andrew.stottsan.net

Wedding: Kristen & Tony

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:08:23 -0600

On Memorial Day weekend, I had the pleasure of shooting Kristen and Tony's wedding at A New Leaf in Chicago. It was a wonderful event all around: from a beautiful bride, to a gorgeous space, to fantastic summer weather, there were plenty of memories to capture.

For images and more details, click through...

As you can see, Kristen looked fantastic — she made my job incredibly easy! And how about those shoes?!?!

The ceremony was very intimate, and the candle treatment created a very romantic mood — just what Kristen and Tony were looking for.

After the ceremony I stole Kristen and Tony for a few minutes to get some quick portraits. The weather was perfect, so we were able to take advantage of A New Leaf's outdoor garden area. I mainly let the newlyweds be themselves and snapped away.

The reception was a blast, too. It's not too often that you see a real DJ at a wedding reception, but Kristen and Tony opted to have one spinning late into the night. And I'm not sure how Kristen found the time, but she personally made some tasty cupcakes for dessert — yum!

A New Leaf served as a wonderful backdrop throughout the evening — I now know why it's such a popular space for events!

Thanks again to Kristen and Tony for letting me be a part of their special day! If you attended the wedding, you can check out the photos here. Just ask Kristen and Tony for the password.

Launch: Andrew Stott Photography

Sat, 23 May 2009 12:12:59 -0600

Just a quick note to announce the launch of Andrew Stott Photography. It's got all you need in a good photo portfolio site: photos, photos, and more photos. Plus a bio, contact information, and a newsletter — just in case anyone is interested...

Swing by and check it out, and let me know what you think!

Have a great holiday weekend, everyone!

1000th Flickr photo!

Sun, 17 May 2009 01:40:57 -0600

Tonight I uploaded my 1000th photo to Flickr...

It shows a fan holding a W banner over the Wrigley Field upper deck, and was taken just after the Cubs defeated the Padres on May 12, 2009.

Nikon D200 and 17-55mm f/2.8 AF-S for sale!

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:44:18 -0600

The time has finally come — I'm selling my trusty Nikon D200 and 17-55mm f/2.8 AF-S DX lens in order to upgrade...

I still love this combo, and it has served me well over the past few years. I'm only upgrading because the Nikon D700 exists, and it's what I'm currently looking for in a camera. To say it plainly, if it wasn't for the D700, I would honestly hold on to the D200 for at least another couple years.

If you're just looking for price info, you can jump to the end of this post. If you'd like some background on the equipment, and the "why" behind my upgrade, please read on...

There are a few reasons why an upgrade to the D700 is "right" for me at this point in time:

The FX full-frame sensor is hot, and has amazing low-light (aka high ISO) performance.
The D700 is a much cheaper, and IMHO better, version of the D3
The AF system is top-notch (same as D3)
It has some great advanced features, like Auto ADR (Adaptive D-Lighting), that will come in handy

Normally, I would just upgrade my camera body and keep my lens. This time around, though, the full-frame FX sensor of the D700 comes with one major drawback: it requires an FX lens to make full use of the sensor's size. Thus, my 17-55mm f/2.8 AF-S DX just won't cut it anymore. Honestly, I'm sad to let it go, but I can't justify keeping a lens that won't take full advantage of the new D700 body. Of course, the flip side is that I'll get to enjoy a brand new 24-70mm f/2.8 lens instead, which I've been lusting over for a while.

Now to what you're really looking for: price and condition.

I'm selling the D200 for $500, and the 17-55mm f/2.8 AF-S for $1000.

The camera includes the original box/documentation and the various accessories (body cap, cables, battery, charger, & LCD screen cover). The lens includes the original box/documentation, caps, the monster lens hood, and the soft lens case.

Both are in excellent condition, and have no visible or functional defects. I have kept the body and the lens in tip top shape since I bought them both new in 2006. Most of the photographs posted on this website made after April 2006 are shot with this combo, since I rarely take the 17-55mm off of the D200, so you can check out the outstanding image quality. And, yes, both of them are Nikon USA versions — no gray market for me.

A final note: I'm posting this info here, on my blog, to give you all a sneak peak. If I don't get any bites in the next few weeks, I'll probably post on Craigslist and call it a done deal.

