Meet the Photographer: Argentina Leyva Photography

I played Santa today and dropped off Argentina and Jesse's completed painting at Argentina's photography studio.  It's always a thrill to be present when a client sees their painting for the first time.  Even better...the painting is a surprise for Argentina's husband!  She's going to have it framed and show him on Christmas!  Love...

The bonus of the day was getting a tour of Argentina's studio.  I had no idea that this hidden gem was so amazing and that she is now even renting it out for events.

I got to know Argentina a bit more, and thought you might like to know her and her services too!  She's a fantastic photographer with a real eye for making her clients feel so comfortable and natural.  Take a look...

1.  How long have you been in business? 10 years

2.  Toot your own horn....what’s your specialty? I started as a wedding photographer and switched to Boudoir 3 years ago. Now I do 5 to 6 weddings a year and about 200 Boudoir sessions a year.

3.  Who or what are your favorite subjects to photograph....your dream photo session? Women. I like to make women look their best in photographs. My dream session is an exotic destination wedding to photograph the bride in her wedding gown as well as a Boudoir session in an exotic resort suite.

4.  Craziest thing you’ve captured on camera? Every session has that one image that stands among all that I can’t believe I created.

5.  What do you like about working in the wedding industry? The reaction of brides and women when they see their images and how beautiful they look

6.  What is something you wish your clients knew about your job? It’s physically very demanding and I have to stay in shape to keep up with the physical activity, I’m 42 after all!

7.  When you are not working, what are you up to? Thinking on how I can become a better photographer and better service provider to my clients, I’m always working, it’s my hobby!

8.  Anything new and exciting coming up that we should know about? (either professionally or personally) I will be creating Boudoir images of all my staff and myself. We have to put ourselves in the shoes of our clients to better understand the needs and create a better experience. I’m also going to be partnering up with a large wedding studio in Chicago, FIG Productions, to shoot more weddings but they will be doing all the album design process.

Here are some images from Argentina's boudoir gallery:

A year or so ago I worked Mandy and Nick's wedding as their day of coordinator which is how I first met Argentina.  Here are a few shots from their special day:

Love them!!  Visit Argentina's site to view more of her work and also enter to win a free boudoir session.  I'm thinking a belated holiday gift or getting a head start on Valentine's Day! 

Thank you for sharing Argentina!  We can't wait to see YOUR boudoir session!

I heart NY...and Jersey City

This past weekend I was galavanting about New York and Jersey with one of my bestest friends.  Ok, so at age 31 we no longer galavant nor find a need to go out and live it up as we use to.  It also should be noted that this bestest friend of mine is 2 weeks away from giving birth to her first baby.  We more or less trudged around when we did get out and had to dodge rain drops.  All this being said, it was such a lovely trip.

Here we are dripping wet at the Columbus Circle Christmas Market and loving it.

It's an amazing thing to be around someone that is about to enter into a game-changing stage of life that neither of you can give advice about... yet are constantly vacillating over.  Instead, we sat while sipping perfect Nespressos and reflected on life as we know it and all the dreams and aspirations we have for things to come.  The holidays can do this to you too, so we went out and shopped the the holiday markets to feel that holiday spirit while sipping on hot cider this time.  Everything kept leading back to how gracious and thankful we are to have each other and the life that surrounds us....so much so that we were already reminiscing 6 hours after our parting.

The 911 Memorial will also put a few things into perspective.

This is deep, I know, but I can't help start to get in a refresh mode by reevaluating life, taking things a bit slower, prioritizing a bit wiser and working on thinking more positively.  Before I left, I was in an anxiety ridden state that left me disappointed that I hadn't blogged all week even though I finished my painting.  Post zen weekend, I'm ok with my blogging break and giving you this beauty of a painting to start your week out.  See, eventually things all just fall into place.

Saturday Bonus!

Just a reminder for tomorrow...plus a bonus!

From Smitten:

**Custom Order Saturday is this Saturday!** 10-20% off all Custom Orders! Offer includes all custom lines including Alexander & Co. prints, Sugarboo frames and Michelle Rubin Jewelry! Can't make it in? Give us a call to order over the phone! PLUS, Loreen from Reenie Rose will be here painting live!

