andystenz | photography

kelsey and matt’s engagement session

andystenz — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:12:59 +0000

Kelsey and Matt both graduated from Carroll College (University), my alma mater, so I have a special place in my heart for these two. After getting rained out on one occasion, we hit Lapham Peak again to revisit the site of their engagement. I love they way these two laugh with each other. You can tell they share a deep love and friendship. They are getting married in less than a month now – I can’t wait!

amanda and nate get married!

andystenz — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:03:46 +0000

Warning: This is going to be a long post! Amanda and Nate’s wedding was a long day and so deserves a long post! It was an incredible day filled with a lot of fun people, a lot of love and a LOT of dancing! Here are some images to give you an idea of the story of the day…

The wedding ceremony was at Fox River Church in Waukesha. We then traveled to Lake Geneva for some photos and the reception.

We stopped for some ice cream on the boardwalk – a tradition for Amanda and Nate.

Amanda did a great job coordinating the look and feel of the reception! It was held in the beautiful Lake Geneva Riviera

As I said, there was a LOT of dancing. And it was good…

I love this series of Amanda’s dad channeling his inner rock star:

Thank you Amanda and Nate for allowing me to be part of this amazing day. May God bless you with many years of marriage, love and happiness together!

blair and mohammed’s engagement session

andystenz — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:27:38 +0000

Blair and Mohammed, this year’s winners of the free wedding photography contest, joined the fun and talented Jamie Swanson and me for their engagement session a few weeks ago. We headed into the Third Ward in Milwaukee for the shoot. It was a fantastic day – little drizzle and all. Be sure to check out the photos Jamie got at her blog. I think she just absolutely nailed them!

Below are some of my favorites of mine from the shoot. I shot using only my 50mm f/1.4 to force me to be a little more creative. Special thanks to Jamie for that amazing umbrella! Blair and Mohammed – we are really looking forward to your wedding day – you guys are just a blast! Be practicing your GQ look! ;-)

Jennifer and Ben’s Wedding

andystenz — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:36:43 +0000

A few weeks ago, my wife Jessica and I were present for the most joyful wedding of Jennifer and Ben. And I’m not kidding – these two, their families and friends are all a riot. They were cracking jokes left and right and everyone was laughing… a lot. I loved it! Even “Grandma” was in on it – and she was funny!

Thanks Jennifer and Ben letting us be part of your celebration!

And you can see some photos from their engagement session back on this post.

the boys club

andystenz — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:07:53 +0000

A few years ago, three couples we knew each had a baby boy. Those boys are turning three this year and I was able to spend some time capturing two of them recently. These little guys sure have a special place in my heart. They all have really adorable younger sisters also, but this one’s for the boys.

I probably got him in trouble on this one. His mom said to stop but when she left I told him to do it again (because I wanted to capture it!) Sorry Kate! ;-)

little boy blue – again

andystenz — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:15:56 +0000

I had the pleasure to do another family session with this family for a second year in a row. A few shots from last year’s session can be seen here. I love the cute sweaters they have on the little tyke!

Thanks again Kelly and Brent. We had a great time down on the beach again with you guys!

nick and jessie’s engagement session

andystenz — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:33:05 +0000

I went out with Nick and Jessie the other night for their engagement session and we sure did luck out on the weather. On the drive over, it was rainy and dark – not looking good at all. When I got there, the clouds broke and the sun came out! Here are some of my favorite from the night…

Thank you Nick and Jessie for a wondering session!

gma at your house

andystenz — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:48:17 +0000

A few weeks ago, Mike and Kelly Schmitt, a couple from here in Waukesha, were surprised when the crew from Good Morning America showed up to host from their house! They had been picked to help showcase what life is like on “Main Street” throughout America. I thought it a good reason to go and take some photos ;-)

The filming started at about 5:30am and it wasn’t quite warm yet…

The whole morning crew was there: Chris, Diane, Robin and Sam.

The local ABC affiliate was on hand to interview the GMA anchors.

And they brought along Rodney Atkins and his band. The bassist got a kick out of the Racing Sausages which showed up to promote the Brewers.

