Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Workin' hard on my Northwest Indiana Photos

I've been working hard to load up all of the Northwest Indiana photos that I've taken over the years into albums sorted alphabetically by city, then selling them to people and businesses looking to hang local photos in their homes or offices and for businesses to commercially license the digital images to use in their marketing materials.

Northwest Indiana Photos


It's an extremely time intensive project because I not only am creating all of the many images from all of the cities and towns in a six county area, but I also have to post them and keep the website up. Lots of work! Now that most of the city pages are created, I can work more on the photos and adding them to the albums. I try to get as much of the editing, website, and posting work done as I can in the winter because once spring comes around, I'll be ready to go get more photos.

Traverse City Photos

I've also been working to put together a webpage dedicated to Traverse City photos with the same purpose; to create a gallery of images available for purchase to the public. On the webpage, I've included galleries for Sleeping Bear Dunes, Leelanau County, National Cherry Festival, and more.

Eventually, I want to have photos of all four seasons in all of the Northwest Indiana cities and towns as well as Traverse City. Perhaps I'll create a page for other cities as well, like Chicago, which is less than an hour from my home.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Traverse City Photos

A couple of years ago, I traveled around Lake Michigan and stayed in Traverse City, Michigan, one of the best towns located right on the shores of Lake Michigan. Located in northern Michigan about five hours north from where I live, Traverse City is full of fun outdoor activities for people of all ages. As a photographer and road traveler, I fell in love with Traverse City.

I've been taking photos of Traverse City for several years now and have finally put a webpage together for people to view, purchase, or download my photos. The photos can be framed and hung on the wall, on an office desk, or in the case of downloads, used for commercial purposes by businesses throughout the Grand Traverse Bay and Leelanau County area. I've taken many photos of Leelanau County including the always popular Sleeping Bear Dunes and there are other albums that are attached to the new Traverse City photos page. Browse through aerial photos of Traverse City, photos from the National Cherry Festival, photos taken on Old Mission Peninsula and plenty more.

If there is a particular spot or photo that you would like me to capture, you can even submit a photo request to the website and I will try my best to get that photo the next time I am in town. My long-term goal is to capture life in Traverse City and the surrounding area in all seasons. The entire area is known for water activities in the summer including boating and kayaking, and in the winter it is a popular area for snowmobiles, snowshoes, sledding, ice fishing, and more.

If you find yourself in Michigan, take the drive up north to Traverse City. The food is great, the people are friendly. There is plenty to do so be sure to enjoy yourself.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Northwest Indiana Photos Available for Purchase

Over the past year, I've been working on a secret little project that I'm ready to spill the beans about. I'm a photographer in Northwest Indiana and post quite a bit of my local work on my website as well as on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and I often get calls and emails from businesses asking if I have photos of various things in their community. I decided to start a major project to have a website made where people or businesses can go to order prints of NW Indiana photos or license them for commercial use.

Today, NorthwestIndianaPhotos.com is officially open for business.

I've been driving to all of the cities and towns in Northwest Indiana to take photos of local landmarks, water towers, parks, town halls, welcome signs, and even aerial photos of many of the communities as well. I've edited and uploaded enough photos and have enough albums to be able to call this website 'ready', however there is much more work to do.

Purchase Northwest Indiana Photos


Businesses or anyone else interested in Northwest Indiana photos can click on any of the towns and cities in the six county area known as 'Northwest Indiana', which includes Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton, Jasper, and Starke Counties. Each album has photos available to purchase in a wide variety of sizes. Merchandise can also be purchase, such as mugs, t-shirts, mouse pads and more.

Browse through photos of Northwest Indiana including photos of Crown Point, Hammond, Merrillville, Portage, Schererville, Valparaiso, Whiting and more all in one location and purchase high quality prints or license these photos for commercial use on your website or in your business marketing materials.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Northwest Indiana Wedding Photography

Lately, I've been working hard doing photography in Northwest Indiana, both commercial and wedding photography. As a Northwest Indiana wedding photographer, I'm always looking for new outdoor places to take photos and since more requests have come in for winter weddings, I am now looking for wedding venues or photo locations outdoors that make for a picturesque setting.

For nearly 10 years, I have been taking photos in Northwest Indiana, the Chicago suburbs and southwest Michigan and have been in many of the communities taking wedding photos. As I grow my website and begin to advertise more, I have created individual pages dedicated to the people of those communities with wedding photo samples available for them to view.
For more information about my Northwest Indiana wedding photo packages, please visit my website at www.joeyblsphotography.com.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

New Photography Blog!

