Trystan Photography: An Intimate Portrait.

Dave and Sherry had a lovely, intimate wedding in March. Unfortunately, because it was March, we were hit with a sloppy wet snow storm and we had to scrap our plans to shoot some photos at The Garden of the Gods.

However, Dave and Sherry did reschedule that section of the shoot for a much clearer day (except it was still really cold, but you can’t tell becasue they’re such troopers!), and it was well worth it, as you can see.

We love small intimate weddings. Even though the couple with the smaller wedding often gets us for less time than the big weddings do, we often get more quality time with the couple and can photograph more creatively without the rushing around that can come with gigantic weddings.

Dave’s an avid elk hunter, and I’m one too, except I haven’t managed to successfully hunt an elk… yet. Dave passed on to me some great hunting tips, and shared some premium cuts of elk meat from his past exploits. The meat was delicious, and actually put a lot more pressure on me as a hunter because my whole family loved it when I cooked it up, and my mom said, “So when are you gonna get some of your own?”

Dave may be a storied trophy hunter, but I could tell from the look in his eyes, as Sherry walked down the aisle, that his greatest catch was right in front of him…

Congrats you two!

You can view all of Michele and Lucas’ Graphistudio album.

Michele and Lucas were married at Raccoon Creek Golf Course in Littleton, CO. Colorado really cooperated on their wedding day with stunning skies, picturesque clouds, and a sunset straight out of a movie.

Our ability to tell the story of the wedding day across the album’s pages is unparalled with Graphistudio albums. Premium covers, professional Kodak photo-papers, lay-flat pages, and custom layouts are why we only carry Graphistudio albums for our entire album line.

You can view Tristyn and David’s sample gallery.

Why do I like Tristyn? (Other than her name…)

I like Tristyn because she was one of our only clients through the course of last year to notice, and mention, that between the time they intitally met with me, to the day I shot their engagement photos, that I had lost a lot of weight (30 lbs in 4 or 5 months).

Why do I like her even more after her wedding?

Because when I told her I’d gained all the weight back she claimed she didn’t believe me! God Bless you, Tristyn! That was, The Perfect Answer.

But seriously, I really enjoyed photographing Tristyn and David because of the true affection and love that shined out between them. They were authentically excited, almost giddy to get married. And it shows: the natural affection, the warmth, and most importantly, the level of comfort and confidence it takes to be naturally close and affectionate with your fiancé in front of the camera. They gave us all of this, and more.

It was a crisp clear evening at the Stonebrook Manor, in Denver. And the sunset was to die for. It’s so interesting to work right at the time of waning light, when every decision counts and time is evermore fleeting because the sun moves away so quickly at that time. And once it got dark ouside, we still went out to freeze a little and capture one last look at dusk.

Their ceremony was perfect, and their toast were great. But the dances! Why am I such a sucker for the dances?!?

Tristyn and David’s dance was emotional. She shined with happiness, David held her so closely. When she danced with her Dad he was sweet-happy-sad (but mostly sweet), and David’s mom, oohhhhhhh… it was so heartbreaking. The way she clung to her son and cried so softly I think I’m the only one who saw her tears through my long lens. Those are the kind of moments, and the privileges, that make our job such an honor. Thank you, both of you and your entire families. That was a magical night, and I hope we can keep track of you two!

I’ve been taking Hayden’s pictures since he was about 3 months old and I feel like he’s growing up as fast as my own children. I’m thinking I’ll probably be taking his Senior portraits like tomorrow!

He’s always been one of the easiest, happiest babies to take photos of and even now that he’s walking.

It’s so neat to be able to watch so many children out there grow up and capture those moments at each different age in their lives. I really do have one of the best jobs!

Susan is graduating from college this month and she wanted to take some pictures to commemorate this time in her life. I took her sister Angie’s senior portraits last year and I also took pictures of her Dad Mike and his wife Ginger a few months ago. They are such a photogenic family.

Susan has a natural modeling ability and I really think she should try and pursue something in this field. She thinks she’s too short, but her looks are stunning and I think that can override the short thing. I’m calling Tyra!

Good luck with all you do Susan!

Trystan Photography is excited to announce that May is Family Portrait Month! In honor of Mother’s Day, we’re giving away free family sessions all month long! Simply book an indoor or outdoor family portrait sitting between May 1st - 31st, 2008 and you’ll recieve the sitting for free (our $25 deposit is still required to book, but it will be applied in full to your print order).

Please make sure you visit our family portrait samples from areas around Colorado Springs and Denver, and check out our portrait prices.

I recently took photos of Susan at our Denver Studio and had such a wonderful time photographing her. She needed some fun portraits to capture her personality (she has the best smile!) and I’m just delighted she asked me to do this for her.

Susan is a business philanthropy coach and does some amazing things out there. She’s in the process of writing a book on business philanthropy and is hoping to finish it later this year. I was very eager to know more about what exactly it was that business philanthropy coach does ( I probably sounded a lot like my two year old when she learns something new for the first time) and Susan was very patient in explaining the whole thing to me. I’m very fascinated with the good she does out there for the less fortunate and for the businesses who donate as well. Tryg and I are hoping to become more involved with a few projects of our own over the next couple of months, so I’ll keep you posted.

For now, you should definintely check out Susan’s blog , it’s incredible!

We have a pretty unique system for our Graphistudio albums here at Trystan Photography, in that we (the photographers) allow our clients as much control as humanly possible over the layout of their wedding albums.

They choose all of the photographs in the album. (Not all photographers do that…)

I do the design. I send them the layout to approve. (Not all photographers do that, either…)

Our clients can make as many edits to the layout at they would like! (Almost nobody does that…)

This process may equal many more hours of work on my end, but it guarantees that the client is getting the exact album they wanted and dreamed of. I definitely think it’s worth it.

However, lately our clients have been having a heck of a time narrowing down the photographs to a “reasonable” amount for our 40 page albums (80-100 pics max.) In this event, I offer to delete some photos for them (nobody has ever taken me up on this), or I just go for it and we see how many pages we’ll need to upgrade when i finish the layout…

Jil and David were the first couple to get their chosen pics back to me from the 2008 season (and they were one of our last ‘08 weddings… hmmmm, anybody reading this from May or June of ‘08?). Jil and David’s album is the biggest wedding album (66pages, 130 photographs) I’ve ever designed! But it’s soooooo cool.

I’ll try and post photos of the finished album when it gets back from Italy, but in the meantime you can check out the final approved layout…

If you’re a student at Rampart High School in Colorado Springs, then make sure you stop by Trystan Photography’s table at the upcoming portrait fair on the 28th of April. We’ll have a glorious senior class portrait display and neat little promo cards and prizes! (oooooh, postcards and prizes… I’m there! Wait… I have to be.)

Senior Portrait season is upon us and the class of 2009 needs to get on it and get booked (we can only take so many senior sessions)! Please check out our senior portrait gallery and our portrait pricing.

I loved Allison and Joe’s wedding! What a fun loving, affectionate couple, with great friends and family. They were the kind of couple that you could see the love they felt in the way they looked at each other that day, and capturing that is an honor (plus it makes for great photographs).

Additionally, we got to go play! The limo made a pit-stop at a playground and we just went nuts for a couple of minutes (it was pretty quick because it was getting really cold out). It is such a blessing as a photographer to get a couple willing to celebrate and have fun for their photographs. Allison and Joe had such an earnest sense of celebration and play that it wasn’t work at all to photograph their wedding.

Thank you so much you two! Best of luck, and I can’t wait to get your album pics from you! (I’ll show the album when I’m finished, too… stay tuned.)