If you are interested, you can check out http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/YourHouse/ for the video segments from that mornings shows.

an anniversary present

andystenz — Sun, 17 May 2009 11:26:16 +0000

Jess and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary yesterday! To celebrate, we added a new personality to our home. I introduce to you, Miley:

Miley is a 1.5 year old King Charles Cavalier Spaniel who came to us by the same breeder as our first Cavalier, Oliver, did. Oliver meet with an untimely death a few years back and we miss him so. Kim, the breeder, was gracious enough to set us up to adopt Miley after her owner also met with an untimely death. Perhaps he is looking out for Oliver and we’ll look out after Miley for him!

We are very thankful to Kim and excited to have Miley at home with us. I hope you get the chance to meet her sometime. She’s got a lot of energy but will drop everything for some affection.

brewers and the cubs

andystenz — Tue, 12 May 2009 04:01:19 +0000

It’s been a busy few weeks and I’ve got a bunch of posts to come, including an engagement session, a family photo session and a national morning show visiting our city – oh so much! But I’ll start with this past weekend’s Brewer game against the Cubs. We were there on Friday, when Braun hit a two-run homer to win the game.

We spent our time in the AirTran “Landing Zone” in right field. Baseball with a bar and buffet – a nice way to spend the evening.

And to top it off, Danny Gokey was in town and sang the national anthem. The press surrounded him and you couldn’t really see him. If you look between the photographer in the black shirt and the one in the navy shirt, you can see Danny in his light blue shirt wearing headphones. I couldn’t tell if there were more Brewer, Cubs, or Gokey fans there that night!

new glarus and paoli

andystenz — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:48:36 +0000

Jess and I took a road trip Saturday to New Glarus, which is southwest of Madison. We wanted to have a beer at the New Glarus Brewery and get out and about on a beautiful spring day.

On the way out to New Glarus, there is a small town called Paoli (Pay-ol-e). It’s a one street downtown from the turn of the 20th century that houses a lot of art galleries, antique shops, and the famous Paoli Cheese house.

Here are some shots from the antique shop that is house in the old mill on the Sugar River:

A whole stack of Brownie cameras sitting on one of the cabinets. I love cameras!

Inside the world famous Paoli Cheese. The sample of the day was the Morel Leek Jack… wasn’t for me…

We made it over to the brewery for a tour and a tasting and ran into some friends from college there for a tour also.

These copper kettles were bought from a German brewery that was set to be demolished. They extend under the floor another 10 feet!

Lastly, we stopped at one of the parks to do a quick photo shoot with the mossy rocks.

jessica’s 30th

andystenz — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:26:55 +0000

We celebrated my wife’s 30th birthday last weekend with a wine and cake reception. Jess wanted a fancy, black tie optional event. So I broke out my tux (as did a variety of other good looking chaps) and the ladies had an opportunity to dig into their closest for the dresses that only get worn every so often. Jess and I even had a chance to put our dance lessons to the test in front of everyone!

Happy Birthday my beautiful wife. I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you!

The cakes came from Le Cakery in Elm Grove (website). Hakan, the owner, delivered them and help set them up nicely. If you need a cake for a special occasion, I would recommend you check out Le Cakery!

Our friends here are looking at a guest book I designed, which has pictures of Jess since birth. These guest books are a wonderful idea for any party, reception, or wedding. Feel free to contact me for more details.

It was great to get family together again that haven’t seen each other since our wedding (six years ago next month!).

where we are going…

andystenz — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:03:15 +0000

“…we don’t need roads.”

I’ve heard it said many times that you should always bring your camera with you. Some days I do and some days I don’t. I was happy I had it with me today though (lesson learned?) because I walked outside today and parked next to the office building was a DeLorean.

I’ve never claimed to be a huge car buff. However, I am a huge Back to the Future fan. One of my favorite movie memories comes from a back-to-back run through of the entire trilogy with some friends. Classic.

