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

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!

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!

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!

The love of family and friends can equal an amazing energy and spirit of fun. Please click the photo or follow the link to view Emily and Neil’s rowdy and fun wedding in Grand Lake, CO.

16 hours of photography, lots of laughter, and a lifetime of memories later, I give you: The Rowdiest Wedding We’ve ever Captured.

Emily and Neil (whom you might remember from their cute and fun engagement portraits) did their wedding right!

First of all, they chose to have in the most meaningful place to them in their relationship: Grand Lake, CO. It’s where Neil proposed and where they love to escape from their hectic city lives as often as possible. Charlotte and I loved Grand Lake: it has that small town feel like my hometown of Fairplay, but it has so much more stuff to do (boating and skiing in the same town?!?)!

Second of all, they booked Charlotte and I for unlimited photography, which meant instead of being on a time-line, the vast majority of their day could be a lot more relaxed and chill. Without unlimited photography, we would never have captured Neil being thrown in the freezing lake after breakfast, we would not have had time for the couple and their wedding party to stop for cocktails between the formals and couple photography, and we definitely wouldn’t have been able to go to the after-reception-party at the bar at midnight.

But there was a certain apstect to this wedding that can’t be planned or purchased: the indomitable fun-loving spirits of their family and friends. Absolutely, positively, no question about it: Emily and Neil’s friends and family were the most fun loving, high energy group of people we’ve ever seen at a wedding. And it was everyone! No aunt or uncle, grandparent, parent, college pal, or work buddy stayed sitting in their chairs. Everybody danced and sang and drank and laughed and partied hard all night. It was amazing.

And I often brag about the caliber of people we get as clients, and I think this wedding is a testimony to that as great people attract great friends and usually come from great families. The success of a wedding really does  come down to attitude and personality. There were so many things that could have dampened everybody’s jubilant moods: rain sprinkled and threatened all day long, gusty cold winds tore through Grand Lake in the evening, the outdoor reception got so cold (in June) it had to be moved inside, the indoor reception was so cramped and impromptu that it must have been 90 degrees in that room. But did any of that affect anybody? Not in the slightest!

I couldn’t fit all the photos I loved from the day in our little sample gallery, but I’ve included some more of my favorites in the slideshow below:

[[Show as slideshow]]

Sweet sweet Gabi… what an adorable little girl!

I must say she is one of my all time favorite babys to shoot. I was in an out of her house in 40minutes… and I got the cutest shots. She was super happy, laughing, cooing, smiling, eye contact! It doesn’t get much better than that… and to top it off, she’s a gorgeous little girl!!

I had the pleasure of photographing Ethan for his high school senior portraits… and what a handsome guy he is!

Seniors are always fun to shoot… and a big change from 2 year olds.
They listen (for the most part) and cooperate much better than a baby.  At least, thats usually the case but could be a different story depending on the senior.

I had a great time with Ethan and hope he has an amazing senior year!

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.

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?”

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!!!

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 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.