I have a new photography website in which I will be putting up photos and writing articles about them. Essentially, this new page will be my JoeyBLS Photography official photo blog. If you enjoy photo blogs, please be sure to visit my website! I will be adding more functionality to it in the future, and I'm always adding new photos, so be sure to check it out! And please feel free to link to me in a blog post of your own! The more links I get, the more 'important' Google thinks my photo blog is (and it is gosh darn important!) Here is a sample screen shot, just to tempt you a little... ;)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

West Coast Trip - 2009

Well, here I am. I haven't written a blog in three months, but thought I would finally take the time to sum up my west coast trip for any and all who are interested. I can honestly say it was one of the most bizarre trips I've taken, for many reasons, and the time in the car gave me a lot of time to think about things that were happening in my life. The good, the bad, and the ugly.


Monday, June 1, 2009: Woke up early and was on the road around 7:30am. It was cloudy with a light rain lingering over me. As I left home, the rain picked up, and was spotty at times. After about 2 1/2 hours I crossed the Mississippi. I stopped in Des Moines, IA, took a couple pictures of the skyline (not much of one), had lunch, and got back on the road. I made it to Nebraska a few hours later, passing through Omaha. I stopped in Keanrey, NE for a few souvenirs, and got back on the road headed for Denver. The rain hadn't let up by the time I crossed into Colorado and the sky looked dark ahead of me. It began to pour and water quickly covered the highway. It got dark and continued to rain. I hydroplaned a few times and got pretty nervous. It was pitch dark out and I was in the middle of nowhere. I made it to Denver about 10:00pm, checked into the hotel, and went to bed.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009: I woke up around 9:00am and headed out. It was still gloomy and raining. I drove to City Park to get a skyline photo of the city (which was only about 3 miles away) and you couldn't see the city through the rain and mist. I headed north through Boulder, CO and up to Estes Park. As I drove north, the rain let up, but it stayed gloomy and cloudy. When I got to Estes Park, I did a little shopping, had some pizza, then headed into the Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park. As I got into the park, the rain began again. As I climbed to a higher elevation, the fog rolled in. There was snow building as I drove higher and it got to a point where they closed the rest of the road due to snow. I saw quite a few Elk, a couple birds I had never seen, a prairie dog, and that was about it. No bears, wolves, moose. Just Elk. I headed out of the state park by late afternoon to make my way towards the highway heading west. I drove through Vail, which was gorgeous. The weather continued to rain on and off all the way to Grand Junction, where I stopped for the night.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009: Woke up in Grand Junction to blue skies...finally. I headed out of town towards Utah. Once in Utah, I drove to Moab to the Arches Nat'l Park. I saw many of the Arches and took some beautiful photos. About two hours into my visit at the park, I got in my car, started it, and a 'Check Engine' light came on. Sooo...I had to drive into Moab and paid $42 for a guy to tell me my gas cap was loose. After feeling like a fool and out $42, I headed west for Las Vegas. I arrived in Las Vegas just after sunset, around 8:30pm. I met up with my mom and dad, sister and new brother-in-law at Circus Circus to watch a dancing act. After that, I pretty much went back to the hotel and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Thursday, June 4, 2009: Woke up early and went out to breakfast with my dad's cousins who were in town. Afterwards, I went out to the pool and laid out most of the afternoon. It was 82 and cloudy all day, and 5 hours of laying out garnered me NO tan. My parents went to see Santana, and I left and walked the strip by myself, just people watching. It's kinda cool walking through Vegas by yourself, without any purpose. I didn't gamble. Didn't drink. Just walked, and looked. Went in the Forum Shops at Caesar, and a REALLY cool art gallery by Peter Lik . After that, I went to get some NY style pizza, and went up to the hotel room (we stayed at Harrah's).

Friday, June 5, 2009: Woke up and went to the pool. Laid out for a few hours with my mom, and once again, got very little sun. It was still cloudy and only in the lower 80s. Was this Vegas? I had been here three times prior and had heat of 110 consistently. Later in the evening, the girls went out and the boys hung out at the Rio, had some dinner, then we all met up and went to the VooDoo Lounge on top of the Rio. Roseann and Andy had a penthouse for the week just under it. We came back around 2:00am, and I went to bed.


Saturday, June 6, 2009: Woke up around 9:00am and left for Salt Lake City shortly after. Came into Salt Lake around 4:30pm. Got to Ted and Sheila's and hung out with Aunt Donna and Uncle Ronald for a bit. I threw stars with TJ and friends in the back yard, then got ready to go out to eat. Me, Ted, Bailey, Aunt Donna and Uncle Ronald met up with Sandy at Rodizio's in SLC and had a fabulous dinner. The turkey bacon wraps were great, but I really loved the beef. Afterwards, we headed back to Draper, hung out with the family and Sandy came too. Ted, Uncle Ronald and I listened to recordings of Amber in the studio. Then, I tried showing Uncle Ronald how to use facebook, upload photos, and use the chat function, which he used for the first time to talk with Sadie, who was in Las Vegas. After that, I played a few songs on the piano and we stayed up talking and taking a few photos. By midnight, it was about time for bed.

