Trystan Photography: An Intimate Portrait.

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!!!

Well, it’s been something I’ve always felt deep down, but I’ve never had confirmation like this before:

I’m sexy.

I know. It’s so obvious now that I’ve said it, but there’s been times that I have to admit I might have doubted whether or not it was true. Being 6′ 5″, 280 lbs. and all.

But MSN has just come out with their report on the “10 Sexy Careers You Never Thought Of…“, and guess what is number 8? That’s right: photographers.

I mean, ever since I read that article, my whole life is different. Clearer somehow. I feel glamorous, and sexy.

Like last night when I was bent over scooping my 2 year old’s puke out of the couch cushions, shirtless (’cause I got puked on, too), butt crack exposed and belly flab hanging… I felt good. I knew that if one of our clients saw me at that exact moment, they would shriek in excitement and glee at the mere sight of my sexiness.

Thank you MSN.

My name is Trig Bundgaard, and I’m a photographer.

And I’m sexy.

Please click the photo or follow the link to view Mary and Ben’s wedding at First UMC and Tre Luna.

Yes, loyal blog readers: I know. This is our 3rd wedding this year at the exact same ceremony & reception sites. Apparently, we are the unofficial photographers of First United Methodist Church and Tre Luna (I must admit, we do make them look pretty awesome…)

So the first thing that comes to mind is, were we able to mix it up enough between weddings, or were we stuck in a rut ( a huge danger of overshooting a locale)? Looking at all three weddings (here, here, here), I am confident that each of our couples got very unique shots and looks, with some of our standard UMC “money shots” thrown in to boot. My new challenge to myself for 2009 weddings at UMC/Tre Luna is to find new ways to photograph the ceremony in the sanctuary. Don’t get me wrong, I love our shots, but between all our 2008 weddings, the ceremony photographs are the most similar, mainly because of the limitations on where we can shoot in the sanctuary.

“So, if you’re movement in the sanctuary is limited in the first place, Trig, then how are you going to get new looks?”, you might be thinking.

Well, no one said it was going to be easy. It’s going to involve losing a lot of weight, and getting my “Shaolin Monk in 2 Weeks” training program (I paid 9.95 for VHS + $45 S/H. I wonder why they don’t have DVD…?)

The brochure said that within days I would “… master the art of levitation, time travel, and teleportation…”. All skills that I think are pretty obvious that they would come in handy at First UMC.

I also plan to shower the staff at UMC with gifts of chocolate and flowers, with suggestive notes like, “From the Big Guy in Black. You’re the nicest church wedding staff I’ve ever worked with… by the way, you should just let Trig move around in the side aisles during the ceremony.”

I’m also developing a camolflage suit I can wear that’s printed with a photo of the pews and the wall so I won’t be distracting to the wedding guests.

I can’t believe how many weddings we did at the exact same church and reception venue. It was funny that these weddings were the first weddings that Julia assisted us on. She must have thought that we only shot weddings there.

Overall, the wedding was a miracle wedding. First of, it was a November wedding with warmer than normal temperatures, no rain or snow, and a sunset to die for. Secondly, Mary was astoundingly resilient. She found out while she was getting ready that her pregnant sister, who was her Matron of Honor, was having some kind of medical emergency right then and there and was being rushed to the hospital. Mary could have and should have been crushed, her wedding ruined. She did get upset when she heard the news, but then something came over her, and regardless of the pain and worry, she and her whole family pulled together and let the joy of the occasion envelope them, and she was the most positive, happy bride. There were moments as the ceremony came that it was too obvious that her sister was missing, and there were tears, but in the end it was a perfect wedding. Her sister ended up being fine, by the way. Just a really unfortunate and heartbreaking medical scare. However, the day is that much sweeter for Mary and her family I’m sure, knowing now that her sister is OK.

At least, Mary and Ben have great photos to show her!

True high school sweethearts! It’s so amazing when I meet real couples who are high school sweethearts. But Katie and Aaron’s love even made it through going to different colleges in different states. How impossible is that?! But they did it, and judging from their photographs, their love is a real as love gets.

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!

I was recently surprised to see an ill-advised article in Rangefinder which presented ideas for “professional” photographers who might be attempting to combat the “evils” of the AWACs (Amateurs With A Camera)(you can download the article here: rf1008_amateurs_kotsinadelis). I think Rangefinder made a very puzzling faux pas with the intent of this article.

To me, this article seems as if WPPI and Rangefinder are saying, “NO NEWCOMERS!”. It’s such a lame attempt at fear mongering. They’re attempting to scapegoat the new photographers in the industry for the results of a weakening economy and perhaps, the results of bad business practices by “the old guard”. The glaring oversight of this article is: we were all AWACs at some point!

