Trystan Photography: An Intimate Portrait.

It’s that time of year again, and the CS Indy is polling the prestigious populace of Colorado Springs for their favorite local vendors, personalities, party-spots, restaurants, etc.

The Independent hasn’t had a category for “Best Photographer” for the entire history of its “Best of…” awards, until last year. And sadly, we didn’t even know they’d added it!

But we know now! And we’d like to win it, please!

So here’s our official “Trystan Photography Really Wants to Win This Award” Call to Action:

Attention all loyal clients, curious prospects, and ego-boosting-yet-still-a-bit-creepy-blogstalkers!

We’d love for you to vote for us in this year’s “Best of 2008″ from the Colorado Springs Independent.

Please visit the website of the 2007 Gold Photographer, Black Forest Photography (Goliath), and decide for yourself: is Trystan Photography (David) better?

Then please visit CS Indy’s “Best of 2008″ Voting Page to submit your own opinions!

Please act fast, the voting closes 9/2/08!

There you have it! I have just issued our 1st official “Call to Action”!

Wow! That felt good… almost powerful…I feel like I’m in control, like I’m in charge! I feel like I am a GO… (oh, wait, uh… hold on… Yes, dear?… oh, OK… ummm, sorry about that folks… I have to go… my wife needs me to go clean the bathrooms…)

Thanks for voting!

Please click the photo or the link to view Rachel and Aaron’s wedding at the Broadmoor Hotel.

Outdoor ceremonies in Colorado offer a number of challenges, as well as unparalleled beauty and grandeur. This wedding ceremony on the Broadmoor Hotel’s West Lawn was no exception: rain threatened all morning long, in fact, the couple got sprinkled on during the couple shots (they saw each other before the ceremony). The wind gusted and whipped all day, the sun was in and out of clouds…

We love days like that. Our job as photographers is to adapt and change our shooting strategies according to the situation, and Char and I have seen just about everything Colorado has to offer in terms of weather, so we simply adapt, and thrive.

Honestly, I love challenges when it comes to photography. I love overcoming unflattering angles of sun, falling rain, driving wind, etc: all of those things can be used to a photographer’s advantage. Wind whips hair and veils beautifully, unflattering sun can be used to add dramatic effect at just the right angle and with remote flash, and rain brings a romantic melancholy to couple photography.

The difference between great and bad outdoor shots in Colorado is whether we’re simply at the mercy of the elements, or whether we can be flexible and use the elements as additional artistic tools. We’ve learned to allow Colorado to become an additional and welcome subject in our wedding photography along with the bride and groom! Fighting against what Colorado gives you never works.

Anyway, back to the wedding: after the ceremony, Rachel and Aaron held their reception in the exquisite Penrose Dining Room. It was a blast. A huge part of it’s success I credit to their exceptional DJ, Phil Peralta at Simply Entertainment. He was a true emcee. He set the appropriate mood for the different events of the reception, he was very good on the mic, and did some very unique and fun introductions. My favorite part of the reception came right before the father / daughter dance when Phil read a letter Rachel wrote about her dad. in it, she remembered how the Penrose Dining Room was where she went on her very first date… with her daddy. He took her out to dinner there, she wore a beautiful dress and that night he presented her with a necklace… and here they were again, dancing together in that very room.

Not a dry eye in the house! Her dad was sobbing, Rachel was crying, I was crying, Char was crying, and we’re both trying to see well enough through the fog of tears to capture this amazing moment! We did (Thank God), and the photo of Rachel wiping her daddy’s tears is so precious to me (as a both a photographer and as the proud daddy to my Ella…)

Rachel and Aaron: you planned a perfect wedding. We had a blast photographing it. What a day!

Please click the photo or the link to view Michelle and Craig’s wedding at the Lazy J Ranch.

If you need modern, trendy interiors: don’t get married at the Lazy J.

If you need air conditioning: don’t get married at the Lazy J.

If you don’t like guns: don’t get married at the Lazy J.

However, if you like the awe inspiring grandeur of Colorado’s high country, the rustic and playful charm of a working sheep ranch (with state-of-the-art catering facilities and and event buildings full of character), with a highly professional staff, and a world-class clay and skeet shotgun range (first photographs I’ve ever taken of a beautiful bride holding a 12 guage…), then the Lazy J is the wedding venue for you!

Michelle and Craig planned a very joyous, relaxed and fun occasion with lots of elements of personal taste and sense of style that transformed the handsome and dusty ranch into their very own “metro/western/chic adult playground, 5 star restaurant, party place” (my term).

They really took advantage of the available views, and various amenities to make it fun for everyone. With it all said and done, looking back at that day and our photographs, I think the Lazy J is the definitive “mountain venue”. The only scary aspect about planning a wedding there is the “rain plan”, as it’s indoor facilities are large but limited in terms of photographic interest, the Lazy J relies heavily on it’s abundant natural splendor. We flirted with rain off and on during Michelle and Craig’s wedding, but the big heavy thunderheads ended up providing a dramatic skyline for a very striking and beautiful day.

