunderball) and Batman cards (my brother has these) and also Star Trek cards! We'd buy these card packs at the local store and trade them with our friends.

As we would go through our cards, we'd say things like, "Got 'em, got 'em, need 'em, got 'em..."

Anyone collecting baseball cards will always remember the lousy stick of gum that came with the cards. A couple of chews of the gum and that thing would turn rock hard and all the flavor would be gone. (Wasn't that good to begin with!) Yuck! Still, we bought the cards, chewed the gum and then stuck the cards in the spokes of our bicycles by holding them there with clothes pins attached to the front and rear forks of our bikes. That was how we got the cool "motorcycle" sounds when we rode our bikes.

Man, those were the days!