Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photos from Kristine and Robert’s wedding at Shove Chapel in Colorado Springs.

We first met Robert forever-long ago (5 years??) when he was a groomsman at Bryan and Becky’s wedding (long enough ago that I don’t have a gallery of the wedding up anymore!).

Robert made quite an impression on me with his “Ray Charles impersonation” I caught while the boys were getting ready and he sat down at the piano in the parlor room at First United Methodist. It is still one of my favorite fun-photos of all-time. Therefore, it was deja-vu for both of us, 5 years later, when he and Kristine showed up for the initial consultation, and I knew… I had seen him before.

This is the best part: he had never put 2-and-2 together before the meeting, either. You see, we were meeting at our Denver studio, and as far as he remembered, Trystan Photography was a Colorado Springs photography studio (as Bryan and Becky’s wedding was in the Springs).

It only took a few questions for us to figure out why we were sure we’d met before.  I was very excited because I knew their wedding would rock.

And it did not disappoint: great wedding party (Bryan was a groomsman this time), great fun family, and great venue.

Ahh, Shove Chapel… how I love thee! Let me count the ways:

• Awe inspiring Gothic architecture
• deep moody shadows
• dramatic soaring altar and stage lighting
• huge classical pipe-organ

I love photographing weddings there. They always have such drama and grandeur.

The weather could have been a little better, though…

Just a little cold.

Really, bitterly, cutting cold.

But Kristine and Robert toughed it out (I did too in my Spyder ski jacket…). I really appreciate tough brides and grooms. Weather is always… ummm, “interesting” in Colorado, and if you can only handle a perfect blue-bird day on your wedding day, then you might be in for a rough haul in Colorado! Kristine knew better. She just laughed and smiled her way through. Awesome.

And when we needed to warm up, we would duck inside the chapel again, and it was during this time that I captured them “Tebow-ing” (if you’re not a Broncos fan… well, I’m sorry for you).

It was a perfect (cold) day, and Char and I are so honored to have been chosen to capture it for you two.

Thank you (and thank you Bryan and Becky for recommending us to Kristine!).

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photographs from Kristen and Garrett’s wedding at The Clubhouse at Flying Horse.

I loved this wedding. There is nothing better than taking photos of beautiful people.

That’s a lie. There is something better: taking photos of two beautiful people who are madly in love with each other.

No wait… that’s still not it at all…

Let’s try again. There’s nothing better that taking photos of two beautiful people who are madly in love with each other and who have a fantastic love of life and humor?

That’s it!

Kristen and Garrett embodied this notion perfectly. He’s handsome, cool and laid back, and she’s elegantly beautiful… no, effortlessly stunning… you get the point. But together… whoa, baby. Watch out world!

But the best part? The laughter and the joy that these two exuded all day long. They were clearly so happy to be in love, to have finally found each other, and for this day to have come at last. What a blessing it was to photography this wedding.

However, I think the finest example of their humor is the video below, which they played at their reception. Yup. Right in the middle of the reception. In the middle of dinner, right after a lovely montage of childhood photos and the awkward teenaged-years, this surprising gem came on.

Then laughter, and more laughter.

I love this video. It is so unassuming, so zany, and so funny that the entire room was roaring. And the reason all the family and friends loved it so much? Because this video is Kristen and Garrett in a nutshell: confident, fun and not a bit self-conscious.

Sure, they can dress up real nice-like, but when it all comes down to it, they’re just as likely to chill on the couch together playing with their Apple iPad as gettin’ all “dolled up” and lookin’ fabulous!

So here’s to the warping video effect used so charmingly in the following video, and kudos to Kristen and Garret for being brave and funny enough to use it this well:

This individual, one-on-one, full day training is exactly what you need to get your wedding business churning. I’ll be offering certain days for class times between 10/11/2010 and 02/1/2011.

Download the PDF ( http://www.trystanphotography.com/wedding/ropes_web.pdf) for investment details.

From detailed evaluation of your business and pricing strategies, to the secrets of SEO and effective web presence, I’ll give you the foundation to grow your clientele without breaking the bank on marketing.

Our day will also include hands-on learning as I stage for you the most demanding shooting situations and also the worst-case scenarios I’ve encountered at weddings. We’ll discuss techniques and lighting philosophies that will enable you to overcome everything a wedding can throw at you. Armed with all this, you’ll never miss a shot!

I’d prefer to do each full-day class on an individual (one-on-one) basis, but we do have buddy and group rates for “The Ropes”.

Please call 719.359.5520 for details, or write me at trygve@trystanphotography.com.

