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!

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 our favorite wedding photos from Lyndsie and Wes’ wedding at the Pines at Genesee.

Rain.

Why has there been so much rain this year?

Every wedding through Lyndsie and Wes’ has had rain at some point. For this wedding, rain clouds were boiling and threatening all day long, to the point that Wes had to make the call whether or not to even have it outside (why the Pines couldn’t set up both indoor and outdoor options, I don’t know…).

But luck and good fortune were on our side that day in that we only had sprinkles during the pre-photos, nothing during the ceremony, and it didn’t start pouring until we got inside for the reception.

But what a location! Wonderful meadows and views, and a perfectly shaded area full of lush old trees for the ceremony: The Pines at Genesee was a great place for a wedding.

We’re pretty enthusiastic photographers, and we like to roam a lot. We like to tread off of the beaten path and grab shots you don’t normally see. However, sometimes this means that the perfect wedding dress is a little less perfect when we’re done. But hey: you only wear it once. Better get your money’s worth!

Lyndsie is the perfect example of the “trooper bride”. While she was a little hesitant to go roaming about the meadows,  she wrote afterward when we posted her finished images online:

All I can say is…..AMAZING!! We are so happy with how the photos turned out (especially the “dipping” photos…which you must force every couple to do since they look awesome)!! All the grass/dirt stains and dress tearing was WAY worth it

See? Sometimes you’ve got to suffer a little for your art. It’s always worth it.

Thanks for giving us the honor of capturing your day, Lyndsie and Wes. It was awesome.

This being Colorado, most of our engagement portraits feature couples in a more causal style, boots and jeans and all. Usually, we’re hiking throughout some mountain park, getting a little dirty and a little sweaty but always having a lot of fun.

This session was different, but in a great way.

I knew we were in for something special when I met Jill and Matt at Wynkoop Brewing Co., and saw not only were they enjoying a cocktail (something I highly recommend for photo shoots… not for me: I recommend the clients drink!), but Jill was simply a knockout in her stunning little dress and heels… Oh, and I guess Matt looked pretty good, too. (Sheesh)

Now, we were already planning more of a metropolitan, urban look for the session, but once I saw how truly fantastic they looked together, I knew this session had just jumped up to a whole new level.

But cool clothes does not a good portrait session make.

If Jill and Matt had just been bumps on a log, they would have been well-dressed and yet boring bumps on a log. But because they obviously ADORED each other, they had that fun kinetic kind of energy which we celebrate in all of our clients.

Real love is like a contagious drug. When I photograph couples who exude real love for each other, their euphoria almost permeates the air until I’m giddy, too. It’s a very welcome and rewarding contact high. : )

“Comfortable.”

That word is the single most significant trait I see amongst truly happy couples. They are really “comfortable” with and around each other. At times, it almost seems as if they are not complete without the presence of their partner. Their personalities don’t shine as bright, they’re more tense, etc.

Cory and Tarynn are the exemplification of what it means to be “comfortable” in an engagement session. We met outside Union Station in downtown Denver, in a mind-melting heat, but this being Colorado, within minutes it was overcast and cool. The laughs came naturally and easily, the affection was obvious and free-flowing, and their photographs were a joy to capture and reflect that.

You can tell I, too, was “comfortable” with them!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view sample photos from Erin and Brian’s wedding at the Sylvan Dale Ranch, near Loveland, CO.

For those of you who don’t know, I spent my formative years (jr. high and high school) in a little place known as South Park (Fairplay, CO to be exact). It was in interesting place to spend your teen-aged years, seeing as it was a town of 500 people and all…

Erin and Brian are from South Park, too. So their wedding was like a school reunion, if not a town reunion! It was really fun to see everyone from back in the day. It was very uplifting to see that there doesn’t seem to be much of a “small town curse” for anyone. We’ve all moved on to some pretty awesome things: I mean, Erin and Brian are both in law school (sheesh, more lawyers), and that’s after Brian graduated from the Air Force Academy and Erin already has a degree in civil engineering. Pretty good you, two…

Say, has anyone noticed that high school’s 4 years seemed to take forever, and although we’ve been out of it for over double that amount of time… it almost feels shorter? Anyway, I digress…

This was the first wedding of the “official” 2009 wedding season, and it was a wet one, which has set the tone for pretty much every other wedding this year. Dodging rain for the ceremony, worried brides, teasing sprinkles, downright rain. Thankfully, the ceremony was dry and perfect, but we struggled with rain for the before and after ceremony shots. It was actually pouring rain during the couple photos, and Erin and Brian were troopers, and the photos turned out stunning even though we all were getting soaked (one of the joys of an outdoor ranch wedding…)!

