I'm excited to announce the launching of my new personal website: www.jsspersonal.com! This website will have stories and photos from my personal projects, travels, and every day life and will also feature my fashion and band photos. Click on "Read More" to check out some of the stories.

I'm excited to announce that a new product section has been officially launched! This has been in the works for a while and it's great to finally be able share it with all of our clients. These products will be a great way to decorate your new home!

One of the highlights this summer for me was learning the tintype process. This process was one of the earliest photographic processes invented, pre-dating film and was widely used during the Civil War.

Several photographers and assistants have died while working on this kind of photography. The chemistry involves highly flammable chemicals and deadly potassium cyanide is used as a fixer. Keeps one on his toes that's for sure.

The Fischoff Competition is the largest national chamber ensemble competition held annually at the Notre Dame DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. Groups come from all over the world to compete. For the past three years, I've been able to meet and photograph the contestants and work with the great Fischoff staff.

Congratulations to the Calidore String Quartet on winning the 2011 competition! The greatest thing for me about the competition are the new friendships made. To all my Fischoff friends, thanks for sharing your talent. I hope to see you again next year!

This year, my cousin and I visited Newton Park to shoot some photos and attempt to do a video. We actually tried going to a fair on the 3rd, but they were sold out of tickets. We tried to pay them, but because they didn't have the tickets, we weren't allowed in.

Anyway, we missed out on the 3rd but got a 30 minute show on the 4th. Shooting video and photos simultaneously was a nice challenge. Here are my results from that night.

After months of planning and preparation, the X/Stop Project -a group of local Michiana photographers that I help with- was able to host a summer event called Jazz in the Night. It's main purpose was to raise awareness for several charities and we were excited to have them come and present their causes to our guests.

Arequipa, Peru is known as the Ciudad Blanca, or White City, because all the early buildings were built with white volcanic rocks. There are still buildings being built with these white rocks today.

The huge volcano, Misti, is a trademark icon of the city of Arequipa.