Trystan Photography: An Intimate Portrait.

At the writing of this blog post, there is t-minus 12 hours left until Trystan Photography’s 1st ever Viral Fan Challenge comes to a close.

Don’t miss out on your chance to win fabulous prizes.

It’s easy to enter. Simply go to the discusssion board at our Facbook Fan Page and check out the official rules. Oh yeah, you have to have a Facebook profile to play. (Sorry Myspace users.)

What is a VFC (Viral Fan Challenge)? It’s a series of simple steps that you have to complete that will promote Trystan Photography virally through social networks.

What are the fabulous prizes? You can chose to have your name entered in one of two drawings for either a brand new Ipod Touch (8 GB), or a $500 gift certificate to Trystan Photography. Interestingly, there a very few entrants for the Ipod: everybody wants the gift certificate. (What do you think about them apples, Apple?!?)

So check out the rules, complete the challenge, enter the drawing… and good luck!

Seeing these four together again brings such joy to my heart. Mark just got back from his third tour in Iraq. I am so happy (and relieved!) that he made it home safely… I photographed the Shepherds right before Mark left for Iraq and then again just now when he returned. It was a great pleasure to photograph them again… after that long year apart put behind them, them knowing their family will always be together from here on out!

And thank you to Mark… who has sacrificed so much to serve his country. To keep us safe… you are a true American hero and I feel honored to call you a friend!

Yes, if you can believe it, it’s that time of year again! Here are the Holiday cards we are offering this year… aren’t they adorable. Make sure you book your session soon, everything takes about 4-6 weeks to get back!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorites from Sarah and Matt’s super fun very “kid-friendly” wedding at the First UMC and Mr. Bigg’s Family Fun Center.

“Till the one day when the lady met this fellow
And they knew it was much more than a hunch,
That this group would somehow form a family.
That’s the way we all became the Brady Bunch.
The Brady Bunch.. ”

What do you do if you and your fiance have 6 kids between you, and you want them to be part of your wedding party without getting bored to death? You involve them heavily in your ceremony and leave not a dry eye in the church and you have your reception at the coolest, most fun place for a kid in Colorado Springs: Mr. Bigg’s!!!

As a parent of 2, I am very familiar with the family outing to Mr. Bigg’s. They have everything: go carts, laser tag, arcade games, bumper cars, mini-golf, bowling… it’s a kid’s dream come true ( and any adult with a healthy inner-child like myself). In fact, just about every adult guest I saw was having a great time!

This wedding is our crown jewel of fun, unorthodox weddings. It was so much fun to photograph Sarah and Matt. They were absolutely carefree and very in love, and they loved, loved , loved to have fun. Their photos exude joy.

But the best part was the go-cart and bowling action shots. We’ve never shot anything like them, and it was especially interesting during the bowling as I had to fight the urge to flinch when they bowled the balls straight down the lane right at me! The balls came soooo close to clipping the lens, but no harm done, the shots are great!

Thank you Sarah and Matt for choosing us to participate in your incredibly touching and fun wedding.

I was just watching TV with the kids last night and fiddling with my new camera, the Nikon d300s, when I suddenly wanted to make something good.

So, what began as a collection of random shots turned into my ode to my family. I don’t feel like I deserve all of this sometimes, and I know I don’t do enough to tell them what they mean to me. This film is a small effort to try and do more of that.

My favorite part is the very end when Charlotte gets home late from a day of shooting and the kids run to her for hugs. Love it!

Nikon D300s = $1800 bucks. Memories like these = $priceless$!

The amazing song is “Just Breathe” by Pearl Jam off of their new album, Backspacer.

Oh how I adore this little girl, she is such a joy to photograph!  This is the 3rd photo shoot for Ms. Lauren this year and I can’t believe she is already 9 months old. Aren’t those baby blues just stunning! Can’t wait for her 1 year old shoot. I’m sure she’ll be walking on her own, but I just love that fun age.

