Simon McConico is a photographer based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who shoots senior portraits, weddings, fashion, and commercial stock.
January 14, 2009
Brewlypse!!!
I am working on coordinating tons and tons (okay, not that many) of models for a shoot that I have coming up over a span of 4 days. January 21st-25th (24th is my birthday, just to let you know...). I am still looking for models, so if you, or someone you know might be interested check out our website at www.brewlypse.com. We are looking for all types of people: Big, small, skinny, fat, old, young... everything! I still need about 20 more models so any leads or people you can throw my way would be helpful!
Last night I was given the opportunity to photograph a charity event for Pearls for Teen Girls, an organization that helps inner city teen girls reach their dreams and get to college. Being from the city, this organization really resonates with me.
I went to a school that had about a 50% drop out rate and many of the people I went to school with did not go to or finish college. There are quite a few obstacles to overcome as a female in the city that are seen and unseen. From the stereotypes put on them by music, to the sometimes sketchy education provided by the schools. To reach your dreams in the city is a fight and Pearls is a weapon that is providing a chance to shift the battle from losing, to winning. As a lover of people and the city, I would be amiss to not support something like this. Whether it be Pearls or another organization, get out and volunteer, donate, and support local groups who are making a difference in the community.
The event took place at Bosley's on Brady, which is a fantastic restaurant. The owners were great and the wait staff was top notch. (Now I need to go back and eat some of the food that was making my mouth water all night!)
There were some amazing gifts given, from scholarships to cash donations. The place was electric!
Yeah... they were auctioning off real pearl rings and necklaces... if I had a lady, I might have bid on this beauty... well... that is if I had money :)
Mary was a lot of fun to take photos of. We met at Seven Bridges Park and went walking in the forest. I never realized that the park was so big and that there were so many different places to take photos. We had some amazing light in the morning and I got some great portraits with natural light. I brought along my studio light for a few shots and had some fun with that. It was hard for her to stop smiling and she was always cracking up. What a fantastic person!
What do you do with a broken camera? I don't really know, but you can't really use it... I need to get my main camera repaired and just sold my back up camera, so I had a shoot and no camera. That was not so fun. Lucky for me I know a few people and Sam Dodge came out to help with my shoot and he let me use his D300 (shiver... Nikon) for the day. Everything was backwards, but all in all, I was able to turn the camera on and switch lenses by myself at the end of the shoot.
Cameron was pretty much the coolest girl ever. I showed her one of the photos and she told me that she looked like she was the ruler of the universe in it. Awesome. She was super fun to work with and we shot around Havenwoods State Park and a few streets near by. I was having a ton of fun with Sam's wide angle lens and ended up taking some of my favorite shots to date for senior photos. Check them out and let me know what you think!
Hmm… where do I start… Perhaps I will start in Starbucks where I met with Emily and her mom. I knew Emily through her brother who worked with me one summer tutoring kids in the inner city. We played a few games of ultimate Frisbee and she mopped up in the end zone with Eric hucking (check out ultimate Frisbee lingo) it up to her. It would have been great if I wasn’t the one guarding her… no hard feelings though…
Where was I... Oh yeah… Starbucks. We met and discussed her wedding and it all sounded fantastic. After shooting it, I can honestly say that it was fantastic. From the crazy groomsmen, beautiful bridesmaids, and the really fun family. A great time was had by all... check out some of the photos.
The dress, rings, and shoes were lovely as well as Emily.
Don’t mess…
When I get married, I am gonna be a mess just like Eric was when he saw Emily walking down the aisle. (I heard the ladies dig that?)
Uh… left my iPhone in the limo. Oops. I felt naked.
Yee Haw!! I don't know about you, but I like horses. I have had many an experience with horses, mainly good, but some bad (like when I was walking behind one and it decided to relieve it's self). I got an email from Lauren's brother, who's wedding I will be shooting in the Spring, saying that his sister needed to get her senior photos done. I jumped at the chance and was even more excited when they asked me to come out to the horse farm where Lauren rides. They own a horse named Lucy, who is absolutely beautiful. We brought Lucy out to shoot with Lauren and ran around the farm and took a ton of shots. It was a lot of fun seeing all the different horses named Meatloaf and Big Mamma... Here are some of the shots from that day:
You might remember rainy day Ally from a few posts before. The Saturday we were going to shoot it was rainy and gray all day. No one likes that! Unfortunately she needed a photo for her yearbook and I was going out of town to San Fran the next week. What a conundrum!
Well, me, being the king of all things Ghetto when it comes to setups didn't let a little bit of rain stop us. Ally and her mom came over to my house where I set up a small head shot studio in a spare bedroom and we got her head shot. After the shoot we rescheduled the shoot for a later date and off they went.
