Remember my trip to Harbor Springs? Well I also brought my film camera along and toyed around with a few rolls of expired fujifilm I had. Thought I’d post this since I’m starting to experiment with more of the same at my family sessions as well (including one that I have tomorrow!). Hope you all are having a fantastic weekend so far! XO
… as in, “sha-vee.” As in, short for Xavier. And clearly, this little guy is just as sweet as his name 
I actually ended up visiting baby Xavi and his family three times – once at the end of fall before he was born and then twice again when he was 9 and 10 days old (the latter has become quite routine for our baby sessions during the winter months as there is a very limited window of good natural light this time of year.. *shakes fist at midwest weather gods*). Although it was more my pleasure than anything to return again and again as I have really enjoyed getting to know Xavi’s parents and am so thankful that a friend referred them to me! They made me many amazing cups of coffee to keep me going and during feedings we chatted about all sorts of things including their love for cycling, great books (anything Malcolm Gladwell is a ‘to-read list’ must!), how they met, where they grew up.. well, you get the idea 
Anyway here are some of my faves from those two days of visits. Thank you so much again K&B for inviting me out to not only capture your journey to parenthood but for being so amazing, kind and hospitable to us! xoxo
A little over a week ago I met up with a good friend from high school and her fiance for some much needed catching up while they were visiting from out-of-town. They had just gotten engaged and so of course I wanted to take a few pictures for them as part of an early wedding gift. I decided to do their photos in film for something extra special (well, that and out of laziness for wanting a developing lab to take care of my image processing for me ) and I couldn’t be more thrilled with the outcome. Looking back at these and knowing they were just taken but a week ago I keep finding myself thinking how the hell did we take these in the middle of January?! No, really. Katie and I originally had envisioned a session in the snow this time of year but somehow we found ourselves already almost two months into winter and no snow. Though we couldn’t go with our plan A, thankfully our plan B was just as good – sunny and in the 50′s. We walked around Independence Grove chatting about how they first met, wedding plans, reminiscing on old high school memories of our own… it was a pretty nice afternoon
Anyway here are my favorites from the bunch. Thanks again Katie & Garrett for hanging out and letting me take some pictures to capture your engagement, I am SO happy for you both. I’m sad I wont be your wedding photographer but soooooooooooo beyond excited to actually be there to help you celebrate (this will be my first wedding as a guest in over 4 years!!!) xoxo
Reading books has always been a part of my happiest memories since my mom would read a story to my brothers and I every night as kids (literally, every night). In fact, my favorite book was Are You My Mother? by Dr. Seuss and I made her read it to me so much that I had it memorized before I could actually even read. I totally believe that teaching your child the joys of reading books at even a young age is such an amazing thing and so I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of an event coming up to promote literacy. The event will take place at Open Books on January 26th, 2012 and will be hosted by the non-profit group More than Milk. I will be definitely be there to show my support for Open Books’ Literacy Programs and I hope that you will be too! So follow the link below and reserve your spot to join us at Open Books on January 26, 2012 for cuddles and reading with your little ones to promote literacy
http://openbooks1.eventbrite.com/
Meet Meredith & Julio, whose wedding we photographed last September at the Zhou B Art Center in Chicago. I can’t imagine a more perfect way to end our 2011 wedding season (well, technically theirs was our second to last wedding). This was also our first time photographing at the Zhou B Art Center and I can’t wait to go back there in my off-time. Between the literal size of the space, the modern feel created by the art pieces displayed around us, and the gorgeous lighting in both the garden area and the grafitti exhibit, Vasili and I were in photography heaven It also helps that the wedding coordinator was the most organized and efficient person we’ve worked with on a wedding thus far (Leanne you are phenomenal!), in addition to the fact that couple themselves and their families were AH-MAZING people. Meredith and I met a few times in the year leading up to her wedding to go over details of the day, learn more about her and her family, and the dynamic between her and her husband-to-be… one of my favorite stories we reflected on at our meet-up’s was when Meredith told me was how she found herself at one point placing so much emphasis on the money aspect of her wedding, and the disappointment and frustration she felt because maybe they couldn’t get married at a particular venue she wanted to or certain details weren’t in place that she thought should be. One day she realized that none of that really mattered because the most important thing, the part that you can’t ever buy with money, was happiness and having a loving, supportive partner. And that, she already had
Anyway, check out the link below for some of our favorites and to see for yourself how amazing the entire day was for Meredith & Julio.
Thank you so much again M&J for inviting us out to capture your love. We had the best time ever and we hope you cherish these images forever, we can’t wait to see you again soon hopefully! xoxo
Here you will find all of our latest happenings and sneak peeks from our recent sessions. If you’d like to view our main portfolio or details about booking your own session, please go to our main website at www.simplybysuzy.com OR click on the VIEW PORTFOLIO link under any of our blog posts.
Chicago Photographers, Suzzane Brown, MPH (also known as Suzy!) & Vasili Gryfakis, work together in Chicago’s first premier pregnancy, birth, newborn and family photography studio. We met years ago while working at a local Whole Foods. He was the stock boy, I was the bag girl and, well, the rest is history… :) Now we photograph love of all kinds together (including a select number of weddings each year) and are proud to be Chicago’s first and only premiere photography studio that offers a full range of services to capture your life and love at all stages whether it be pregnancy photography, birth photography, newborn photography or family photography. Our style has been described as organic and simple, and we strongly believe in the importance of giving you more than just memories of how you look but rather who you are. And because of that we take a candid photojournalistic approach in order to capture your real, authentic connections. In addition to our unique story-telling approach when documenting you and your family, we pride ourselves on the deep, long-lasting relationships we typically develop with our clients so don’t be surprised if we ask you out for brunch or coffee one day to catch up on your life after our session together! On a more professional level, Suzy has done work for organizations such as the Women’s Health Foundation and Motion PR and photographed local public figures including Angi Taylor with Chicago’s KISS FM. Suzy also received her MPH in Public Health while focusing much of her studies on Maternal/Child Health in addition to being a certified photographer for Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep.