Thank you both so much. Charlotte and I had so much fun at your wedding, and it was great to see everybody from South Park!

Wow. Adam and Sara are in love.

Some couples, (all of our recent clients of late) you can just sense a certain ease about them that seems to go soul-deep.

We shot at Washington Park, where Adam and Sara live nearby, and where Adam executed his surprise proposal one morning on one of their jogs together (yes, they’re runners, as if you couldn’t tell… I felt fat just standing around them).

I don’t know if it was because Wash Park is where they were engaged, or because they were in their neighborhood and felt a familiarity, or if it’s because they felt safe with me, or what… but I feel so lucky to have been able to capture such a pure and easy love in such a fantastic setting.

I can’t wait for your wedding, you two!

Joe is a cool guy. But like most male fiances, he wasn’t the most keen about gallivanting around some park playing kissy face with his girl in front of some other dude (me) whom he barely knows.

However, I am blessed with a unique set of skills that allow me to put most males at ease and can even bring out their fun, softer sides that they might only reserve for private moments with their fiance.

How do I do this? How do I overcome our natural male machismo and get guys to feel comfortable showing their more sensitive sides?

Can’t tell you: it’s a trade secret.

Actually, it’s almost always the guys that claim they don’t like photos that end up being the most natural and loving in front of the camera. It just takes some encouragement!

When I finished Emily and Neil’s engagement portraits, she wrote back with: “I can’t get used to seeing us in photos like these… more intimate photos.”

It’s a common reaction from our clients. Most people are used to very bland, straight on, looking at the camera portraits. When they see themselves in a portrait where: 1) the composition and lighting are flattering, 2) they look comfortable, 3) they have real emotion in the shot… well, it can freak you out a little (in a good way).

Those things are the essence of fine editorial photography/portraiture. I aim to capture who my clients are, in the most flattering and visually engrossing way possible.

My favorite moment from the session was from the beginning when we met at Union Station, I was going to do the signature “dip” in the middle of 17th St. (see Kristin and David’s engagement pics for a sample), when suddenly I noticed another photographer with another couple. She was standing right where I stand and was doing the exact same shot I wanted to do!

Two things happened: 1) I didn’t feel very creative, 2) I was filled with an overwhelming urge to challenge her to a duel. You see, for those of you who don’t know, the Revised Unified Code for Photographers section 16.28 sub-paragraph 6 mandates that any 2 photographers who meet out on location with the intent to capture the same shot must fight each other to the death (just like Highlander) using our longest lenses as bludgeons. Whoever is victorious absorbs the creative essence of the other photographer. I know, I know: it’s a very barbaric practice, but it’s been in use for thousands of years, before there were even cameras or photographers. Our ancestors strictly adhered to the photographer’s code.

Needless to say, I won. Emily and Neil were a bit shaken, but as you can see from their photos, the initial shock wore off and they recovered quickly.

(For legal purposes I must now explain that I did not, in fact, bludgeon another photographer to death with my tele-zoom lens in a barbaric Highlander-esque battle for creative rights to capturing a particular shot. It was simply my attempt a gallows/nerd humor and was clearly hyperbole. In fact, if  you thought I was serious, you are clearly humorless and are no longer allowed to read our blog.)

So, anyway… it was an awesome shoot and we were all over downtown Denver. From Union Station to 14th and Curtis (riding the 16th Street Mall buses is really easy). Emily and Neil were awesome and very adventurous. It was cold, dark and nearly raining, but we made the best of it.

In fact, the photo of them walking in front of the big yellow wall, holding hands, and she’s skipping forward and looking back at him is my favorite engagement portrait I’ve ever taken. Seriously. I love it. Thank you for being so great, you two!

How often can you say you really “cavort”? Do you even know what “cavorting” is? Well, Matt and Sharyn obviously do.