I got back to Milwaukee in one piece and we met on Friday in New Berlin at a golf course behind a Walgreens. It was an interesting place, but we got some great shots there. After we ticked off the many golfers on the course (I think we saw one...) we went to a hotel across the street that had a gazebo in the back and a small courtyard area. We shot a bit in there then moved to another hotel that had a Grand Piano in the loby. Ally is a singer and loves music, so she wanted to get a shot with a piano. We got in the hotel and they were having a huge convention or something like that. There were people who looked like they just graduated from college or something like that and a bunch of business people milling about. Lots of people generally does not equil good for photography (specially when you are in a hotel lobby). We got in, I got set up, and banged out a few shots and got what we needed then moved out like a ninja. All in all it was a very fun shoot and it was hard to pick what to edit for this post. I can't imagine how Ally is going to pick the shots to order... Crazy!
James is awesome. I shot him at a rock star event that I was the photographer for and he was kinda mellow until he got on stage to rock out. He jumped up and his hair was everywhere. I was jealous. Well... kinda. I don't think I could pull off hair that long.
We went out and shot at Frame Park in Waukesha, WI, which had a lot of really cool things around to shoot on and in. We ran around for about an hour and made some amazing photographs. He was open to do whatever, which generally ends up being a recipe for great shots. Once someone can get past their inhibitions in front of the camera, it makes the photo process so much easier and generally better. Here are a few of the photos we made:
I love shooting Seniors. I think I have said that before, but I really do mean it. They are so much fun! Rebekah was the sister of Amanda, who I shot a while back. It is fun to hear peoples story and how they feel about their senior year. I get mixed reactions... some love, some hate, some just don't care. (I think I was in the don't care category when I was in HS). Asking the what next question always generates interesting responses and kinda gives an insight into who people are.
Rebekah is going to go to school for cosmetology somewhere quite a bit warmer then here in Wisconsin. I am secretly jealous of her, but I don't know if I could give up hot chocolate and snowball fights. Her hair was pretty fantastic on the shoot. I think she is gonna do well in that field... speaking of which... I need to get a hair cut. Check out the photos while I go do that!
I met Matt at work and he saw a few of my photos in my cubical and asked if shot weddings. I in typical Simon fashion said, "Well... today is your lucky day, I do.". After that Matt, Krista, and I met at Starbucks to talk about their wedding. They saw my photos and we talked about their special day and they were sold. We scheduled an engagement shoot a few days later and here are some of the photos from that day. They are two really fun folks.
Today I got to shoot with an amazing senior. We shot over in Walkers Point, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to shoot, and on Bradford Beach. We had fun trying to chase Seagulls, falling through trailers, and kicking rocks. (I got some bruises on my shins from the trailer incident... but according to Katie, it looked like something out of a movie.)
When I got home, I removed my camera bag from my car. I grabbed it by one of the straps, but didn't realize that it wasn't zipped up. Tumbling out came my camera and a lens onto the concrete. My UV Filter shattered, but the lens works, but I cant get the broken piece off the lens. If you have any suggestions about that let a brotha know. Yeesh... not too fun.
I am always running into people who know of me or know someone I know. Mutual friends. I have only been in WI for about 2 years (not including the time I was here in the summers for school stuff) and seemingly have met a ton of people who know each other or know of each other.
Last year, I shot senior photos for Joncarlos and out of the blue got a call from someone who was a friend of their family. She was getting married and was a photographer and wanted to talk about me shooting her wedding. Sarah, David, and I sat down to dinner and started to talk and from the get go I felt connected to them. They are fantastic peeps and it has been fun seeing Sarah spend money that David probably doesn't know about... buying photography gear... uh... oops.
We met up downtown and started to shoot outside. We were walking around looking for cool walls or empty lots that we could shoot in. I took a ton of photos while we went out walking and we had a great time. A little later in the evening, we went to the roof of the Metro hotel and took some photos up there. It was a beautiful evening and we got some amazing photos! Take a look!
Today I got a chance to hang out with a kid named Cayden. He was a handful and running everywhere. He wanted to play with his ball then he wanted to blow bubbles, then he wanted to throw the football. I have no clue how he could do all of that and still have more energy to play in the park. I think it has something to do with him just turning three, but who knows. I miss that energy... well... I don't know that I remember what it was like to have that energy. This was my first "official" kids shoot and I think it went pretty well. I shot just a little under 3 gigs, so there will be plenty of photos for Mom to sort through in the next week or so. Here are a few shots from today.
I am a wedding, child, senior, fashion, commercial, and anything else photographer in the Milwaukee area. If it includes taking photos, count me in. Please check out my site and let me know what you think!
