Edvydas “Ed” Cicenas has been shooting for more than 28 years, starting his professional career covering a visit of Roselyn Carter (wife to then-President Jimmy Carter) to Sioux City, Iowa, while still in high school. He continued covering news, sports, features and other events for the next few decades as a photojournalist. He is a graduate of Iowa State University – specializing in science writing and chemistry (now, what does that have to do with photography. . . ?) When it came time to choose what he wanted to do after graduation, the call of the Sierra Nevada mountains near Lake Tahoe and a job with a newspaper there versus staying in the Midwest proved to be no choice.
He won numerous awards as a photographer and photojournalist there and also in Southern California and finally with a Los Angeles newspaper chain where he worked with the Pasadena Star-News, the San Gabriel Valley and the Whittier Daily News. He has served as a chief photographer twice and worked as a graphics/features editor before leaving the news field for a number of years to work with a nonprofit organization.
Since deciding to leave the news field, he has changed his focus and now works with people on far more joyful occasions concentrating on weddings and families.
His film experience shows in his digital photography – as he does not depend on digital shortcuts to get the job done. The field is constantly changing and advancing – and he takes the time to change and advance with it. To keep himself striving for more and more he also teaches basic and advanced digital photography classes at Richland Community College. He also teaches seminars on photography.
He is a member of the National Press Photographers Association, the Professional Photographers of America, the National Photoshop Professionals Association and the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International. He is a father and will take way too much time and pleasure in showing you photos of his child, Alexander.
Krystal K Cicenas has been actively taking photos for most of her life – and has been shooting with her husband for a number of years in their business.
For her, photography has always been a joy, from her first camera as a young teenager taking candid shots at family get-togethers, to scenic shots around town. Krystal joined the US Navy shortly after high school and throughout her career she tended to make friends with the photographers in her various units, assisting them when she could. And learning any tricks of the trade that she could get out of them.
This in turn gave her the opportunity to have an extra duty working as a photographer for her unit, documenting the actions of job sites, and more enjoyably the picnics and parties. After serving 8 years on active duty, she decided to try a different route in life, met and then married Ed, and now they have their first child, Alexander born in 2007.
Now in her fifth year as a Reservist for the US Navy, she has again taken the extra roll of photographer in addition to her teaching and supervising duties at the Naval Reserve Center Decatur, Illinois.
She is the detail person in the business – keeping the lists and making sure we cover everything the couple wants to have covered. This includes: spending time with the couple, e-mails, phone calls and in-person making sure we have a good understanding on how their day is lined up. She has a couple weddings that she has taken on as a solo photographer, but continues to enjoy being the second camera, being able to spend time on detail shots, and catching moments that the bride and groom may not even know were going on that day.
Her experience in the administrative end of things in the Navy has proven to be a major assets in handling many of the business and other behind-the-scene functions in running a home-based studio.
We currently make our home in the quiet community of Clinton, Illinois, but quickly adjust to the different demands and styles of larger cities such as Chicago or St. Louis for our photography — as well as the local cities of Bloomington, Springfield, Champaign and Peoria.