Sunday, June 7, 2009: Uncle Ronald passed away early this Sunday morning. What a horrible day, and how ironic that it happened on both mine and Aunt Donna's birthday. I was suppose to leave and head to Wyoming, but decided to stay an extra day. Besides, I certainly wasn't in any mood to set off by myself for another week of adventure. I helped put a photo slideshow together, and later Ted and I took a bike ride up to Park City and had some fantastic sushi. It rained a bit and got cold on the way back, but being on the motorcycle felt great. It had been a while, and the rain or cold didn't bother me much.

Monday, June 8, 2009: Sandy, Sheila, Ted, TJ, Shauna, Bailey, Aunt Donna and I all went out for mexican. The pork tacos were great and I still couldn't finish it all. After lunch, I headed back on the road heading north. I stopped in Idaho and bought a pair of much needed sunglasses. I arrived in Jackson, WY around 6:00pm and went into town. I had a beer at the Cowboy Grill and had a burger from Billy's next door (recommended by Ted). After that, I headed in for the night and went to bed.


Tuesday, June 9, 2009: I woke up and went into town and bought some t-shirts and some hoodies. I headed to Grand Teton Nat'l Park to get some photos. At one point as I was taking a photo of the famous barn, my car got stuck in the mud. It took about 20 minutes of drive, reverse, drive, reverse, but finally I got it out. There was no one nearby to help, so I was lucky! The car was completely covered in mud. I got the photo I wanted and headed further into the park.


I stopped at one of the lodges and had myself my first bison burger. Delicious! Afterwards, I headed north into Yellowstone Nat'l Park. I drove to the center of the park and looked for Old Faithful. I got there just after an eruption, but decided to hang out for another hour and a half in the gift store until the next one. I set up the video camera and taped it from beginning to end. After that, I headed north, occasionally stopping on the side of the road to take a picture of something. A heard of buffalo crossed in front of me at one point (got it on video). I left Yellowstone around 8:00pm and headed north to Montana with a final destination of Billings, MT. Around 10:00pm, my dad called to see where I was and what I was up to. I told him about my trip the last two days and remarked on how many elk I had seen and how there were signs everywhere warning of elk. Just before heading into Billings, I was driving down a dark empty highway as another car approached me in the 'fast' lane. I moved over to the right and as they began to pass me, BOOM! They nailed an elk! Blood splashed up my windshield and front left side of the car and pieces of the front end of their car came over and ricocheted off my car. One of their headlights blew out and they quickly were able to pull over to the side of the road. I didn't stop since I was 5 miles from Billings and my hotel, plus I saw them safely pull over, and what could I do? So I went to sleep with mud and blood covering my car. I can't imagine what the people at the hotel thought!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009: I woke up in Billings, MT and left the hotel around 8:30am. First and foremost, I went and got my car washed. Then, I drove east. In Wyoming, I stopped at a steak house and had elk medallions. Yum! Very lean, gamey, and tasted like venison. I left after lunch and headed east towards South Dakota. It was cloudy and rained most of the day. As I approached the black hills, the rain stopped, but a thick low lying cloud layer went as far as I could see. At Rapid City, I detoured south towards Mount Rushmore. When got there, you couldn't see more than 20 feet in front of my car because the fog was so thick. I drove there and couldn't even see it. I was pretty upset about that, and I know Uncle Ronald wanted me to see it and I wanted to put his face with the presidents. I went and had an ice cream cone, then continued east to Mitchell, SD (outside of Souix Falls) and stayed for the night.

Thursday, June 11, 2009: I woke up around 9:00am and headed east to Souix Falls, then north to Fargo, ND. Once I got to Fargo, I met up with my friend Shelly at her work, then went shopping. We went back to her place, her boyfriend came by shortly after and we all made tacos and just hung out for the night.

Friday, June 12, 2009: We all woke up, and went shopping for a little bit. We went to downtown Fargo and head lunch at a nice Italian restaurant, then headed back to their place. In the evening, we went to a minor league baseball game, which was a lot of fun! It was a high scoring game, with 5 or 6 home runs, so it was exciting. Afterwards, we met up with a couple of her girlfrends and went for a couple drinks, then headed back to her place.

Saturday, June 13, 2009: I woke up around 10:00am, and got my stuff together to head home. I left around 10:30, going through Minnesota and entering Wisconsin around St. Paul. About an hour into Wisconsin, I stopped at a big cheese place and bought 2 lbs of buttercheese (best cheese ever) and a jar of apple butter. I got back on the road, made it to Illinois, then made it home around 9:30pm.



Home Sweet Home.



Saturday, May 16, 2009

I'm back...with a new video.

Hey everyone. Sorry it has been a while since I've posted anything, I've just been distracted by life I guess. I have no excuse really. I've been on Facebook, but have been busy with a project at work lately and I'm just tired and haven't been online as much when I get home.

I wanted to post my new video which I did for the University I work with. Feel free to leave your comments...this video is going to be reviewed by the President of the University on Tuesday. It's corny in many ways, and that is what they wanted...a corny comedy mixed with student testimonies (although they have changed their minds repeatedly). Enjoy!