Colby and Becca were so much fun to work with… we didn’t have a location in mind, I met them at Colby’s house and we just jumped in the car and drove around… very spontaneous and we found lots of neat little places to take pictures! They are so cute together, so in love… and were willing to do anything I asked them, gotta’ love that in a client!

Colby’s little brother, Jack, wanted to join in on some of the fun too!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view Sarah and David’s wedding at The Cliff House at Pikes Peak in the new Cathedral Spires Pavilion.

This is a very complicated story, but try and stay with me here:

David was my boss when I was but a server at The Cliff House long, long ago and we were just getting Trystan Photography off the ground (literally, I would try and get off shifts early to come home and work on our website!). David was not only my boss, but we became really good friends, too.

David’s dad, Paul, was not only the GM of The Cliff House and the boss of both of us, but he is pretty much responsible for giving our studio THE huge break we needed by making us the first preferred photographer they ever recommended when we were still in our 1st year of business. Paul is not only responsible for helping us get Trystan Photography off the ground, but he also is the bassist in our metal band, Sixty 8. Paul is not only my bassist in my band, but he’s also one of my best friends.

Still got it straight? Let’s review: both father and son used to be my bosses and are both my really good friends. Oh… and Char and I pretty much owe everything we have to Paul…

So, needless to say this wedding was a big deal for us! What an honor.

The best part about photographing friends’ weddings is that while at client’s weddings we are the consummate professionals and never drink and sometimes don’t even eat while we’re on the clock. At a friend’s wedding? You bet we’re doing it all!! (It does make the technical aspects of shooting a little more interesting late in the reception, but we pulled it off.)

Another bonus at their reception was when David handed me a microphone and asked me to emcee. Now, I’m not generally one to toot my own horn (yeah right), but I was pretty much on fire for the whole night. I was like a Vegas comedian working the room: tormenting the wallflowers and ribbing the wedding party. It was like a dream come true to work and entire ballroom on the mic! I even sang my rendition of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” while the ladies came up for the bouquet toss. I was off the leash and it was glorious.

Normally, our weddings in general feel like we’re part of the party and fun, and that feeling is amplified ten-fold at a friend’s wedding.

David and Sarah: your wedding was so much fun and it was an honor that you asked us to photograph it.

Little Benjamin is already three months old! I feel like it was just last week I was taking his newborn portraits! And what a handsome little guy… love his little smirk!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view Seana and Melissa’s wedding at The Briarhurst Manor.

We’ve had some close calls in terms of rain this year, but this wedding was our first true rain victim. But no amount of rain could dampen the spirits of our amazing brides, Melissa and Seana. Like all of our clients this year, they had an unsinkable attitude about their day, and we forged through and got some incredible shots of them. There is a silver lining to almost any weather situation: while it was wet and colder than normal outside, the skies and lighting were to die for!

Sharp eyed blog readers might recognize Melissa  as the Maid of Honor at Jenn and Todd’s wedding from 2008. Even more observant blog readers will notice that Jenn is also Melissa’s MOH for this wedding! (oooooohhh, what a twisted web we weave…)

Like I’ve said before, “repeat” or “in-the-family” weddings are absolutely the best: when we get to work with whole groups of people again from a previous wedding, it’s like working with veterans. They all know how this is gonna work, how much fun they are going to have, and how great the photos are going to look, so the energy and enthusiasm is through the roof!

But the best part of this wedding was the ceremony. Hardly a dry eye to be found, and even though it had to be inside, it was filled with emotion and joy. Seana and Melissa did a wedding-party encompassing unity sand ceremony that was one of the cooler things I’ve seen this year. Seana and Melissa each said something thankful and intimate to each member of the wedding party, and then that person poured their unique color of sand into the crustal vase. Wonderful idea!

Now that I think about it, the reception was a “crier”, too! So pretty much from the ceremony on, the wedding was this dramatic mix of love, laughter, tears, and joy. It’s exhausting and wonderful to document those kinds of swings in emotion during the course of such an important day.

Thank you, Seana and Melissa, for allowing us to document your amazing wedding!