Thank you Michelle and Craig for choosing us to capture your wonderfully planned and visually stunning wedding.

Follow the link to find out more about the Lazy J Ranch.

Charlotte and I have been absolutely floored by the demand from Colorado Springs and Denver for her portrait photography. We are eternally grateful to all of our clientele over the last year that have made ‘08 a huge success for Trystan Photography (and in a bad economy)!

However, we have recently started to realize the scope of our limitations, and we are terrified that our customer service has begun to suffer under the current level of demand. Also, with the pressure of dealing with the tremendous volume of photographs that need to be processed, we’re convinced that the quality of our work will begin to diminish if the current workload continues…

So with that said, we’ve decided that the there has never been a more applicable philosophy than “less is more”, and we have updated our portrait pricing accordingly.

Our goal for Trystan Photography has always been to develop the regions’ most exciting fine art / boutique photography studio with a select client base dedicated to sharing in our grand experiment of capturing the rarest moments of life in as artful and exceptional a presentation as possible.

We’re very excited about our updated price structure for Charlotte’s portraits. To view the new pricing, please visit:

Baby, Children, HS Senior / Adult and Family Protrait Pricing

and

Boudoir, & Maternity/Newborn Pricing

Follow the link to see Beth and Bryan’s Pueblo wedding.

Beth and Bryan were married at an amazing private ceremony at her parents’ home high above the Arkansas River. Actually, I’m probably understating things a bit here: when I say “home”, I really mean “estate”. It was amazing. Huge private grounds, lush gardens and forests, amazing views… they should really consider letting other people rent the place for their weddings!

It was an elegant affair, with well appointed table settings in a very accommodating outdoor tent on the east lawn. The details were thoughtful, the settings perfectly picked, and yet there was such an atmosphere of joy and celebration, that the inherent formality of it all blended quite easily with the jubilant “party-time” energy that was bursting at the formal seams!

And talk about a couple in love! No shyness here, at all. They were very outgoing, affectionate, and their parents and family would follow us around at sunset whooping and cheering them on…

Thank you Beth and Bryan for the opportunity to capture your wedding day. It was beautiful, and a true pleasure to photograph!

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Renee and Robert wanted a small wedding.

Renee was adamant that she have awesome wedding photos, no matter how small her wedding might be.

So she hired Charlotte and I!

How lucky for us!

I’m serious. A wonderful and beautifully simple ceremony in the cute little Red Rock’s Chapel followed by nearly 2 hours with just the couple in a place as gorgeous as Red Rocks in Denver?!? How lucky are we!?!

I’ve said it in many blog posts before, and still, I can’t say it enough: ample time with the couple in a picturesque spot with time to play (and especially time to get to know them)… it’s a wedding photographer’s dream.

Some photographers ask us why we would take the time to photograph a small wedding?

Well my kind colleagues: these photos are why!

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Tanesha was one of our “really-on-top-of-it-brides”. She booked with us a good year out (or more) from her wedding date. She had her engagement session done a few months later, and her choice for her matted 8×10 signing board back to us well before the deadline. The amazing thing to us was how she somehow pulled off planning her Colorado Springs wedding all the way from the Western Slope of Colorado (Glenwood Springs, I think…)

Sometimes you can just sense how badly a bride wants to get married. Tanesha’s excitement and desire for nuptials was almost palpable.

Tanesha and Carlos area truly happy couple, with very large and loving families that came togther that day for a simple, beautiful and moving ceremony and a “party-of-the-century” kind of reception.

Thank you both for an beautiful wedding that made photography almost easy!

Side note: I’ve seen a lot more white tuxes in ‘08 than any other year. Could that be that logic is finally creeping into the minds of the average wedding couple: summer weddings are hot; the bride and her girls get to wear cool light colored dresses and the guys wear stifling hot black tuxes.  I say, let the men wear cool clothes, too!

Groomsmen unite! Demand light cotton, breathable clothes! Let the hot black tux (albeit still very flattering, I’ll admit) be reserved for cold East Coast weddings in the fall and winter.

Now I’m just rambling off of the top of my head here, but someone should develop a portable liquid cooling system for tuxes that utilizes tubes of cooled water supplied from a discrete pump-pack under the coat on the belt… hey, wait a minute… that’s a good idea!

Hmmmm… please excuse me, while I secure the necessary patents…

So you’re engaged!

He’s the man of your dreams and you can’t believe the BIG day is finally going to happen. All of those daydreams of the perfect fairytale wedding are going to pay off in the most fabulous wedding ever…

But where to start? Let’s see… there’s setting the date, the save the date cards, invitations, dresses, tuxes, flowers, rings, wedding party, ceremony spot, reception spot, wedding planner, officiant, favors, table settings, event rentals, music, food, drink… photography?

Wow. I know what you’re thinking: “Where do I start?”