Your sign says “Vacuum Hose Routing” but I’ll take that as code for “Flux Capacitor Wiring.”

homes for our troops

andystenz — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:25:32 +0000

I am going to be volunteering some time over the next few months with a nation-wide organization called Homes for Our Troops. They are a non-profit organization that builds houses for Servicemen and women who return home severely injured. Think Extreme Home Makeover for disabled veterans. I’m honored to be the photographer on a local project they are working on.

They are preparing to build a house here in Waukesha for Army SPC Jason Schulz. Jason’s truck was struck by an IED in Mosul, Iraq and he lost both of his legs. The house they will be building with be handicap accessible and help meet his specialized needs.

If you are interested, they are looking for a variety of volunteers and donations – from skilled tradesmen, people helping with meals, community communication teams, materials and monetary donations, etc. The house will be built over a 3 day weekend a few months from now (why take 7 days when you can do it in 3? Take that Extreme Home Makeover!) Anyway, if you are inclined to help or donate in anyway, you can visit their site for more info (link).

They just finished building a house in Sun Prairie for another injured vet. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote a nice article about it which can be read here.

Here are some photos from the registration/information meeting they held this week.

jen and ben’s engagement session

andystenz — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:32:23 +0000

Jen and Ben are getting married in less than two months! I look forward to their weddings because they’ve really chosen to do something unique that fits who they are. It should be a great time!

Our engagement session the other day was in downtown Waukesha which offered a lot of fun locations. Here’s some of my favorites from the shoot:

teia’s senior photos

andystenz — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:21:36 +0000

Spring is here, the weather is warmer and the sun is hanging around a bit longer. That means I’m finally ready to get out to start doing some photo sessions (I guess I’m more like a brown bear than a polar bear in winter…)

These shots are from Teia’s Senior Photos session. We shot up in Cedarburg and had a beautiful March morning and a great time. Teia is thinking about studying photography in school and so we got to talk cameras a lot of the time, which is a blast and always makes time fly.

valentine’s day tasting

andystenz — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:57:57 +0000

This Valentine’s Day we had some friends over for a wine tasting party. 14 people on the 14th. We had a blast! Here are some shots from the delicious food and drink we shared. I tried not to take too many photos but of course I had to take a few!

hey mom, i’m on klh

andystenz — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:42:07 +0000

My step brother’s Christmas gift was a guest DJ spot on WHKL’s “Hey Mom, I’m on KLH!” where he got to DJ for an hour. I was lucky enough to be able to join him in the studio to document his experience. Our host was WKLH’s Ed Becker. We had a great time chatting a learning from him.

Ed gave us a tour of the station, which includes 102.9 The Hog. Our first stop was Bob & Brian’s studio.

Kyle preparing his final set:

And some shots of the studio:

my new office

andystenz — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:08:50 +0000

(Note: this might not be as exciting to you as it is for me.) This weekend my wife gave me a great gift – some new office space! I moved from downstairs to upstairs (it was a long and arduous journey – almost 18 steps!)

Seriously though, I’m just moving rooms but it feels like so much more. I’ve been able to reorganize how things are setup, which should give me more room to work and make me more efficient. It’s warmer upstairs (it’s been a cold winter!) The blue on the walls was my choice when we moved in five years ago. It’s ocean blue! And best yet (and this one is for my wife), if/when I get a bit messy, we can now can just close the door and life will be good again.

Yes, that is our elliptical on the right. Hopefully, I’ll spend some more time working out now as well!

Oh, and this desk is like the old t-shirt with holes in it that you just can’t bear to part with. I’ve had it for something like 8 years. I bought it on clearance and it’s been with through college and now almost six years of marriage. It’s been cut up, patched up, and scratched up. But until it doesn’t hold up, I guess I can’t give up on it.

published – drake university

andystenz — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:17:29 +0000

Drake University’s impressive alumni magazine contacted me last fall about a photo shoot for a local alum here in Waukesha. It was a neat opportunity to photograph this lawyer, who is one of the nations leading defense lawyers in large scale fire and explosion lawsuits. We had a great weather and good time chatting as we shot outside the Waukesha Historical Museum.

published

andystenz — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:51:35 +0000

I had the honor of being published twice for some recent articles about the Bel Canto Chorus and their (then) upcoming concerts (both magazines ran the photos in their December issues). Milwaukee Home and Fine Living ran a full page article complete with two of my images. Milwaukee Magazine ran a sidebar article with one image.

blog update – to the faithful readers

andystenz — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:55:35 +0000

FYI: If you read this blog via email subscription or a RSS reader (like google reader, bloglines, etc). You may have noticed some duplicate posts as I’ve been updating the site. I apologize for this and you’ll probably continue to see a few duplicates as I add back in the older posts from the old blog.

