Nathan is a funny guy, which is fantastic because i normally try to make things light and fun by telling awful jokes. He’s actually quite humorous.

All this made Jillian simply beam, which I think awesome because her smile is brilliant.

The day of our 1st scheduled session, we got snowed out by 6 inches of snow. This was attempt #2. And what luck! not only was it a very pleasant November day, but we actually found some Autumn leaves left on the trees that the snowstorm hadn’t swept away!

I am still in an Autumn frame-0f-mind, and I was delighted to find one last hint of Fall in this hidden little valley below the main park. I am, in no way shape or form, ready for winter yet…

You two are adorable together. Thank you for making my job so easy!

I LOVE photographing in Autumn. However, this day almost didn’t happen.

The storm clouds were threatening, and we weren’t getting any play from the late-afternoon sunshine… but… like I always say, “There’s always a silver lining to all photo scenarios”, and ours was the brilliant sky mother nature decided to share with us as the last beams of light were fading in the sky.

Amazing. What a privilege to photograph Rebekkah and Gabe, to capture such honest adoration and love in such a majestic setting.

Have I ever mentioned… I love my job?

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)…

Long term clients.

I love our long term clients. Jaclyn’s been coming to Trystan Photography for portraits for years.

And now she and Eddie are getting married in Telluride this summer. And she turned to us.

I love it. It’s such an awesome responsibility to be charged with documenting a client’s life like this.

Thank you, Jaclyn. Eddie thank you for agreeing with her! We are so honored.

So, I’m slaving away at the computer, as usual, and I get this e-mail from a potential wedding client.

“Are you Tycen’s brother?”

I stared. Then I answered, “Yes… Tycen is my brother.”

“Oh, man, that’s cool,” he said, “I know Ty from college, we were on the track team together our in California.”

“Did you find us through Ty?” I asked, confused.

“Nope. Just found you by chance. Guess it’s just one of those things…”

Some people really like that “small-world feeling”.

I, on the other hand… do not. When all the stars align and coincidences don’t feel like coincidences anymore it kinda wigs me out.

It’s cool, though. I really like thinking how out of all the photographers out there, from another state David and Logan chose us, and I happen to be related to one of his buddies from college.

Small world.

Turns out I can tell now why David and Ty were close in college: he and Logan are awesome.

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.

So, I’m still playing “blogging-catch-up”. Actually, we just shot Lisa and Casey’s wedding last weekend (the really hot one I was whining about on Facebook Saturday night): just an idea of how hard it is for me to keep up on this blogging this year!

I loved taking their engagement photos, and I loved their wedding even more. So let me just say, if you like their engagement session, oh baby, just wait until you see their wedding photos! (Hot or cold, that day would have always been awesome!)

Amber and Pete are a blast. We are so blessed to have only clients that like to laugh, have fun, and truly love each other. It makes photography so much fun and easy. It may have been a little chilly that day, but they made it HOT and fun.

You’ll see Amber and Pete’s wedding photos later this year after we shoot their wedding at The Cheyenne Lodge at the Broadmoor.

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!

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!

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.

Tryg and I had such a blast taking their engagement photos. As you can see below I had a hard time picking out my favorites for the slideshow.  I just love how fun, happy and in love they are!

I met Derek and Mackenzie in a parking lot at DU and as we walked, I chatted with them about their story. (This isn’t simply to fill time, but because I wholeheartedly believe that to create a sense of intimacy with my clients helps to build trust which then helps to promote wonderfully honest and fun portraits.) I learned how they met (high school sweethearts). I learned about their first dates. I learned Derek took a long time to finish undergrad…

So I cracked a line from Tommy Boy, “‘A lot of people take that long to finish college’,'Yeah, they’re called doctors.” Derek smiled and said, “Nah. I built a house.”

He built a house. Sure, I thought. He left school for a year to work on some construction crew and built a house. Interesting choice… “So, you left for a year to work on a crew?”

“Nope. Just myself.”

