Last month was one of my most grueling schedules. I shot 2 weddings, 10 engagement sessions, a family portrait session and conduced a workshop all in 16 days throughout Chicago, New York, San Jose, San Francisco, and Phoenix. And this wedding in Chicago kickstarted the whole schedule and it couldn’t have been better.

Nothing is worse in shooting away from home than the lack of familiarity and the loneliness of not having your team or anyone make the whole experience much enjoyable. So it was pretty darn great when I knew that my good buddy and superstar videographer Jason Magbanua was set to do this wedding with me. What’s better was that, photographer friend GLen Abog, who’s based in Chicago agreed to second-shoot this wedding for Metrophoto. Thus it was awesome fun from start to finish.

Add to that the fact that Jose and Diana are one of the easiest couple to work with. They are sweet, beautiful, and everything nice. Diana, reminds me a lot of Tia Carrera, only prettier and little more hot :) I actually can’t wait to have out trash the dress session. In the meantime, enjoy the photos from this wedding in Chicago and check out Jason’s onsite video here.

It’s one thing to have an awesome set of photos from an e-session in such a great city like Chicago. It’s another to do it on back-to-back shoot in consecutive days. It’s like repeating as NBA champions. hahaha. Well one will surely feel like back-to-back champions especially when he is gifted with fabulous couples to shoot.

If you liked Mike and Donna’s e-session in Chicago then you’d enjoy this next one of Shawn and Pam’s. It has the same Metrophoto and Chicago feel but different in so many ways =) Shawn and Pam planned to shoot with the Buckingham Fountain but we got disappointed when we found out that it was closed for maintenance (yeah, after walking three blocks in super-cold weather). Then I thought it would be more awesome to just shoot ON and INSIDE the fountain itself since it’s not working anyway. Thus with a little trespassing, we were able to do what no one else has done before – a photoshoot inside the famous Buckingham fountain. Oh I didn’t need a ladder for this shoot as Shawn is a stuntman and made climbing the structure seem super easy. =)

After such a great start, we headed-off to the old Chicago Theater, then a few shots in the elevated train tracks and finished in Chinatown. =)

So as the Lakers try to win their back-to-back titles as I type, go ahead and enjoy Metrophoto’s own back-to-back winners ;)

This is a long-awaited post for me. I had such an unforgettably awesome time in Chicago this year and I can’t wait to share with everyone all the wonderful photos we have of this city and our equally hot couples. 

Today I’m sharing the photos of Michael and Donna’s e-session that we shot in various locations including the playground in their backyard. hahaha. It was a nice place to warm-up for the shoot as after that we headed to their favorite spot in downtown Chicago, which is the sleek new Asian restaurant Sunda. They served delicious modern versions of our Asian favorites including our very own adobo and avocado puree for dessert. I guess it good to know also that their head chef is a FIlipino =) We enjoyed the sumptuous lunch where I found out that me and Mike had A LOT in common. From being both left-handed, being afraid of the water, both love papaya – I actually wanted to stop there before it got any weirder. hahaha =) 

We then headed-off to Millennium Park where the famous The Bean is situated and all the nice posh shops of Chicago where we finished off the splendid day =) 

Enjoy the photos and thanks again to Mike (who is the best model that I’ve shot so far) and Donna, you guys rock =)