Images of Camelot, where do we start? Ever since we met at the College of Saint Francis back in September 1994 we have liked to travel and take pictures. Joe was the unofficial photographer of our little group in college. He and his little Canon Owl would document all the festivities and journeys. Nikki went to school to be a photo journalist and graphic designer. So it was a perfect match, little did we know what would develop seventeen years later. No pun intended!
Joseph, lead photographer and sales, has been taking pictures since before he could remember. Traveling around the country with his family, he was exposed to photography by his mother and father. He never liked to have his picture taken, so he figured the best way to avoid this was to be behind the camera. This approach helped strengthen his love of photography and guide him in this direction. So much that on his honeymoon, there was forty nine pictures of Nicole, and only five of him.
Nicole, photographer and graphic designer, has photography in her blood. Long before digital photography Nicole used to develop her own film from her Canon EF from 1974, and process her pictures in Peotone High School’s dark room. She went to College to be a photo journalist, and fell in love with Graphic Design. Her first job out of college was on Michigan Ave as a designer for an advertising agency. With her eye for detail and creativity has grown steadily ever since.
Images of Camelot how did this come about? We always enjoyed taking pictures, but it wasn’t until a trip to Manzanita Oregon, that we began to try and take “good” pictures, not just snapshots. It was this trip that made us start thinking of Images of Camelot. One long walk on the beach, about three hours or so of just taking pictures, trying to see what we could do changed everything. We took some of the best pictures on that afternoon. This gave us the confidence to try and take the types of pictures you only see in the best of magazines. Thank you to digital technology, we have been able to experiment and try and take some truly incredible pictures. Earlier this year we moved our photo library over to our external hard drive, and there were over 23,000 pictures. Yes we know we have a problem. We now base the trips we take on what type of pictures we can take. Some of our favorite locations have been Traverse City, Mackinac Island, Saint Joseph – Michigan, and the Greater Chicago area. We are planning return trips to New Orleans and Savannah to redo the pictures we took down there, because now we have a better eye for framing, and can’t wait to see how well they turn out.
How did we come up with the name Images of Camelot? We had tried a lot of different combinations of the typical photography names, but we have always liked the time of King Arthur, sword fighting movies, and the overall feeling of that era. This was a leading influence, and the final inspiration came when we named our daughter Gwendolyn. Gwendolyn kind of reminded us of Guinevere, so we decided to go with it. Our initial blog page had a picture of the Sheldon Ruins just outside of Beaufort, South Carolina, and the name just fit, and felt right. “We create images that legends are made of”, is our tag line, and this fits “IOC” perfectly. We want to capture those moments, and make them truly stand the test of time. So you can look back forty or fifty years from now, and instantly relive the magic of that moment.
What type of photography do we like to do? We have always been more of the Photo journalistic style. No planned sittings or traditional catalog poses for our pictures. We like to capture the feeling of the moment, how life truly is, and the beauty that is around us everyday. So many good things in life are not planned or scripted, and that is how we like it. Everything happens and always works out for the best is Nikki’s mantra. When we go out on shoots, we just start taking pictures, try things, and tell people to be natural. This is where we feel the best pictures come from.