Oh this little man was a dream, he did SO incredibly well for me! I love me some sleepy babies!

Miss Leah was a joy to photograph! And incredibly sweet… I love watching first time parents with their new baby. The love and amazement in their eyes is indescribable and these lucky parents were no exception.  So in love with their new baby girl… and who can blame them, she’s beautiful!

I can feel it, summer isn’t far off!
With the time change, its lighter longer. The weather is starting to shape up and we can actually spend time outside.

We can do photo sessions outdoors without jackets, gloves, hats, crying/cold children!!

I cannot wait for spring and summer to get here, we got a nice little taste of that at this session… pure joy!

Such a gorgeous little girl… and oh so sweet!

Brooklyn was a joy to photograph, loved this session!

Meet Valerie and her son, Joe…

Valerie lives next door and her son, Joe, and my daughter, Allie, have become best buds. Such good buds, Allie is determined her and Joe will be getting married in the future, she’s just “waiting for a ring”. It’s cute… but scary how fast they grow up!
Valerie’s hubby, Dave, is currently deployed and won’t be back till June… she wanted to have some pictures taken of her and Joe to send to him. So we headed out east of Colorado Springs to where she boards her horse and had a blast playing around on the farm. It was a gorgeous March day, the sun was shining and we couldn’t have asked for better weather.
Joe looks incredibly handsome in his cowboy hat and Valerie always looks gorgeous! I look forward to doing a session with them once Dave returns this summer, so keep your eyes open for this cute family later this year!

Sweet Miss Adalyn did not want to be away from her mommy! So we made due and got some great shots with mom only inches away! 6 months is such a fun age to photograph… sitting up but not yet mobile ( a photographers dream! ) and for the most part, they are always cheery and smiley!

I had some of the most precious newborns in the month of January! What a wonderful way to start off the new year. A couple of them were amazing sleepers, let me mold and pose them anyway I wanted… then a couple were a little more tough. Always sleeping with one eye open, watching me and refusing to sleep… luckily, with patience, a warm house and a full tummy they all finally succomed to their need for sleep and passed out! That’s when the real fun begins.

A lot of parents think they want their newborn to be awake for pictures… when in reality newborns photograph best when they are in that deep deep sleep where they can be moved without waking for a single second. Typically, if the baby is awake when I get there I’ll start the session and try to get a few shots of their bright eyes, but after a few of those I always recommend nursing/feeding the baby to top them off and get them to go to sleep. Sleepy newborns are much easier to work with than wide awake ones!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite photos from MJ and Fred’s adorable wedding at The Secret Garden in Colorado Springs.

There are almost no words to describe how loving and precious Mary Jean and Fred are together. One of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken is the photo (to the left) after they’ve just had their “reveal” moment (where they see each other for the first time). Fred is holding her so dearly and so lovingly, you can almost see his heart bursting with joy and love. And Fred was a hoot: he is one of those old-school men who was clearly hesitant to show any tears in front of the camera, so we had to be really sneaky to get the shot, and how it was worth it!

MJ and Fred were just really interesting people. Not only is this Fred’s 1st marriage (his family joked that he was simply really, really picky), but both he and MJ are phenomenal dancers. And I don’t mean like “we take a few lessons” dancers, I mean like “we’re pros” dancers.

The best part? A ton of their friends are professional dancers so the dancing shots at the reception are gorgeous! Sexy, spinning, flair, motion, great form, and steamy gazes… it was great! (Some dancers have the best gazes. It’s a salsa/Latin thing where they look like they either want to eat you or… you know… it’s an expression of their natural heat.)

The Secret Garden was spectacular that day/night. Not too cool, not too hot, and the gardens themselves were lush and wonderful. It was the perfect setting for such a picturesque wedding. If you haven’t seen The Secret Garden in Old Colorado City, you must check it out. It literally is hidden. It’s right next to HWY 24, and unless you have exact directions, you’ll never find it because, well, it’s hidden!

Thank you MJ and Fred for sharing your spectacular, fun-to-photograph wedding with us. It was an honor and a pleasure. And a special thanks to Fred for letting us capture such emotional shots!

One of my best friends, Gaby, just delivered her third daughter, McKenna. She picked a great day to be born… my birthday! So McKenna’s daddy came up with the nickname of KimKenna…. since we will forever share the same birthday. I thought it was cleaver and pretty cute! Especially since I was there photographing her grand entrance into the world!

You’ll be seeing her on the blog as she grows through the first year, and I am so excited… she is just the cutest and most precious little girl. And look at all that hair! You’ve also seen her two older sisters on the blog before… so keep your eye out for their first session together!