Please let me know if you have any questions, or if there is any additional information that I can provide. Of course, feel free to pass along this post's URL to anyone that you think might be interested.

Thanks much!

Best. Office. Ever.

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:51:55 -0600

Did anyone else notice that the rich guy's office in tonight's Law & Order ("Anchors Away") looked familiar?

Well, it seems they shot at the same location as Flight of the Conchords did, for the Season 2 premiere where Murray was working at the record label ("A Good Opportunity")! Not sure if it's a real office or a set, but replace a little bit of mirror with marble, and you too can be a hotshot hedge fund manager!

Check out the screencaps after the jump, and sorry for the bad quality — the first was from funnyordie.com and the second was from my Slingbox.

Flight of the Conchords

Law & Order

James Beard 2009 nominees: Congrats Chicago!

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:02:18 -0600

The James Beard Foundation (JBF) Awards 2009 nominee list just came out, and, as usual, Chicago did a great job!!!

Congrats to all the restaurants, restauranteurs, and chefs, including:

Richard Melman, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (Outstanding Restauranteur)
Paul Kahan, Blackbird (Outstanding Chef)
L2O (Best New Restaurant)
Mindy Segal, Mindy's HotChocolate (Outstanding Pastry Chef)
Bin 36 (Outstanding Wine Service)
Spiaggia (Outstanding Service)
Koren Grieveson / Avec, Arun Sampanthavivat / Arun's, and Bruce Sherman / North Pond (Best Chef Great Lakes)

The Publican and their designers were also up for two awards: Outstanding Restaurant Design (Design Bureaux, Inc.) and Outstanding Restaurant Graphics (The JNL Graphic Design). And, of course, a special shout out to Isaac Becker from 112 Eatery in Minneapolis, who is up for Best Chef Midwest. I've eaten there (thanks to Jay) and I'm just sorry the honor didn't come sooner!

Update 5/5/2009: Ouch. Chicago came away with zero wins at the 2009 James Beard Foundation Awards ceremony... I suppose we can count Best Restaurant Design for The Publican, but I was really hoping for some culinary representation. NBC has a funny, albeit sad, article with the details.

Better luck next year, Chicago!

Ra Ra Riot: The Rhumb Line

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:19:59 -0600

I've been listening to Ra Ra Riot for a while now, mainly thanks to their tours with Vampire Weekend and Death Cab for Cutie. They also received some unfortunate exposure due to the tragic death of their original drummer, John Ryan Pike...

I finally picked up their latest album, The Rhumb Line, and it's wonderful. Great indie pop melodies and some fabulously lush instrumentation. With songs like "Dying is Fine" I'm sure the album holds special significance for the band — how could it not? "Too Too Too Fast" and "Oh, La" are my personal faves — the former has just enough synth to get the party started, and the latter has exactly my kind of cymbal/snare driving beat.

So go pick it up now, and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Buy it on: iTunes | Amazon MP3 | Amazon CD

Denizen Hotels launch = Oops!

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:23:45 -0600

Just got an email from Hilton re: their new "lifestyle brand" of hotels: Denizen Hotels.

As vague and as "markety" as the email was, it seemed interesting enough to click through to the site. Unfortunately, it just gives an "Invalid Hostname" error... Guess the launch isn't going as smoothly as planned? Anyway, here is a funny chunk of the email...

Denizen Hotels will become a cultural epicentre at each of its destinations, cultivating community within its walls. Eclectic, social and humbly authentic, each property within the brand will be smart in design, cultural in character and sensitive in service delivery. Developed as an international intersection of business and pleasure, Denizen Hotels will redefine how guests stay and play.

Really?!?!?! I want to be an "international intersection of business and pleasure..."

JT rocks his Michael McDonald

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:02:00 -0600

I swear, Justin Timberlake does the best Michael McDonald impression... Between this and the quick SNL Weekend Update riff, he's totally spot on. Although with The Roots as your backing band, it's hard not to sound awesome!

New Stottsan launch!

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:22:04 -0600

Just a quick note to let you know that the new Stottsan Digital Media site has launched!

The primary focus was to provide some support resources for our existing clients, and to that end we have created FAQ and Knowledge Base sections. This should let us better communicate tips/tricks with our clients. We also wanted to highlight our existing service offerings, including Shared Hosting and Web Development. On that note, the Shared Hosting plans have gotten a bit of an upgrade, both in terms of disk space and software versions: yay!

