Chicago Family Session in River North

Happy (almost) summer! For those of you who didn't know, we are halfway through our second year as college professors at Moody Bible Institute in downtown Chicago. Yes, most of the time we get mistaken for students when we're walking around campus. But it's true, for the last three semesters we have been the professors of "Intro to Photography/Photojournalism," and now the exams are finished, the papers are graded, and we're rolling our way into summer (little known fact: most teachers are more excited than their students about the dream of "Summer Break," we just don't let on).

More than just the basics of photography and the theory behind it, we love to give our students real, hands-on interaction with the work we do as freelance photographers at Nicodem Creative. From weddings, to portraiture, to senior photos, to family photos, and even beyond to the international side of our work as photojournalists, becoming a good photographer is all about the hours spent just shooting and processing, and the experience that comes with that. So usually by halfway through the semester we've put the tools in their hands that they need to begin shooting, and then we simply create a series of real photography scenarios for them to watch us photograph, and then participate in photographing themselves.

Our family shoot this semester was with our sweet friends Justen, Candis, and their little guy.  It isn't easy to be in front of the camera and have 12 people watching you and photographing your every move, but this family rocked it! Here are some images from our class on family portraiture, hope you enjoy!

Surprise!

It's not every day you get to feel like paparazzi, as a photographer. Or every day that a dear friend sneakily flies into Chicago to surprise his girlfriend with a diamond ring. And so when both happen and you get the chance to hide out in the tall grass along Lake Michigan and take pictures of the proposal unfolding? It's a very good day indeed.

Congratulations Kaitie and Andrew, you are dear to us and it is a joy to watch your love grow. Now let's get this party started!

New Year, New Look!

Can I start with a story? Or rather, a back-story.

Two years ago, a boy (Me, Andrew) and a girl (Marianne) sat at a dusty, wooden table in the heat of rural Uganda. Madly in love, and doing the work we loved, together. We had gotten engaged a few months earlier, but I was still on assignment as a photojournalist for another six months abroad, so we made do with occasional visits, choppy Skype dates, and a whole lot of dreaming of the future. Our future.

So we decided, right there and then, to start our own photography and videography business. Because hey, why wouldn't we want to spend every waking minute together, doing what we loved? And where better to make really important life decisions than the bush in Africa, exhausted and all sweaty? We drew up a logo, whipped together a site, and for the past two years have been living this crazy ride called Nicodem Creative.

And it has been amazing. Challenging, mind-blowing, joyful and tear-filled (mostly on my part).

But we realized, in the crush of it all, that with this gaining momentum what we really needed was some added direction. Like that first, tentative step out onto the ice, we've realized that it's going to hold and we need to decide what to do now that we're out on it. So we hunkered down for a few days this last summer, we dreamed, we schemed, we talked about where we've been and where we want to go, and we've come out swinging, ready for what's next!

So welcome to the new and improved Nicodem Creative. Take a look around, we hope you like what you see. But know this: while the surface has gotten a make-over, the heart behind it remains the same. To give the world around us its beautiful due, and tell stories that are truly life-changing. 

We are Nicodem Creative. And we've started dreaming anew.