Stop by between 10am-4pm and see the progress I've made on Argentina and Jesse's painting!

Smitten Surprises!

Have we all come up off of our tryptophan low?  I hope everyone celebrated a plentiful and gracious turkey day....I know I did.
Of course, we are now full force into the holiday season where engagements and gift giving are at the top of the list.  Start the season off with a Countdown to the Holidays at Smitten Boutique (1041 W. Madison, Chicago) this coming Saturday, December 1st from 10am-4pm as I work on completing Argentina and Jesse's beautiful painting.

Special surprises are in store, so stop by to visit me and receive your special offer!

Dualing Paintings

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope the blast of fall air has given you a fresh start to the work week.  I'm feeling pretty motivated and keeping busy.  As a wise woman I know once said, "People are their least productive when they're 'busy', meaning they have a lot going on but not much is happening."  Well Ms. Anne marie, I can safely say that things are "happening".  In fact, two things are happening....I'm dual painting.  
I've been asked before if I ever paint multiple pieces at one time, and the answer is typically "no".  Currently I have taken on this mystery of multi-tasking in order to have a couple of visual options for my upcoming photo shoot with the lovely Jennifer Kathryn Photography.


Here is an update on Argentina and Jesse's ivory bouquet:

I put the brakes on this piece in order to start another with a little more color variation for my website photos.  I introduce to you the composition for Anna and Jason's painting:

Not only is this painting full of spring colors, but it is a doosy of a composition (who volunteered this image?).  This piece reminds me a lot of Rachel and Brian's painting...remember that one?:

I think it's the sunlight, color palette and those coveted peonies that make these compositions look like cousins of each other.  What do you think?

Back to the painting...
So, I've sketched in Anna and Jason's, resulting in a very advanced, oversized looking coloring book:

Lil bit crazy looking if you ask me.  Ah, but there's no time to think about that.  Next week is the photo shoot and I need to have half of this painting finished with maybe a little more on Argentina and Jesse's.  Back and forth I'll go with a few updates here and there for you.

For more extensive coverage on my progress, follow me on Instagram.  Yes, I have added another social media platform to my arsenal of getting the Reenie Rose word out to one and all.  You can find me under the username "Loreen_Rose".  Do you believe "ReenieRose" was already taken?  Who is this impostor and how do they paint?!

Not this crazy way I bet.

Twittering Around Town

Who's ready for the weekend?!  (I am jumping up and down with my hand raised in the air shouting "ME, ME".)  It's been a long week, but that hasn't stopped me from packing in an active weekend.  No sir.  For one, I've got this lovely painting to get cranking on:

Saturday I will be working a wedding all day with the oh so lovely Beth Bernstein of SQN Events.  I'll be dashing around the city and helping out between the Palmer House and the W City Center.  Can't wait to see the pretties happening at this affair.

Sunday I am going to tap into my gallery days and head over to the art fair, Expo Chicago, to see what is hot in the art world these days.  This fair is already creating some positive buzz, so if you are looking for something cultural to do around the city this weekend, hit it up!

Sounds like a fun time, right?  To follow my whereabouts, keep up with me on Twitter this weekend.  Yes, I said Twitter.  It's 2012 and everybody's doing it, so jump on the bandwagon and catch me at Reenie_Rose.  

So what are you doing this weekend?  Tweet me!

Back in the Swing of Things

I've been waiting to write this blog post for awhile now, and this weekend it is finally happening.  I have a new bouquet painting to work on!!!!
Back in July of last year, I worked a wedding for friends of mine where I met the ever so lovely Argentina of Argentina Leyva Photography.  We got to talking about our businesses like vendors tend to do while eating their vendor meals at a wedding.  One thing lead to another and Argentina decided that she wanted a Reenie Rose painting!

Before I show you the beautiful composition that is going to be her painting, I want you to see some of the detailed shots of her wedding that she sent my way.
All of the images were taken by her photographer, Ryan Schembri.

Gorgeous bouquet, right?!  It was created by Ashland Addison Florist right here in the city.

Ok, now for the painting composition....

Isn't it stunning!?  This is the perfect 20 x 20 painting to get me back into the groove of things.  It's so fitting for a 75 degree day on the cusp of fall.

I'm getting this painting prepped this weekend....what are you up to?