Trystan Photography: An Intimate Portrait.

Please click the photo or follow the link to view Terra and Daniel’s gallery of their wedding at The Cliff House at Pikes Peak.

This one was a wintertime adventure, for sure. It was freezing for one, and poor Terra was sick. She’d fallen ill like the second she arrived in Colorado (from Texas). In fact, it was really cold for me and Charlotte, so all these Texans must have thought it was terrible. I was sure we were in for a really challenging day.

However, I was proven wrong, time and time again. Not only were the spirits of the entire family really, really high, but Terra was a dream bride. Her attitude was so great, even though you could tell she didn’t feel well. She even insisted we still shoot outdoors at the garden of the Gods regardless of the fact that it was freezing. And boy did it pay off! You see, the wonderful thing about photographs is the telltale hints of freezing cold: the breath, the wind, can all be minimized. I mean, obviously it looks cold in their photos, but it’s not nearly as cold looking as it actually was. And that’s due to how great their attitudes were. Daniel and Terra could have looked miserable in the photo above, but instead they’re beaming and joyful. What a blessing to have clients like we do!

Thank you so much for choosing Trystan Photography, Terra and Daniel. We had a blast at your wedding!

For those glowing women out there that are considering getting that belly photographed, good news!  If you are expecting sometime in March or April, you can book my maternity package for $275.00, which is $100 off of the regular price. I’ve also recently added a mini newborn session to the package, so you can take advantage of that as well  I typically like to photograph you right around 35-36 weeks, so don’t wait to long, you could miss your opportunity (I had both my babies at 37 weeks!).  After baby is born, I like to take pictures of him/her within the first 2 weeks, either at my studio or in the comfort of your own home.  Keep in mind I love to incorporate Dad and siblings, so bring them to the session too!

A while back I sorted through my maternity photos to update my website and hadn’t had a chance to post some of my favorites from 2008… so here they are. Enjoy and call soon to schedule your session!

Check out how fabulous my new little 5×5 boudoir albums are.  These little guys are being offered in my newest package for anyone that books a boudoir session after today, February 23rd.  The album will be 10 of your favorite images, but you do have the option to upgrade  up to 40 images.  The best part is all the amazing cover choices!

These are all the covers that are available….

Once again, I had a really awesome, really hardcore “I-don’t-care-how-cold-it-is-I-want-my-engagement-photos-done” couple.

Jennifer and Landon met me downtown Colorado Springs, really early one January morning, when downtown was literally a ghost town. I found that it’s actually the best time to shoot downtown because the streets and sidewalks are completely empty.

The quality of the sun was fantastic and warm, and if it wasn’t for the slightly rosey cheeks and winter coats, I think it looks like we were shooting on a warm Fall afternoon.

But regardless of the cold, Jennifer and Landon were fantastic. We really are hitting the jackpot this year with couples that look great together, and have a kick-ass, fun attitude to boot!

We roamed all over downtown, and even stopped into Starbucks for some hot Chai teas (my first Starbucks photo shoot).

My favorite shot of the session is the walking in the alley photo. I am absolutely enamored of this coat Jennifer was wearing. It swayed an flowed around her as she sauntered down the alley with Landon in a way I’ve rarely seen a coat move. It was almost like a sassy extension of Jennifer’s personality. I loved it.

Jennifer and Landon are getting married at The Pinery in Black Forest, CO. I can’t wait for the wedding!

On a brisk but sunny December morning, I met Mallory and Emek for a lovely little Fort Collins adventure.

It was cold enough that as I waked them into a secluded little alley in the shadows, I thought quietly to myself, “Will their lips stick to each other if they kiss…?”

I’m sure they were cold, but their warmth and flirtatious love radiates out from the photos.

At one point we were by the ice rink, and I begged and begged that they go ice skating together (that would be a “photography first” for me), but alas their view of ice skating is the same as mine: no way.

The first and only time I was ever on ice skates I wore cargo shorts (the ice: it looks so smooth), and I found out the really hard way that it’ll turn you to hamburger if you fall on it going a high rate of speed in shorts…

But I digress.

To me Mallory and Emek’s photos have this peculiar quality to them: it doesn’t look like we’re in a quiant little square in Fort Collins, CO, it looks kind of like we’re in a big city, almost like New York. It’s probably just the effect of such a beautiful couple…

I can’t for your wedding, you guys!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view the sample gallery of A’Leisha and Justin’s destination wedding at the Iberostar Paraiso Lindo in the Riviera Maya, Mexico.

If I had it all to do over again, Charlotte and I would have packed up and started the photography studio in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Ever since we went to photograph A’Leisha and Justin’s destination wedding, I have been longing to go back.

It was a magical wedding. It was, by far, the most relaxing, fun, and creatively inspiring locale I’ve ever shot at.

There’s something tremendously different about the atmosphere of a destination wedding. The couple is usually very chill even compared to our local couples (who are already notoriously chill, here in Colorado). I think that’s because the destination bride and groom are  already in vacation mode because of traveling and spending a couple days at the beach, or resort, and sightseeing, and such. But a huge part is also the fact that the guest list is generally smaller than the average stateside wedding because the cost of traveling is so much higher for the guests for the destination locales. Also, emphasis on the formal and the traditional is practically non-existent because couples don’t want to compete with the amazing relaxing and festive atmosphere that most of these places intrinsically promote.

Regarding A’leisha and Justin’s Playa del Carmen wedding in particular, they did everything in their power to make the trip a dream vacation during which they happened to get married.

They arranged all of our travel plans, and the morning we left was the coldest day of one of the coldest weeks I can remember in Colorado. Which made traveling to the Riviera Maya of Mexico all the more surreal, and becuase it was December, the weather at Playa del Carmen was phenomenal: 80 degrees, and suprisingly low humidity.

We arrived 2 days before the ceremony, used that 1st evening to walk the huge and intimidating network of hotel complexes that comprises the Iberostar Playa del Carmen. I swear, I’ve never seen so many buildings and pools and buffets and restaurants in one place. We must have walked 5 or 6 miles that night while scouting shooting locations. And that was all in the dark of night, and even then I was taken aback by the beauty of the architecture and the richly appointed marble walkways and abundant fountains. (There were no handrails at these gigantic pool/fountain walkways, by the way. Something that could never exist in the litigious US…)

But that night was but a preview of the splendor to come when we awoke to the Mexican Caribbean dawn and saw this amazing Utopia for the first time in the light of day.

It truly was a paradise. Within 2 hours of enjoying the breakfast and sunning at the beach, literally I felt like Pinocchio at Pleasure Island. I began to wonder: were we all were going to turn into jackasses, too? (You’ve gotta watch Pinocchio if you have no idea what I’m taking about…)

But to my sheer pleasure, the mini-vacation never did descend into such fairytale debauchery, but instead became one of my favorite memories as a professional wedding photographer.

The ceremony was simple and sweet, yet just as meaningful as any hour long Catholic mass wedding. But the really priceless experience of this wedding was being able to capture A’Leisha and Justin in their most relaxed fun loving states, in a truly spectacular setting.

Thank you A’Leisha and Justin for giving us the honor of joining you for your wedding in such an amazing place. It was truly a photographer’s playground.