Metropolitan Imageworks

It’s been an amazing journey with the M family, one that is not completely over yet.  I’m banking I will hang on until both Toni and Bianca get married!!!  From photographing their mom and dad’s wedding four years ago to photographing Toni’s first year milestones and now completing Bianca’s first year milestones, I honestly have become a part of their family.  Not to mention that mom and dad are pretty darn fun to just hang out with and we always find ourselves laughing together.  I cannot believe what a little lady Bianca has become and she is indeed the ringleader of all the antics between her and older sis’ Toni.  I just love the way they interact and of course I am in awe of how gorgeous and well spoken little Miss Toni is now at three years of age!  Of course not that I expected any less from her parents!  Now I will have to find excuses to see them every few months instead of just waiting until the annual portrait session.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for entrusting me to creating your photographic memories for so long!!!

Aly & Cael are back on the blog again!  Their mom just reminded me that I began working with their family four years ago when Ashlyn was just an itty-bitty newborn! And now she is a young lady and the little music man Caelan is a whole year old – and he is speedy!!!  Time sure does fly when you’re having fun!  Aly was such a rock-star, she even let me do all her outfit changes and whipped out her own camera for a few pics at the end.  I think I have a new little help to begin grooming!

Oh my little Sammy, I have such a fondness for this little guy!  He has graced my camera at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months and most recently at 2 and a half years old.  I also photographed his Mom and Dad’s engagement photos and then their wedding photos in 2008.  And of course, one of my favorite childhood dolls was this cute little boy baby named Sammy (who was anatomically correct and could drink water and go potty!!!)  I have since gifted my Sammy doll to my bestie’s young daughter and I hope their dinner parties also entail the adults gathering around the loo . . .

For this session we met up at Cantigny and delighted in all the fall colors, perfect weather and of course Sammy LOVED climbing on the tanks and looking at the koi fish in the pond.  We even saw a hawk swoop down and rest on a wooden fence.  See you all again next fall!

I met up with the Santos family last Friday during the last hour of daylight and capitalized on some wonderful fall weather and lush fall colors.  Sheila picked a perfect spot right on the river and her sons, Owen and Brian, gallivanted around and had a blast goofing off in front of my camera.  Even her husband Mark was a good sport!

Marc and Cynthia are some of Metimages original wedding clients from 2001, back when I was operating as Rachael Silvers Photography.  They were married in June and while I had photographed a handful of weddings and special events in the years prior, their wedding was particularly special since they had been good friends of ours for a few years and I knew a lot of the cast of characters through other photographic projects.  Fast forward a year and a half later and Marc and Cynthia were two parts of the brass quintet that played during my own outdoor wedding ceremony.  Funny how life happens, jobs change, people move, families grow and it’s often a full circle.  Marc and Cynthia moved from Illinois to Southern California in 2004, and my husband helped them drive a huge moving truck across the country.  Now since our migration to Orange County, California earlier this year, we are only about an hour and a half apart from Marc and Cynthia rather than half a continent!  I met up with them at La Jolla Cove last weekend for some fun family portraits and of course loads of goofing off and fun portraits of their darling daughters.  Some say there is no place like home.  I say there is no place like being near friends.

Laura and Todd needed some head shots, they also wanted some updated pics of the girls and of course while we’re at it, why not get the holiday card photo out of the way too?!  They came to Chicago for the long weekend all the way from Minnesota, and as it so happened, I was in town too!  I photographed Laura and Todd’s wedding in 2004, Laura was one of my own bridesmaids in 2002 and we go way back to our high school days in the early 1990′s.  It was such fun to see Maddie and Sasha as little girls and their interactions as sisters are just so cute and sweet, mostly!  We were also very lucky with some great late summer weather in Chicago. Can’t wait for the next session and I hope it’s sooner than in seven more years!

Our star Coby is back again.  You may recall seeing his Milestones from October 2009-October 2010, with mom’s maternity session as a preview and then Coby’s 1st birthday party pumpkin celebration.  It’s time for another portrait session as Coby is growing by leaps and bounds and has the cutest little personality.  Mom and dad are expecting again and Coby will be a big brother this fall and I just know he’ll do a find job!

The last time I photographed TJ he was a squishy, little newborn!  Now he is a little man at two years old!  We met up at the Riverwalk last week and braved the 90 degree temps and sweltering humidity for a quick photoshoot.  TJ was a perfect gentleman and smiled and hammed it up for my camera.  Then after 25 minutes in the crazy heat it all went downhill,  but we already captured exactly what we needed!

Check out these two cutie- patooties!  Maddie and Lanie were such troopers during our very hot and humid portrait session!  I, for one, felt the trickle of sweat dripping down my back as we trekked around the gorgeous grounds of Cantigny.  I’ve had the pleasure of photographing both Maddie and Lanie as newborns and then again for a couple sessions in-between.  The girls are so much fun and do so well in front of my camera!  Mom and Dad requested a few shots of the two of them, something they haven’t done since their wedding!

Ezra and Zora are back on the blog again, this time for their two and a half year portrait session. We started out at home with them smiling, making faces and showing off some of their new jumping tricks.  Oh to be two and a half again and fearless!  After that we headed to the local splash park for a little late afternoon cooling off, though it seems Ezra and Zora had more fun on the playground swings rather than in the water!

Climbing on the furniture is fun!

Jumping off is even more so!

Check out Ezra’s form!

I think it’s safe to say they really like when I photograph them now!

Mom really enjoyed the water!