Huh? Yep. You read that right. He left school for a year to build a house by himself, with help from his dad and his buddy. No crew. Just himself.

Turns out he’s an engineer or architect or something really technical like that, and building a house apparently was his version of a sabbatical.

Not many people have even worked on a crew, much less built a house by themselves. So needless to say I was impressed!

It’s also needless to say how much fun these two were. As you can see from the photos, they were really high energy and very affectionate. Whatever we’re doing to attract the kind of clients we’re getting, I glad it’s working because it’s so much easier to take fun, attractive portraits of extroverts who are authentically in love!

My favorite shot came at the end of the session, when I asked Mack and Derek if there were any more shots they could think of and Mackenzie asked if we could recreate their first kiss from back in high school. Back then, apparently Mackenzie was a little aggressive, and a little nervous but when she leaned forward to kiss Derek (eyes closed) she ended up making out with his nose. Obviously, this made quite an impression on them as we were re-creating it years later. Not only is the shot hilarious, and the back story even better, but I love the look on Derek’s face. To me it says: “Hmmmmmmmm. Am I grossed out or a little bit into this?”

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!

This is a convoluted story line so try and stay with me here:

Once upon a time there was a bride named Julia. She was in love with a guy named Matt. Matt proposed and Julia filled her days and nights scouring the internet and wedding magazines for the perfect wedding photographer. Eventually she settled on us (we won!!!), and they went on their merry way…

Not quite. Julia also happened to mention after she booked that she was really into photography, I mean like, really into photography and she was hoping she could start assisting us on weddings.

Well if I had a dollar for everyone that has called to ask us if they could start assisting us at weddings, well… I’d have $30 bucks. (That wasn’t nearly as impressive sounding as I’d have hoped…)

Just because Julia was a client did not mean she didn’t have to prove herself just like everybody else. So we asked for her to put together a little portfolio presentation for us. Now I’m a pretty picky guy, and Charlotte is even worse when it comes to critiquing work ( you should hear her “critique” this blog post). But when we saw Julia’s portfolio, we were struck by something unique in her photography. We’d seen a lot of other portfolios from much more trained photographers who had asked if they could assist, but none of them had that certain “something”. It’s that nameless aspect of a photo that captures your imagination and/ or your heart. It can’t be taught, sometimes it can’t even be replicated, but it’s there nonetheless. And a lot of her work had “that”.

So we emphatically said “yes” and she was assisting us within weeks. She took our oldest camera ( a D70 from 2004) which was the actual camera we used to start Trystan Photography. You see, she hadn’t actually worked on a digital SLR, just an old film camera. But within a few weddings it was obvious she was a natural. Her images were great, and the more she shoots, the more stunning her images are. She is truly passionate about photography, and you can’t teach or buy that in an employee.

So that was last October, and in the meantime it’s become really obvious that we’re getting way too busy and we need some help with everything. S, again we turned to Julia. It turns out that not only is she passionate about photography, but she’s rather anal and detail oriented to boot! So now all of those little details (like putting orders in right, getting paid on time, filing taxes… blah, blah, blah…) are actually going to get done.

So, if you get a phone call from Julia and suddenly you find yourself wondering what the heck happened to Charlotte and Trig, don’t worry: we’re still here! We’re just focusing on photography. Because we’re photographers. It’s great!

So obviously, we took Julia and Matt’s engagement photos a while ago, and I’m only getting around to sharing them now. But what a great way for all of you to meet her!

Matt is probably the chillest man on earth. I mean, he’s marrying Julia: he has to be! (ha, ha, ha Julia! … I have the power of the blog, and you don’t!)

The last place Megan was led to was a little park downtown Denver, where her and Josh had one of their first dates together. Josh had made a little circle of sunflowers (her favorite), with the last note in the center, instructing her to call him on his cell.  That’s when he came out from hiding (and us as well) and did his thing.  I put together a little slide show of my favorite images, there are several, but I love how it tells the story.  Congratulations again Megan and Josh, I’m sure you will have a long and happy marriage! Enjoy!