Trystan Photography: An Intimate Portrait.

I have a rather rude set of questions for the engaged couples of the internet:

Do you have fun with your fiance?

You should.

If not, why are you getting married?

A tough question, I know, but I have so much fun with our clients, and I love the photographs so much, I can’t help but wonder… why would you waste your time with someone you don’t adore being around?

I mean look at how cute Katie and Bryce are together! Why? Because they have FUN with each other. They like to laugh. Nothing more complicated than that.

No pretending. No “trying” to be “cool”. Just love, and smiles, and laughter.

Frankly, that’s what all of our couples are like, because that’s the kind of photographers we are: fun.

So if you really like being around your fiance, kudos to you! … and we’d really like to chat about your wedding plans (if we’re available)…

Kris and Jay were married last weekend, so it’s better late than never on posting my favorite photos from their engagement session at The Garden of the Gods.

I knew from their engagement session that Kris and Jay were the ideal wedding clients for Trystan Photography. So fun, so naturally in love, they were comfortable and real for my camera. Their wedding was a blast, so all suspicions confirmed: they are terrific people.

I’ll have Kris and Jay’s wedding photos from Holy Rosary Chapel and The Flying Horse Club in a month and a half, or so.

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. : )

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!

Just call me the “fiance whisperer”.

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!

Lee and Jessica are part of this ever increasing and surprising circle of friends of our studio manager, Julia. She basically knows everyone in Colorado Springs. Seriously. It seems like every wedding she’s assisted on she’s know somebody there. It’s pretty cool.

We met Lee and Jessica because Julia emphatically recommended us to them way back when she was just a bride, before she was working for us. Now that’s she’s managing the studio and assisting us with photography, she was with me at their engagement shoot! What a twisted web we weave!

This photo session was an adventure, to be sure. Lee and Jessica wanted to try Seven Falls (which I’ve never shot at, nor even been to…) and when we arrived, Seven Falls was by no means busy, but there were still hundreds of onlookers around while we tried to shoot. It was fun and fine and good, but I couldn’t get into my groove the way I like (can you believe it? I have a limit on how many people are around me?!), so I eventually threw in the towel and we went off in search of a little more seclusion just up the road at Helen Hunt falls.

Now don’t get me wrong, lee and Jessica are fantastic in any situation. They are truly loving, fun, and uninhibited. In fact, they almost look like hired ringers / models. They are almost too perfect together! But I assure you, they are the real McCoy.

I really like this new era of Trystan Photography we’re entering. The vast majority of our new clients are here because of the good word of another past client.We’re shooting multiple weddings within families, seeing the same people for portraits year after year. It’s starting to feel really connected, almost like some kind of gigantic Trystan Photography family. It’s an honor to be such a fun part of so many people’s lives.

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!