When I go into engagement sessions, the absolute holy grail of photo subjects is a couple that not only really, really loves each other, but are almost giddy with energy and enthusiasm. I don’t always get that from my couples, but Matt and Sharyn were the definition of fun and energy. They cavorted all over the place. And Red Rocks is a heck of a place to do that at!

Matt and Sharyn’s wedding is this Saturday, so I will have some wedding photos to share soon!

Ahhh, Erinn and Kostas…

What a loving, amazing couple you are. What fun people you are. Your wedding is going to make all the other photographers really, really, jealous.

I met Erinn and Kostas at a parking lot near the edge of CU Boulder and we proceeded to embark on a little hike/adventure through the campus. It was an unseasonably warm March day (before it got really crappy in April), and although the trees weren’t quite budding yet, there was an almost Spring-like glow in the air. They chose CU Boulder because it’s a huge part of their personal stories and as a couple. They are both really intelligent, well-educated people, and it was a treat to get a glimpse into their history as they would regale me with tales of their past at CU as we walked around.

As we hiked through campus we’d stop whenever the spirit moved me and we’d shoot a little (more like I took photos while Erinn and Kostas made-out). Some couples take a little coaxing, and little suggestive persuasion on how to relax and be themselves, but not Erinn and Kostas! They were so relaxed, natural and totally into each other it almost seemed at times that it didn’t matter if I was there or not; as if they went on romantic make-out walks through CU all the time.

They were so into it, at one point a car drove by and someone yelled out the window, “Get a room!”. It was so much fun to photograph these two!

Their wedding is going to be stellar: they got us for unlimited time (all day), and Kostas and the boys and I are going hang out and go skeet shooting really early while Erinn, Charlotte and the girls goof around and get ready. Their wedding ceremony is going to be at the stunningly beautiful Assumption of the Theotokos Metropolis Cathedral in Denver. If you’ve never seen the interior of this cathedral, you seriously have to check it out! Then we’re zipping off to Boulder for some Chautauqua, downtown, and Folsom Field shots (with their names and maybe even some photos on the scoreboard behind them). The reception itself is going to be at Folsom Field. Now I’m a football nut, so this wedding would be cool enough just with the field, but with the Cathedral and all the other locations, it’s to die for!

I had such a good time takig your engagement photos, Erinn and Kostas. I can’t wait for your wedding!!!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view Nicole and Andrew’s sample gallery of their wedding photography at The Holy Rosary Chapel and The Cliff House.

There’s something almost magical about winter weddings in Colorado. Even if there’s no snow on the ground, there’s still almost a fairytale quality to the bare trees and crisp air. It’s almost a Gothic “Tim Burton-esque” visual.

This was our first wedding at The Holy Rosary Chapel, and I can’t believe how cool it is. It’s tucked back, almost hidden in the forested hills of Cascade, CO. I never knew it existed until we saw it!

It’s so classic Catholic that it’s charming. Richly appointed inside with intricate detailing in dark burled wood and dramatic iron sconces for lighting. The front of the chapel descends rapidly down a fairly precarious stone staircase that made the couple’s grand sparkler exit rather scary. A lot of guests were falling on the stairs before the couple came out, and I was terrified that we might get out first “bride goes down” moment. Thankfully, nothing happened, and the sparkler shots were phenomenal.

As the wedding was in the middle of winter, things got dark really fast, and we were working in fading light for most of the shoot, but I personally love that lighting.

overall, it was yet again, a very cold wedding with very warm, light-hearted people. Weddings like this make me so thankful that I get to do what I do: taking fantastic images with people I really like!

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!

The biggest day for proposals all year. It’s fitting that we’ve just finished our new sample gallery for engagements and couples, because that’s on a lot of people’s minds right now!

Like I said in the post about our new 2009 Senior gallery, this is the time of year we do a little spring cleaning and spruce up the website with our favorite photos from the past year. It’s a renewal, a new beginning, if you will, for our portfolio.

So if you find yourself about to propose, or being proposed to, and soon to begin planning a wedding… try us out with an engagement session. We’ll capture your real love as you flirt and kiss and adore each other… all in a fun, relaxing atmosphere.

But don’t worry, we do the standard boring formal Grandma likes, too.