So if you're in the market for either web hosting or development, come by and check us out! While you're visiting, sign up for our newsletter, too, so we can stay in touch... We promise we won't sell your email address for too much cash. :)

no reservations, chicago

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:40:04 -0600

Just got done watching Anthony Bourdain hit up Chicago on tonight's episode of No Reservations.

Tamales and deep dish pizza were obvious choices, but they also hit up Hot Doug's, Moto, The Silver Palm, and L20... While they didn't film at Blackbird or Avec, they did do a backyard party at owner Paul Kahan's house. Oh, and Grant Achatz' Alinea got a mention, too. Great choices, across the board!

I won't go into too much detail, since there are quite a few other blog posts out there that can do it much better. Check out Louisa Chu's blog, and Bourdain's own post.

And in case you didn't notice, this photo was taken at the Silver Palm, right on my corner. Yeah yeah, that's freakin' Mancow...

change is here.

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:39:22 -0600

Change is here. History has been made.

Today was the first day of President Barack Obama's term as the 44th President of the United States of America. And, for the first time that I can remember, the inauguration ceremony itself was a significant and moving event... I only wish that I could have been there to experience it in person.

At least I can keep re-living it via some amazing photos: The Inauguration of President Barack Obama @ The Big Picture...

the great flickr migration

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:04:13 -0600

Happy New Year to everyone!

Part of my plan for this year (not really a resolution) is to move more content up into the "cloud..." Photos, backups, documents, etc... To that end, I have migrated a bunch of my photo galleries from photo.stottsan.net to Flickr.

All the recent galleries are there, including Puerto Rico 2008, Memphis 2008, Cubs Game 8/28/2008, New York 2008, Jeff's 30th Birthday Party, and Fashion Party 2008. A lot of older ones are up, too, including Europe 2004, Hawaii 2005, London/Paris 2006, and South Beach 2006... Wow, I do love to travel! And if you're looking for Dubious Moniker or other Tyranny Belle shows, those are all in the concerts collection.

As part of this migration, I've also tweaked the code at photo.stottsan.net a bit. Now when viewing galleries that have a corresponding home @ Flickr, you'll see the new link at the top of the page. Nothing fancy -- it's just there to help get the word out. I'll keep moving some of the older galleries up as I get the time, but I figured this was a good point to make the announcement.

So update your bookmarks, comment/share at will over on Flickr, but most importantly enjoy the new digs!

the world today

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:52:56 -0600

After I posted my photos of the Obama Election Night Rally, I got an email from The World Today, a magazine based out of the UK. They wanted to publish my "Barack Obama" image in their December 2008 issue, so of course I was happy to oblige!

The final article came out great, IMHO, although the binding might get in the way of the actual magazine version... Here's the tear sheet:

If you'd like to read the article, the current issue of TWT is available on their site.

obama wants to turn the white house into a pyramid

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:53:57 -0600

Yeah, that's not true... But it is hilarious.

Are you as sick of these conspiracy theories as I am? If so, check out Peter Sagal's blog, where he's got one of the most well-reasoned arguments against the conspiracy theorists... And even if you buy into the craziness, give it a read to see what's really going on.

In the real world, Barack Obama seems like he's going to be elected President. This, as unlikely as it might have seemed as little as two years ago, is easily explained: the Republicans have done a poor job running the country, have a very unpopular incumbent President, and our nation likes to switch parties about every 8 to 12 years. Plus, Obama is a charismatic politician who's run a very competent campaign.
Nonetheless, this reality is intolerable to some, and they have created an alternative narrative. In this narrative, Obama is "a Marxisant radical who all his life has been mentored by, sat at the feet of, worshipped with, befriended, endorsed the philosophy of, funded and been in turn funded, politically promoted and supported by a nexus comprising black power anti-white racists, Jew-haters, revolutionary Marxists, unrepentant former terrorists and Chicago mobsters." Once elected, presumably, will reveal himself to be the monster that he is, in the manner of Kang and Kodos in that classic 1996 Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons.

And if you're wondering where the title of this post came from, look no further than the geniuses at SNL:

Check out the full clip here.

And stop the insanity.