I’d recommend starting with the locales (the “where”), because sometimes you might get some great recommendations from the staff for your other vendors, or you may realize that you want vendors with experience working at your reception or ceremony sites. Personally, I think experience at a venue is a good attribute in a photographer, but not required. You should never base your decisions solely off of whether or not a vendor has worked at a location before. Because, yes, they may have experience there, but they may also be a huge a**!

Which brings me to the absolutely, positively, no-question-about-it, most important aspect of choosing the perfect photographer for your wedding:

Personality!

That’s right. It’s not style or price! Both are valid, but in my humble opinion they’re not as important, and here’s why:

You may absolutely love a photographer’s work, style, and price point, but if your photographer does not make you feel comfortable on your wedding day, then the photographs will reflect that. Make sure your photographer’s personality reflects your own preferred vibe for your wedding day (i.e. fun and sexy, or serious and reverent, etc…)

For example: Charlotte and I are goofy, fun photographers. We love to goof around and play with the couple and the wedding party. I often will speak with a vague artsy European accent as I ask my photo subjects to “give me sexy”, or “work it”… It’s always fun and I’m a clown because we’ve found that laughing fun couples take the best fun/sexy shots. I mean, what’s more sexy and romantic than a shot of a bride completely in love with her new husband and laughing gorgeously as he holds her in his loving arms? Nothing.

And how do you get a bride/couple to do that; to look great on cue? Do you shout out, “Laugh and look good doing it!”? Nope. That only works for professional models, and usually not that well.

To get real people to do what we want, we have to get them to really do it! So if we need a confident and sexy bride, we need to help her feel confident and sexy. If we want a playful shot of the couple, then we need to help them feel comfortable letting their guard down and flirting on camera. And the easiest way that we’ve found to get past most of our clients guards is to simply be honest, friendly, and playful. And it’s almost never a hard thing to do because it’s a wedding! It’s a big party anyway, and we treat it as such and simply make friends.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because it helps to illustrate my point that personality matters most. You may love our work, and you might love the idea of having photographs from your wedding that look like ours, but if my description of how we work sends a chill up your spine or curls your toes, then no matter how much you like our work, in reality we would be a horrible choice for your wedding photographers.

Brides who want a reverent, very serious day with an almost fashion photography atmosphere (where the photographers basically say all that I say, but the difference is they are completely serious about it!), would be making a huge mistake by booking us. I don’t have a serious bone in my body. I’ve been verified by the FDA as 100% pure fun-guy. So, if you’re a couple who wants to basically have a day long party and wants the photography to be fun and artistic, then we’d be perfect for your wedding.

So what’s the key to choosing the perfect wedding photographer?

Start with style and price, but always base your final decision on personality. It’s the formula for perfect wedding photography.

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Brooke and Randy had a vision of a wedding at the Woodmen Valley’s Stone Chapel in Colorado Springs followed by a riotous reception at the Marriott.

We previewed Brooke and Randy’s engagement pics a while back on our blog, and we were hoping that the wedding photos would be as much fun to capture as their engagement photos were… and how!

Brooke and Randy have such a fun, carefree love. They laughed and played all day long, shrugging off the usual wedding snags and stresses with a joke and a grin. They loved being close to each other that day, and it shows in our photography of them.

We love our job, but weddings like this remind us how lucky we are not only to be wedding photographers, but also to be in love as husband and wife!

I’d photographed a number of weddings at Woodmen Valley’s Stone Chapel before, but I’d never captued a photo that really showed they hidden Jesus inlay in the stonework behind the altar. Charlotte got a great shot of Him this time, so keep an eye out!

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I know I say it over and over: a huge aspect of how Charlotte and I capture awesome photographs is directly dependent on how responsive, comfortable, and intimate our couples are. We can’t take happy, cool and funny photos of people who aren’t happy,cool and funny. One of the smartest things we ever did as a studio was we started to “pre-screen” our couples by essentially telling them how we like to work in a very informal, lighthearted way, and if they don’t like a fast paced, goofy, irreverent, joking atmosphere then we frankly aren’t the right photographers for them; and it’s worked wonders.

The caliber of clientèle we’ve booked over the last year or so has been a phenomenal crop of subjects. So cool, fun and relaxed that it’s a sheer pleasure to take their photographs.

Brittany and Rhead were no exception.

I met them in the lobby of the Brown Palace in Denver and we eased into shooting by doing a few test lighting shots around the hotel, talked about the reception set-up, walked around and shared ideas about the day of the wedding. Then we headed outside with the eventual goal of getting down to Coors Field. We stopped wherever we saw something cool or interesting to the eye and they were totally chill and fun about eveything. Brittany said, “… it feels more like we’re just hanging out and you happen to be taking photos…”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

We didn’t make it to Coors Field, but we did find this amazing little sculpted office park garden where we got some really neat long shots with remote lighting, too. It was funny though, the security team for the office building came out and informed us we could take no photographs of the building itself. It seemed like a strange rule, it must have been a secret Dept. of Homeland Security building of something. It didn’t have a markings or signs… very interesting.

Thanks so much Brittany and Rhead. I can’t wait for your October wedding!