2017 was an amazing year for me and I'm so grateful for all of you for trusting me with your most precious/intimate/honest/real moments. I love what I do. For real. I get to document some of the most meaningful moments in people's lives. As well as the more "everyday moments" but I love every second of it. I like to do an end-of-year website update so I go through all of my sessions from the year and pick my favorites. It helps me see how far I've come, and how much I've grown. This year, I got out of my comfort zone. I took chances. I pushed myself to photograph from my heart; to photograph what spoke to me and to tell more honest stories. In addition to updating the website, I wanted to do a re-cap of the year, highlighting my favorite photos & moments but then this post got crazy long. If you know me, I couldn't narrow it down any further than what I've come up with and this isn't even all of it! So here goes. A selection of some of my favorite sessions, moments and personal treasures from all of last year. Druuuuuummmmmroooooooooolllllllllll, please.

I love love love love love LOVE so let's start with the beautiful couples!

Photographed my beautiful friend getting ready on her wedding morning on a steamy July morning in Chicago at the Langham Hotel.

I second-shot with Jennifer of Angelic Angles Photography for a beautiful Milwaukee wedding. We photographed the wedding party at Villa Terrace Museum and I was BLOWN away by the beauty. I can't wait to go back there and photograph! I really miss shooting with Jennifer. We used to be the dream team when I lived in Madison. She's amazing - seriously, the best.

Second-shot with Melissa Ferrara of Iron & Honey Photography this fall. So much fun to work with a fellow Chicago photographer.

Babies! So many friends had babies this year!!

Boudoir - a few of the ones I can show!

I photographed a few events for PAWS. Also made some portraits of my friends' dogs while they were vacationing because I can't help myself!

High School Seniors

My Family. I went home a handful of times this summer for many birthdays! My sister and her littles did the Bubble Run so I took my camera for that. After that, it was Skyler's first birthday and then Avianna's SIXTH birthday. Squeezed in a quick shoot with all of my nieces with some goats... it didn't go as planned but we still got some beautiful photos!

Photographed all season long for Vintage Garage Chicago. If you're in Uptown Chicago on the third Sunday of the month from April through October, you must check them out. Must!

Grabbed some quick family photos for the best people on earth to celebrate them becoming a quartet!

Purposely took my camera down to the Loop a few times this summer. Normally I'm without it but made a point to take it, especially for the Chicagohenge.

Much love friends! Thanks so much for following along - you have no idea how much it means. Here's to 2018 - I can't wait to see what comes!

xoxo - Courtney

Last year I made a Chicago summer bucket list and getting to a Cubs game was on it. No, I'm not a diehard baseball fan, not much of a baseball fan at all, truth be told. But I had heard it was an experience that had to be done at least once. I never made it. Then they won the World Series! Which was seriously cool and exciting and crazy while living here! I've always considered baseball to be a snoozefest but the end of the season games that I watched last year made me start to think that I'd been wrong about baseball my.entire.life.

Alas, I didn't think I'd make it to a game this year either since I expected ticket prices to be insane due to their championship title. But when I was gifted tickets to go a few weeks ago, I couldn't turn them down. It was a beautiful night for a baseball game and I got to hang out with some of my favorite people on the planet. Win for me! Plus, the Cubs ended up kicking NY Met butt and it was pretty exciting. Wins all around!

I only had my phone to grab some photos, and wished I had my camera, but here's what my first Cubs game looked like.

Most beautiful night for baseball! Flags everywhere while walking in my neighborhood to Wrigley.

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My favorite part was singing the Cubs song at the end of the game!

I started this post earlier in the day and I just got in from walking home from the gym. The Cubs were winning against St. Louis while I was there. On my way home, though, after a few people said "Go Cubs Go" to me, I walked by a bar and saw the Cubs had won the National League Central Division Championship! How fitting for this post to go live tonight :)

Blog

Favorite Moments of 2017 - Year in Review

Lincoln Park Puppies

My First Cubs Game!

Courtney Laper Photography - Chicago & Madison Newborn Photographer

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