Chang² Studios | Chicago Wedding Photographer

Patrick

By rich | Published: February 5, 2010

Our friend Patrick is a talented actor with a great sense of humor. For his role in the previous show, “A Christmas Carol”, he had grown out his hair. But his next show required him to cut it shorter, so he wanted to preserve some images of this look for his portfolio.

We wanted a clean, simple look that would showcase Patrick. To start with, we used a white seamless background. For lighting, we used a single key light shot through an umbrella, a background light (which was converted to a hair light for a few shots), and a reflector.

It’s always fun to photograph actors and actresses, because of the variety of looks and expressions they bring. We had a great time working with Patrick!

Patrick can currently be seen in “Funny Girl”, playing at the Drury Lane Oakbrook through March 7, 2010.

Posted in photography, portrait | Tagged 2010, head shot, patrick, photography | Leave a comment

Our Wedding

By leeann | Published: February 2, 2010

Ok ok ok, I know we are supposed to put up our work on our blog, but I really want to show everyone our wedding photos. I finally put them all up on the web. Here are some highlights from the day…

The beautiful location of the Redfield Estates in Glenview IL

Our outdoor ceremony

My wonderful husband & I getting a chance to relax

DIY decorations

My cute cute cousin as our flower girl

My beautiful bridesmaids

Our wonderful wedding party

The best day of my life so far!

If you would like to see the rest of our wedding collection photos please click here.

All of the photography is by Kenny Nakai at nakaiphotography.com

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Procrastination

By rich | Published: December 4, 2009

I love the fall colors, but sadly, they last but a short while. We found these beautiful maples outside our place. Leeann suggested that we take photos of them, and I thought I could do it later. The next day, we had cameras with us since we were returning from a family photo session. Again, we saw the trees. This time, I took a few shots before going inside. And I’m glad I did, because the next time I looked, the leaves were gone.

I originally thought to title this post “Carpe Diem”, until I looked up the wikipedia entry which brings up the existential connotations of a life without faith (”Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” – 1 Corinthians 15:32)

Posted in blog, photography | Tagged Bible, carpe diem, fall, procrastination, trees | Leave a comment

From the Bride & Groom: Missy & Dave

By leeann | Published: November 28, 2009

We wanted to share some stories from the brides and grooms of the weddings we have shot. Here is Missy and Dave’s Story.

Tell us about finding your wedding dress:
I found my dress before I was engaged. I knew that a proposal was coming any day, but I was determined not to make any major decisions before I had a ring. However, the fun of looking for dresses with my mom was too enticing an idea to resist. I did not plan on trying on any of the dresses, we were simply going to look to see what was out there and what I liked. Approximately 2 minutes after walking into the store I saw my dress and I fell in love with it immediately. I then decided that maybe it was not such a terrible idea to try on dresses that day–but I did not buy it that day. We came back with my sister a week later and confirmed that it was indeed the perfect dress. I was still determined not to purchase a dress until I had a ring on my finger, but as I reluctantly changed out of the dress that day, I heard my mother telling the sales lady to go ahead and ring it up. So I had a dress before I had a ring. The ring came about a week later.

Describe your wedding flowers:
The date of our wedding was determined by the time in which the lilies of the valley would be blooming. Since fifth grade I knew I wanted tons of Lilly of the valley and lilacs at my wedding, so when I got to junior high, my mom started growing a patch of Lilly of the valley. The afternoon before the wedding my bridesmaids and I gathered our bouquets from the backyard and filled the garage with bouquets and buckets of lilies of the valley, lilacs, honeysuckle, tulips, and violets. We purchased two dozen tulips from the grocery store, but the rest of the flowers came from our yard, neighbors’ yards and the side of the road. My aunts arranged the flowers in vases from thrift stores and my mom’s cabinets. It was simple and lovely–and it smelled heavenly.

