Last month I broke my ‘if-the-sun’s-not-up-neither-am-I rule’ so that I could enjoy a sun rise on the beach with my good friends Julia, Cosmo & their pup Benny 🙂  In case I haven’t told the story before, I first met Julia at the beginning of 2011 when she emailed me asking to meet up.  Being a photographer herself, she had just moved here from California and had a really good group of photog friends back home so she was really hoping to create that same community here.  We worked together at a baby session a few weeks later and then got coffee at Cafe DeLucca afterward where we chatted for like 2 hours and, well, the rest is history..  I’m so glad she reached out to me as I can’t imagine life without her now, she has truly become one of my best friends.
Flash forward about 9 months later and we decided to do shoots for each other since being a professional photographer you never really have any good photos of yourself. Â For hers & Cosmo’s photos we went to one of the dog beaches here so we could let Benny off his leash and catch that awesome morning light. Â We walked until we found the most amazing spot on the lakefront with a view of the entire city.. one of the things I love most about Chicago is that getting lost or aimless walking always seems to lead to discoveries of my favorite places. Â We enjoyed our newfound view for a few moments (poor Benny was deathly afraid of the crashing waves) and then headed over to a local cafe by their apartment to warm up with Nutella lattes that were uuuunnnreeeeeal. Â Among many other reasons, I love hanging out with these two because I am ALWAYS laughing. Â Cosmo has the most awesome sense of humor and I totally see why Julia is so in love with him (and vice versa :)).
Anyway, thanks again Julia for not only letting me photograph you and your little family of three.. but most importantly, for always being such a good friend. Love you! xoxo


