I’m being sarcastic. Everybody knows it’s the grandmas of the world who love the butt grabbing shots and say things like, “That’s so cute. It’s just like your Grandfather and I were…” I’m telling you, don’t sell that generation short. They were horn-dogs. Why do you think there was a “baby boom” after WWII?

Hmmmmmm…

Please click the photo or follow the link to view Hannah’s almost heartbreaking wedding at Glen Eyrie Castle.

Okay, loyal blog readers. Even I’ll admit, I’m getting tired of blogging about it raining at our weddings. I mean, this is Colorado, right? I read photo blogs from all over the world, and not even Seattle photographers say it rained as much as I have this year!

Sadly, this time the rain claimed a victim. It’s the first time in my entire career as a photographer that a well planned, gorgeous outdoor ceremony was completely rained out. We’ve had ceremonies in the rain, but it was a drizzle, or sporadic drops, but Hannah and Matt’s wedding was hit by a real, true downpour that lasted all afternoon. We knew it was coming and we got all of our couple shots done before the rain hit, but we were literally snapping our last frames as everyone ran inside to escape the huge, fat droplets that were falling and spotting her gown.

Hannah tried to be a trooper and put her best face forward, but as the downpour continued on, it became more and more apparent that the outdoor ceremony of her dreams would never happen. Glen Eyrie is a beutiful place, but it’s indoor area, the Great Hall, is more “butch” than “fairytale”", complete with dark rich wood, dark cavernous atmosphere, and mounted hunting tophies filling the walls. Hannah dreaded the idea of being rained out, and seeing her worst fear become reality was too much, and her joyous, giddy exterior began to give way to the sorrow of her dissappointment. She went away to her room to be alone and wait out her last glimmer of hope. Maybe, just maybe, the rain would stop.

But an hour passed, and the staff at Glen Eyrie began to press for a call to be made (chairs had to be set up, sound equiptment moved, lighting arranged), and neither Char and I, nor her family wanted to be the one’s to make the final call and seal the deal.

Finally, once the official call was made, the family sprang into action, and swarmed all over the castle, re-setting every last detail from the outdoor site into the Great Hall. They wanted everything to be just as Hannah would’ve had it, just inside now. Charlotte and I sprang into action as well, metering, testing, and devising a lighting plan than would force as much light, warmth and openness into that dark cavern of a hall as possible.

I always brag that Charlotte and I have enough experience and expertise that we can photograph anything, anywhere, and this was our chance to prove it. I felt everything was riding on these photos. Hannah would be crushed if her sunny outdoor dream wedding metamorphosed into something more dark and Gothic. But if Charlotte and I could capitalize on the available lighting and access it just right with our strobes, then we could present it more as a true fairytale castle wedding and emphasize the grandeur of the hall, and not it’s coldness.

Well, long story short, it really didn’t matter where the wedding was held because has soon as Hannah appeared, every last bit the glowing and happy bride, Matthew was crying, and then Hannah was crying, and then everybody was crying. I had only taken a few frames when I began to realize that it looked so amazing and warm at the altar, almost as if Hannah had brought a little bit of sun into the hall with her!

The ceremony was so moving it verged on the ridiculous. First of all, Hannah comes from a family of ministers, and her brother officiated the ceremony as her father gave her away, and then he would be the officiant. But before that, her brother sang a little song about his sister (quite well)… and I was done. Cried like a baby. As I wiped tears from my eyes I realized that we weren’t even 10 minutes in, and I was already emotionally drained.

Once Hannah’s dad took over, it was your classic wedding ceremony. That is, until Hannah suddenly was handed a microphone and she was off and running with a song about Matthew… and she sang like an angel. So then I was begging to realize that not only this was her whole family attractive and nice folk, but they all could sing like the dickens, too!

Have any of you ever felt that little twinge of jealousy when you see a seemingly perfect and wholesome family, and then find out they are really good at something like music, or sports, or dancing, or…

Wait a minute.

The Osmonds! They were Colorado’s version of The Osmonds! I don’t know why I’m only realizing this now, but that’s what they were. Good looking, talented. In fact, they were too good looking and too talented.

But I digress…

In the end, as I look back at the photos, I am so thankful that we were able to capture that amazing wedding like we did. We captured the magic, romance and grandeur it deserved. Would it have been best if we’d been able to shoot outside as planned? Sure. But I’m sure that after it’s all been said and done, with the whole wedding behind them, Hannah and Matthew probably think their wedding was perfect, and wouldn’t change a thing.