Tell us about your wedding cake/cupcakes:
My mom made all of our cupcakes the day before the wedding. She practiced and tried recipes for months in advance. She and her sisters arranged them on platters and placed violets on each cupcake just before the wedding. It was a great deal of work, but they looked beautiful and tasted wonderful.

What was the most memorable moment of your wedding day?
Dave’s response: Seeing Missy walk down the aisle.

Missy’s response: Riding the golf cart down to the wedding ceremony. Enjoying how beautiful the day turned out to be and watching Dave walk in through the bushes surrounding the garden. It was pure happiness and anticipation!

To see more of their wedding click here. And if you have any questions for this bride and groom let us know in the comment section, we will be sure to pass the questions on.

Posted in wedding | Tagged dave, love, missy, vow, wed, wedding | 4 Comments

Our Rocks

By leeann | Published: November 19, 2009

Many of you know that Rich and I got married recently! I just wanted to share our rings with you in honor of Rich finding his! (He lost it after two months of marriage) But we thankfully found it in the dryer.

Here are all three together:

We got both of my rings from a store called Tanishq. Sadly they closed their location here in Illinois. I love asymmetry, both of these rings are asymmetrical and perfect for me! I’m not a one big diamond kind of girl. They don’t fit together so I wear my engagement ring on my left hand and my wedding band on my right hand. My engagement ring i believe is an abstract flower. I love the wire that makes your eye flow through the band. The band is also not straight, but has a slight squiggle to it. My wedding band has seven rectangles on the top of the band and five circles on the bottom of the band. They both ascend into the middle and stop.

If you can see Rich’s ring has a wooden band off center in his ring. We loved the idea of having something simple with a little twist. We found the ring on Rob and Lean’s etsy shop. They actually custom made this particular one with the wood we liked and it being off centered like we liked.

We hope you enjoy hearing the story of our rings and where we got them!

Posted in Our Wedding, rings, wedding | Leave a comment

November Family Session

By rich | Published: November 12, 2009

We had the opportunity to shoot the Thomases last weekend. We didn’t know how the Chicago weather would fare in November, since the high a week before was 46 degrees! However, we were blessed with a pleasant 70 degree fall morning, so we had to take advantage of it!

We started with the mother and daughter with a simple background:

Then we went to the beach!

Mother and son:

Father and daughter:

Finally, the kids had a great time outside at the beach! We have to enjoy the good weather while we have it here!

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Nola, 4 months

By rich | Published: October 25, 2009

Nola is a sweet little girl who inherited her daddy’s red hair and blue eyes! Check out some from our session:

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Luke & Leia

By leeann | Published: October 20, 2009

The other day we got to have a family session with my friend Sahrie! I am so excited to edit these photos, but I must finish an album first. I wanted you to get a sneak peak at her truly amazing children! Luke is 8 years old and Leia is 6 years old. (Yes, they are named after Star Wars)

Posted in family, photography | Tagged 6 years old, 8 years old, brother, child, children, family, leia, luke, sister, starwars | Leave a comment

Package Design

By leeann | Published: October 17, 2009

So as a graphic designer, I not only want our photography to be perfect, I want our packaging to stand out to people when they receive their DVD with all of their images on it.

We have come a long way for the image on the DVD its self, from just burning a disk, to printing on the disk, to printing on high quality, water resistant DVD’s that look just as good as a DVD you can buy from the store, if not better.

We have also come a long with the presentation of the package, from a regular jewel case, to a simple square envelope, to petal paper from Paper Source secured with a button tied through the envelope to hold the disk down so that it does not get any scratches during shipping.

I like the overall look at this time, but I do feel there is a slight problem with how people understand it. I feel that it is a little bit of a complex design. When someone receives this package they open the petal, which is great! But then they seem to be a little puzzled about what to do next. I need to step back as a designer and see its functionality. So the next step is to untie the bow, but I see many confused faces when we hand deliver the DVDs. Do you have any suggestions? We would still like to use our crafty materials, because the look is perfect! Function is important too.