Thanks for reading!

new years eve photobooth

andystenz — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:42:54 +0000

I set up a little photobooth in my sister’s apartment last night during the New Year’s Eve festivities. Here are some of my favorite shots from the night.

(Strobist info: 2 SB-600 @ 1/16 pointed at wall and flagged. 1 Sunpak 383 @ 1/8 shot through Ezybox camera left.)

portfolio is up & 2008 is over

andystenz — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:59:27 +0000

The portfolio section is now live. I’d love any feedback or constructive criticism you might have.

Check it out out here.

Thank you to everyone that’s made this such a great year.

To all my clients, friends and family: thank you for all of your support.

To my friends on flickr: thanks for teaching me so much.

And to my wife: thank you for being so patient and loving with me as I spend long hours working on everything. Thanks for your constant encouragement and your faithful love.

Happy New Year! Be safe tonight as you celebrate.

Christmas Eve

andystenz — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:26:31 +0000

We spent Christmas Eve this year with my step-dad’s family in Oshkosh. An Italian family where the food and laughs never run out. It was cold and snowy outside but inside we had a great time. We finished the night playing the annual game of Tombola (Italian Bingo). This Tombola set has been used every year for eighty some years or so.

and the winners are…

andystenz — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 12:29:38 +0000

Congratulations to Blair and Mohammed! They are the winners of the free wedding photography contest from Jamie M Swanson Photography and Andy Stenz Photography. We will be there to capture every moment of their special day next year!

What struck us about them? Coming from two completely different sides of the world, Blair and Mohammed have lived lives marked with struggle and grief. Yet in each other they found a joy and love that they don’t want to live without.

Congratulations again Blair and Mohammed. We look forward to being part of your story.

And thanks to all the entries we received. It was a blessing to read all of your stories. It was very difficult to choose and we wish we could have done them all. Many blessings to every one of you as you begin your new life together.

website redesign

andystenz — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 00:35:00 +0000

Welcome to the updated website! I’m going to put it up in phases over the next few days. One of the first things I need to put up will be the announcement of the winners for the free wedding photography! Wait for it… wait for it…

Some new additions to look for in the next few days: A new portfolio section and some updated blog images.

viva las vegas

andystenz — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:01:02 +0000

We just got back from Las Vegas and we had a blast! It was our first time in Vegas and we really enjoyed ourselves. We saw some shows, ate great food, and made a little money. Needless to say I took a fair amount of photos as well. The bottom photo (if you’ve never been to Vegas) is from the Paris Las Vegas hotel/casino.

lambeau field

andystenz — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:05:39 +0000

Last night, I took my dad to Lambeau Field to see the Packers take on the Bengals in their first preseason game of the year. We had a great time. We stopped at the Hall of Fame, walked around the outside of Lambeau, and enjoyed the game. Oh, and a Packer game in 70 degree weather is the best Packer game there is!

robbie seay band

andystenz — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:56:24 +0000

The Robbie Seay Band was in town the other night for a benefit concert for little Zoe, who was diagnosed with Trisomy 18. Trisomy 18 normally takes the life of infants before 8 days yet Zoe’s been alive for over 100 now (108 the day of the concert). Robbie Seay’s newest CD is entitled “Give Yourself Away.” Not only does he live that motto out, I also think it is their best CD to date!

Some links:
Info about Zoe zoemeanslifefor.us and the family’s blog batiansila.blogspot.com

And the talented Robbie Seay Band

Love Wins!