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!

Please click the photo or follow the link to view the sample gallery of Amber and Chris’ wedding at First UMC and Tre Luna.

Brides who had their wedding during the rainy days this summer are going to hate Amber. She had what I think was one of the most beautiful November days I’ve ever seen. 70 dregrees, lush fall colors, and no wind. Wow.

Amber and Chris had an amazing ceremony at The First United Methodist Church of Colorado Springs. This is one of my favorite/least favorite ceremony venues. I love it because it’s stunning and well lit inside, I don’t love it because they are really restrictive on our movement around the sanctuary. They say that it distracts guests from the reverence of the ceremony.

Did I mention that First UMC has 3 gigantic broadcast TV cameras in the sanctuary? How in the world am I, dressed in all black, distracting to guests when these huge 100 lb. cameras are swiveling around in front of them, red light flashing on and off? I never use the center aisle past the last seated guest, and these huge cameras are at the front of the whole thing… I know, I know, I’m biased, but it’s a rub nonetheless.

I snuck around the sanctuary anyway, like a 6’4″, 280 lb. ninja. Seriously, I am like a ninja. It’s stunning to watch in person…

I use the hallways outside and hide in the shadows behind the altar. I disappear within a few clicks and materialize suddenly from the shadows at the opposite end of the sanctuary. How do I do that? I literally sprint from one end of that huge building to the other in the carpeted concrete hallway outside. I can only do things like that when it’s marble or concrete. If the floors and walls are wood or carpet over wood it would sound like a stampede of elephants out there. It’s hard work, but I always get the shot. by the way, do you have any idea how much energy it takes to get 280 lb. up to sprinting speed? That’s why I smoke cigarettes and drink Red Bull. In combination they’re like jet fuel.

Amber and Chris were an amazing couple to work with. They were so relaxed and comfortable with everything. Photographing them was a breeze.

She left us a touching message this morning. She said she was crying as she looked at the photos. She loved them.

I tell you, other than the obvious reasons like supporting my family and artistic expression, I think getting that raw, emotional positive feedback might be the main reason I even do wedding photography. Even if I was a gazillion-aire, I think I would still shoot weddings because I thrive on the emotions of it.

I love my job.

Please click the photo or follow the link to view the sample gallery from Brittany and Rhead’s Hudson Gardens and Brown Palace wedding.

This was a really fun one!

Brittany and Rhead had a tiny, yet stunning, ceremony at Hudson Gardens (if you don’t know about Hudson Gardens, then you need to. It’s one of the best planned and maintained garden complexes in CO… it’s so cool and easy to shoot at, they charge a membership fee if you’re a photographer and you want to be able to do portraits there!).

After we goofed around in the gardens, Brittany and Rhead took off in their limo for the rest of the day (to be naughty, probably). The next day, we met them at the Brown Palace Hotel for their reception and ran around like sprites in the fading light to try and get as many cool, urban shots as we could. I love the dichotomy of this wedding with the luscious fall gardens, juxtaposed with the urban landscape. It was a very fun and rewarding wedding shoot!

Did you know if you photograph around many of the high rises and skyscrapers, that security teams there get really PO’d? I knew this from Brittany and Rhead’s engagement shoot when we got shooed away from a Dept. of Homeland Security Building downtown. This day, we were setting up for that stunning kiss with the buildings behind (above), and the security guards came running out, and I had to stop shooting and assure them that I was capturing no photographs of the building we were actually next to (not pictured, obviously…).

The perfect example of my favorite philosophy, “Don’t ask permission, beg for forgiveness…”

I’m very respectful of rules and regulations, but if I can just bend them a little to get that shot nobody else does, then I will try every time. Some photographers say this makes me careless and arrogant, I say it makes me a good photographer. My only litmus test is whether or not it will make the clients happy.

Another interesting thing about this wedding is it was the result of the work we did at Kim and Andy’s wedding last year! Brittany and Rhead were guests at that wedding, and Kim and Andy gushed so much about us that Brittany and Rhead chose us for their wedding. How awesome is that?!

But then, a friend of Brittany called who lives in CA, and she booked us without even meeting with us… because Brittany and Rhead were gushing so profusely.

We’ve been working our tails of to create unique, emotionally impactful photographs, and to see and hear that our work is so appreciated is the very reason why we do this.

Thank you so much Brittany and Rhead! Your desire to play and be in love for Charlotte and I really paid off. Thank you for helping us capture your very special and stunning wedding.