What exactly is Rangefinder implying by this article: that a professional can only be those with the right education, the right equipment, and the right products? I think a “professional” is anyone who gets consumers to buy their photography.

Personally, I think AWACs are a terrific boon to our industry (especially because I used to be one…)

Wikipedia has this to say about an “amateur”:

Translated from its French origin to the English “lover of”, the term “amateur” reflects a voluntary motivation to work as a result of personal passion for a particular activity.

The translation from the French “lover of” is the key to my point of view, and if we “professional” photographers were simply honest with ourselves (and not just fear driven and greedy), we would all acknowledge that it was the love of photography that got us into this industry in the first place. In the beginnings of our journeys, most of us were AWACs, and if there are any of us who got into this field for the money or simply to have a job, their work is probably soulless and unimaginative (and most of those probably go of business).

In fact, that’s what troubled me most about the article in October 2008′s Rangefinder Magazine. It seems to me that anyone who is threatened by the influx of the AWACs’ and their new “untrained” and unbiased ideas,  techniques and styles (and their appeal to the consumer), that they, and not the AWACs, are the real threat to our industry. They are the embodiment of the professional whose apathy to innovation have made them a dead-weight that is slowing down progress in our industry.

True progress in photography (and any art form) occurs when we are inspired by the new creative work of others, not threatened by it. If you’re scared of the competition, you’d probably better figure out why! Cooperation and networking are the keys to growth as a business.

And it may very well be that the reason these ensconced “professionals” feel so threatened is that any creative drive they may have had has shriveled up and died long ago, and they now run their studios on auto-pilot, depending completely on skills already learned, and totally unable to adapt or change to the new, younger and more vibrant creative force pressuring them from “below”, and they simply sit and complain as the face of photography changes around them!

In fact, I believe the wonderful result of a boom in the “untrained” and “uneducated”, in any art form, is the inevitable influx of new ideas and styles.

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Ken Rockwell is a very wise, and yet seemingly bored man. He has so much spare time (or money, or both), he acquires and reviews nearly every new piece of equipment to hit the market. His exhaustive research into camera equipment and lenses has allowed Charlotte and I to make some very smart, financially wise, and sound business decisions when it came to equipment purchases that have performed wonderfully. We kind of owe a lot to him.

However, outside of his technical acumen, he also has a pretty witty and dry sense of humor that he sometimes displays in riotous posts like my personal favorite, The 7 Levels of Photographers. (Please read his post before continuing or you’ll be completely lost…)

I think he’s hilarious. And I was so glad to see the Rich Amateur fall lower than us Professionals on the levels of photographer hell. There’s nothing worse than when you’re on location, usually at a wedding, and someone comes up and proudly displays their rig with equipment that you could never afford all at the same time (with cash, I mean. Many of us do get all of it at once and then suffer debilitating debt forever…), and asks, “So what are you shooting?”

“Nikon D300, man”, I say. Then I think, Now go away and take mediocre photographs on your state-of-the-art equipment.

And he wrote what is now one of my most often quoted, favorite-of-all-time-sentiments about bad Rich Amateurs:

“Bad rich amateurs think fuzzy B/W images of poor people are art.”

Ken Rockwell

Wait a minute… I have black and white photographs I took of homeless people back in my LA days. They’re in my personal fine art portfolio. Charlotte has some from Mardi Gras… Hmmmmmmm…

But I reserve my wrath for Ken Rockwell’s lowest level of photographer, the Equipment Measurebator. My toes curl every time someone starts to challenge me based on technical data, graphs, resolution, in-camera processing, etc. Some Measurebators speak as if they think that those camera and lens statistics actually make for automatically good photographs. They think if anybody picked up camera A coupled with with lens B, it would take an amazing image. Wrong. I take amazing images. Not my cameras. And I could do it on any camera (well, digital camera, that is… I would probably fail miserably on a film camera. However, Charlotte “I learned on film” Bundgaard probably could… Do I smell a “shoot-off” challenge anyone?).

It’s just like when Mac user’s open their too-hip yappers. Yes, I know your Mac computer is faster, more stable, and overall cooler than my poor little PC, but what can you actually do on your amazingly cool computer that I can’t? Nothing.

Now, don’t get me wrong, Charlotte and I are making enough money now that in a few years I’m guessing I’ll be posting about how a really great photographer has to have only the finest, most expensive equipment, and you can’t possibly process photographs on anything less that a Mac G6. But until that time, I rail against the elite and the hip… until such time as we are elite and hip.

For anybody wanting really sound advice on equipment, definitely check out Ken’s site. For anybody wanting to grouse about his sentiments on the levels of photographers, write to him. I just think it’s awesomely funny.