emily borders–a sweet young lady i met on a sweet sleep trip last year–rang me up a few weeks back asking if i could photograph a havana nights-themed fundraising dinner/silent auction/live auction she was organizing for franklin road academy. heck yes, i said! i’ve got the winter slow-season blues and am sooo anxious for next week’s chicago trip to kick off the “shooting-photos-like-a-chicken-with-my-head-cut-off-season.” i even participated in the silent auction and WON!!! i never win at those things! i was pretty darn stoked. this is emily, hard at work during the live auction. and as if all of that was not enough, in addition to participating in that event, the…

…the east side… hannahelaine

i got to be a cool kid on sunday night and hang out with all the great folks at the belcourt theatre’s oscar party doing what i love best–taking photos! what i didn’t know until i got there was that this party was one of about 50 oscar parties across the nation officially sanctioned by the academy, complete with a red carpet and news crews. i expected it to be the kind of stiff and boring gathering of all the “important” people around town where i would feel very out of place and in the way. not at all! everyone was so kind and seemed to be having a genuinely…