… and thanks to Kim and Andy for the referral. And thanks, again, to you both for your referral…

Let’s keep up the word of mouth! Maybe we can cut all of our advertising?

…nah.

Please click the photo or follow the link to view Audra and Jason’s gallery of their Woodmen Valley Stone Chapel and Tre Luna wedding.

This wedding was a wedding of firsts for 2008.

It was the first wedding with truly Fall/Winter weather with dreary cold rain. Did I mention it was cold?

Also, it was the first wedding we photographed with our new assistant, Julia. Our former assistant, Kim Harms, is now our associate photographer (stay tuned loyal blog readers, you’re gonna find out all about Kim’s new role here in the coming weeks!), so we needed to find a new assistant for our weddings, to groom and train accordingly.

Well, here’s where it gets complicated: Julia was originally a bride, who booked with us about 4 months ago. At our booking meeting, she revealed that while she may be an office professional by day, she really… really,  liked photography, and she’d always had this little fantasy about doing it professionally. Her enthusiasm and passion was palpable, and apparent.

However, as many of the local photography and arts students, who have applied for an assistant job here, know very well, we don’t take in just anyone. In fact, we’ve hired none of the photographers who have contacted us. While many of them have had great portfolios, there was usually something missing. A certain, unnameable compatibility that was simply lost from our interactions, and simply wasn’t apparent in their portfolios.

Well, we weren’t about to to it any differently with Julia. We told her she needed to put together a portfolio, and contact us again when she was ready. Well hardly two weeks had gone by and Julia was back. She was obviously nervous, and began making apologies about her portfolio before I’d even seen it. And what she handed me was probably the most haphazard and basic presentation I’ve seen yet. A loose collection of various snapshots, some from film, some from point n’ shoots, and no real connective theme to speak of…

Yet, I hadn’t looked at more than two shots before I realized I was seeing something really interesting, and vaguely familiar. I knew looking through her work that I was seeing a thought process, and “eye” if you will, very similar to Char’s early work.

Frankly, I was stunned. Right there in my nearly shaking hands was that certain “something”, that missing ingredient that had kept me from calling back any of the photographer hopefuls we’d met with over the years. A mild mannered accountant by day, Julia was completely unaware (as far as I could tell) of what a rare and natural gift she’d been born with. Her work clearly showed a keen sense of composition and style, but more importantly, she was adventurous. She wasn’t afraid to play with her photographs, which is the bedrock of what makes Trystan Photography unique!

A sense of adventure is what intitially drew Charlotte and I to Kim Harms’ work. She was realtively new in the industry, but everyday she would update her blog with a new style, a new technique, a different way of looking at the same old shot…

Well, Julia would need all of that, and more, for Audra and Jason’s wedding! Woodmen Valley Stone Chapel is notoriously dark, and Tre Luna is a schizophrenic montage of neo-European/art-deco sensibilities where every surface is a different material, ranging from brick to stucco, to brass to mirrors, and even steel. It’s a really challenging combination of venues and lighting scenarios. Put that together with the fact that we had to work with a really dreary cold day, I think most newbie photographers would have thrown their camera down and run away screaming! But Julia didn’t, and in fact, she had a lovely, positive attitude that worked amazingly well with my goofy effervescence and Char’s nervous excitement.

As for a 1st subject, I think Julia was flat-out spoiled by getting to photograph Audra and Jason. What a gorgeous bride! And they showed such an authentic, relaxed love all day, that made photographing them almost easy. Almost. Except for the wind, and drizzle, and the fact we had to keep taking breaks so the bare-shouldered, bare armed bride could warm up!

What a trooper! Some brides would have succumbed to the weather, but Audra stated without a doubt, “I want outdoor shots!”

Don’t worry about her, though. She had her cuddly new husband to keep her warm, and looking back through the photos as I processed them, I still am amazed at how easy Audra and Jason were to photograph.

Audra. Jason. May your love continue to be so beutiful and inspiring for the rest of your marriage. Thank you for sharing your special day with us, and Julia, the newest addition to Trystan Photography!

It’s funny how they claimed in the beggining of the session that they weren’t really good at PDA (Public Dispays of Affection)… if they’re “not good” at PDA then Charlotte and I are in trouble, because these two blow us out of the water!

This was one of the last gasps of true Fall colors in Colorado, and I’m so happy we did this session when we did. I love the Fall!