Gaby made a great decision to have me photograph McKenna before she was even a week old. Newborns are the easiest to photograph in the first week of life… they hardly, if ever!, wake up… and let me mold them and move them whatever way I want. Its a dream really! They still have the scrunchy look and are just so easy to handle. I typically say before they are 2 weeks old is best, but the first week is ideal!!

It’s not often I sit a baby down to photograph them and they are smiley and happy from the start! But I sure do love when that happens! I can always depend on Elena smiling for me, she’s got to be one of the happiest (and cutest!) babies I’ve photographed. Sure makes my life a lot easier!

You may remember Kendahl from her newborn session. She sure has grown since then!

She’s gained so much chub its beyond adorable… love baby rolls! And when else are rolls cute on a girl in life?!

Amanda, Lenee and Britney were so much fun, and you can totally tell from their session! Amanda wanted funky, graffiti wall type pictures and I think we did a good job making that happen! Britney didn’t want to let go of her Dora book, but that’s okay …  it captures the moment! Lenee is a beautiful young lady and was a great help with her little sister!

Thanks Amanda, for allowing me to photograph you and your beautiful girls!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view our favorite sample photographs from Julia and Matt’s wedding at Hillside Gardens.

Loyal blog readers will recognize this wedding as the culmination of the long and twisted tale of Julia Weiland, our illustrious studio manager and apprentice photographer. Originally a bride, she unabashedly asked if she could start apprenticing under us with weddings, which led to a great friendship, which became pure nepotism and we hired her as our studio manager (many of you who are wedding clients have probably received a phone call from her at some point about you next payment being due… ).

Well, this ended up being a big, important, do-or-die day for us. Not only is Julia now an expert on our style (she helps me with the initial wedding deleting and she assists on about 1/2 our weddings) but she’s memorized every single photo we’ve ever taken in our portfolio. And on top of that, she and Matt also asked ME to be their officiant for the wedding! Whaaaaaaaaaat?

Let’s break this day down: we not only had to capture amazing photos, but I also had to marry them?!?

Well, let’s just say, the day itself did not make it easy on us!

When Julia, Matt and I first met in 2008 and they told me that their wedding would be at Hillside Gardens, the first thing I told them was, “It’s an amazing place… I love shooting there, but… what’s the backup plan if it rains?”

Julia’s whole demeanor changed when I asked that question, and she stared at with an intensity that could have wilted flowers, “We don’t need a backup plan. It… will… not… rain.”

And she meant it. More than anything. In fact, she made that statement with such conviction, I truly believed she had somehow affected the outcome of that days weather: Mother Nature would have to answer to Julia if it dared to rain that day.

Julia meant it. And I believed it.

Well, it rained. All day. Poured in fact. Ah, well. Such is life. Such is a wedding.

Julia tried really hard to be positive and strong and upbeat, but as the day wore on a photos were getting delayed because of the downpour, her resolve began to slip. Soon, there were little bouts of tears, and then hand holding with her best friends, which finally collapsed into nearly broken-down praying/rocking… and this is where it gets really creepy. As soon as Julia went into her kind of trance-like prayer/crying/rocking state and was begging the rain to stop in time for the ceremony… it stopped. We all gave her a little wider berth that day because, if she could stop the rains themselves, then if she got mad, she could probably make my head explode like that movie “Scanners” with the power of her thoughts.

Well, the skies cleared, I changed clothes, and emerged in my never-worn black suit, walked down the aisle, and conducted the first wedding ceremony of my entire life. It was thrilling. I was nervous. I was irreverent. I was sincere. I was awesome…

I’m not kidding. My ceremony was a hit. Women were coming up to me all through the reception telling me how unusual it was, and how they wished I could have married them at their weddings!

And I must say to all of those wedding officiants who make a stink about photographers: I never even noticed Kim and Char. I never noticed, saw, or heard them. I was too busy performing a marriage ceremony! So, to all of those officiants who put all those limits on photographers: focus on your job! Stop worrying about the photographers!

It’s awesome seeing the saga of Julia and Matt, engaged couple, come to a close. It even cooler seeing them start a new life as a married couple.

And you know what the best part of this whole convoluted relationship has been? Watching Julia work on the deleting of her own wedding photos. It was pure, delightful, agony for her.

No, I’m kidding. The best part has been making incredible, loyal friends from two people who initially were complete strangers who wanted to hire us.

Thank you, Julia and Matt, for being great friends, and Julia: thanks for being a hard working employee and for putting up with my insufferable crap everyday. You’re the best.

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!

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.