Simon McConico | Valo Photography

Mawiage. Mawiage bwings us toogetha…

My mom and pops are celebrating their 31^st wedding anniversary today.  I am so thankful for them and everything they have done for us kids.  Shooting weddings, I have heard lots of advice and one of those nuggets that sticks out in my mind, and I find to be true of my mom and dad, is that every morning when you wake up, you choose to be married.  Every day you choose love and to love a person that sometimes gets on your nerves, doesn’t make the bed, is messy, is clean, invites people over without telling you, kills squirrels because they eat the garden… you gotta choose love and choose to be married every day and every second of that day.  My parents have made that choice for 11,323 days, or  271,752 hours, or 16,305,120 minutes.  That’s a lot of choosing. That’s a lot of love.  I hope that I can follow their example and choose to love my wife every day. (Gotta get married first, but you get the point)

Here are a few photos that they dug out the archive of their wedding day.

Here are a few interesting facts:
Mom made her own wedding dress.
Dad had to wear tights to the wedding, turns out dark legs show right through white pants…
First time my mom met my grandma they were engaged.
My dad proposed with a bottle cap. (Or something like that)
The first time they kissed, my mom asked, “So, does that mean your gonna marry me?”

3 Comments | In: General Information, Weddings | tags: anniversary, dad, love, marriage, minneapolis, mom, parents. | #

Photos are interesting things.  They can make you laugh, they can make you cry, they can make you reminisce and they can inspire you.  As I venture into the world of dating and love with my lady, I have become more aware of the power in a photo.

Nicole and I went on a “photo” date a while ago where we drove around the countryside with a tripod and no timeline and took photos.  A few years ago I did a 365 Project where I took a self portrait a day for a year, so taking our own photos would be cake.  We took quite a few photos and I still haven’t edited them all but have been working on them here and there. The ones that I have edited I got printed and they now hang in my office and by my computer at home.

It is crazy to me how the essence of someone can be captured on a piece of paper with ink and how that photo can trigger so many thoughts and emotions.  I love having a photo of her where I can see it to remind me of how beautiful she is and how blessed I am to have snagged such a wonderful girl.  It’s a good reminder to me to smile and to tell her that she is beautiful and loved every day. 

A digital file is nice and a photo on a computer is great, but there is something that changes when it is printed on paper and becomes tangible.  I really need to get more photos printed, and so do you.

1 Comment | In: General Information, Random Shoots | tags: @nicolehenzel, canon 5d mark 2, love, milwaukee, Photography, self portrait, simonmcconico, Valo. | #

Here are some places that you can find me on the introweb:
Facebook – Simon McConcio
Twitter – @simonmcconico or @ valophotography

1 Comment | In: General Information | tags: facebook, Social Networking, twitter. | #

Hey everyone!  I have the application to become a part of our street team avalible for download here:

Valo Street Team App
You will need Adobe Acrobat to view this.

Tell everyone you know… that is if you want The more the merrier.  I would like to have 5 seniors for our team, but will consider more if I get enough apps.

1 Comment | In: General Information, Senior Photos | tags: 2010, brookfield, cedarburg, class photos, highschool, highschool photos, mequan, milwaukee wisconsin, new berlin, oak creek, Senior Photos, senior portraits, south milwaukee, street team, tosa east, Valo Photography, whitefish bay. | #

Valo Photography is looking for a few juniors to help us spread the word about our senior photos by being a part or our Street Team in their school. We are looking for a team of two seniors from each high school who are involved in activities and have a great individual style. Valo photography is edgy, modern, and cool and we want juniors who reflect us and to be our face in their school. Your photos will be used to advertise our studio on our website and in print.

What’s in it for you?
1 – You get 75% off of the top photo session with Valo photography. That is $375 that you save.
2 – You will get sweet cards to pass out at school or wherever you and your friends hang out. The cards will have a code that will be individualized to you so that we know when you refer people because…
3 – Everyone you send our way will get you entered another time into a drawing for a Nintendo Wii, Gift Cards, and Prints that will be drawn monthly.
4 – You will also get a 50% discount on the prints that you order and once the senior season is over (November) we will give you any large prints we make of you, some of which are valued over $100.

All right, all right… by now you are probably wondering how you can get in on this sweet deal. Next week we will have a sheet that you can download from our site, fill out, and mail/email back to us. We will contact the senior that we select and set up a time in March/April to shoot your photos.

So keep checking our blogs next week for your chance to be a part of the Valo Street Team.

If you are not a senior, not in high school, but know someone who is a Junior, we would appreciate it if you sent them on over to check out the site.

No Comments | In: General Information, Senior Photos | tags: amazing, brookfield, ceaderburg, milwaukee, Photography, Senior Photos, street team, Valo Photography, whitefish bay, wisconsin. | #

I am super stoked to be working with Jake Rodhe.  He is a creative guy with tons of ideas and action behind  his words.  We met eachother about two years ago on a Flickr walk in Milwaukee.  From there I have been admiering his work from afar.

I was inspired one day and emailed a few people who’s work I love to be a part of an ongoing project.  Jake was one of them.  From there we discussed several things.  One was our need to create and be around creative people.  Working in an office environment generally does not stimulate creative thought and generally does not encourage you to be creative.  We discussed starting a company together and from there the rest is history.

Jake is the stuff.  Check out his blog, his sites, and leave some love in the comment section:

3 Comments | In: General Information, Random Shoots | tags: creative, milwaukee, Photography, Simon, simon mcconico, valo photogrpahy. | #

Got a new blog. Got a new company. Got more info coming real soon.

No Comments | In: General Information | tags: McConico, Photography, Simon, Valo, Valo Photography. | #