… and neither would I.

Please click the photo or follow the link to view the gallery of kelly and Jacob’s wedding at St. Mary’s Chapel and Thunder Mountain Lodge in Breckenridge.

I grew up near Breckenridge in Fairplay, CO (known as the real South Park, to some…), and I spent all of my weekends (4 day school week = skiiing!) and summers (job) over in Breck. It’s like my hometown, except I didn’t go to school there.

However, because of my familiarity with the area, and my “local boy knowledge” of the back country roads and trails, I think Kelly and Jacob really got a unique opportunity to capture some really special and one of a kind wedding photos in Breck!

The key thing that we did was, instead of hanging around in town after the ceremony, we all jumped in our cars (well the wedding party and the couple jumped in a limo, driven by a terrified guy from Denver), and headed up Hoosier Pass to some places I used to mountain bike as a teen. It’s a good 15 minutes out of town, but the views at the top of this box canyon looking back out onto Red Mountain are to DIE for.

We also had some fun shots with the wedding party near Blue River, in a meadow with a great view looking at up at Mt. Quandary.

But enough puffing myself up.

Kelly did amazingly well with a very stressful wedding nightmare scenario that occurred while all of the girls were getting ready: the zipper busted off of one of the bridesmaid dresses. But instead of stressing out, or giving up, Kelly and her family calmly found a seamstress down the street, and whisked away with the bridesmaid and her dress. Kelly kept getting ready, and Charlotte started her photography while they waited on the bridesmaid and the missing family members.

Meanwhile, down the street at the seamstress’ shop, the poor lady was apparently so busy that she was literally answering the phone and helping other customers with one hand, and mending the zipper with the bridesmaid in the dress, at the same time!

By the time Char was finished with Kelly’s photos, the dress was on and perfect, and there was absolutely no set-back to the shooting schedule. And no set-back to Kelly’s state of mind. Amazing.

It was a perfect mountain wedding for a homesick mountain boy (and his “honorary mountain girl” wife) to photograph.

Thank you Kelly and Jacob! I hope you adore the photos!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view the gallery of Jenn and Todd’s wedding at The Rockledge Inn in Manitou Springs.

Once again, we had the most wonderful couple, Jenn and Todd, at The Rockledge Inn. Jenn was absolutely, positively, the most energized, confident bride. Resplendent in her sleek, extremely flattering gown, flamboyantly displaying her tattoos and blue hair accents (something blue…), she gave Charlotte and I the most fun we’ve had photographing a bride. Apparently, Jenn used to do some modeling or wanted to… I can’t remember what her mom told me, but she was a natural. Every turn, look, stare and laugh was gorgeous, and the best part was: the fun was real! We had a blast that day, and her exuberance even rubbed off on Todd, who was a little more reserved and self-conscious to start, but man, the moment the two of them came together, it was pure romantic sparks and magic.

A really unflattering photo of yours truly demonstrating, on Todd, the proper technique for a romantic dip. A special thanks to Char for taking this awful photo of me…

Todd did not hesitate to sweep her up, flirt, laugh, and outright make-out with Jenn as we cavorted around the grounds of the Rockledge Inn. And nothing could hold back the joy of the day, not the wind, not the rain, which gave way to blisteringly bright sun, which gave way to rain, again. Both Jenn and Todd and their guests were jubilant, fun, and endearing, which made for one really memorable wedding.

My favorite moment was when Jenn’s mom surprised the couple with two red lamp shades during the start of their first dance. You see, Jenn and Todd had put a hilarious photo of a couple ballroom dancing with lampshades on their heads on their invitations (promising, in my opinion, that a good time would be had at the wedding by all), and Jenn’s mom wanted to recreate the photo live. The entire wedding erupted in laughter and applause as the couple donned the shades and proceeded to dance quite elegantly across the wind-whipped back patio of the Inn (with only a little stumbling..). Then the lampshades came off and Char and I captured some really dramatic photos against the backdrop of this raging storm-front atop Pikes Peak.

Thank you Jenn and Todd for sharing your incredible day with us. Your photos are stunning, which I hope is how the legacy of your marriage will be, as well.