Like Sand Through the Hourglass...

Forgot all about this image--every so often I rummage through the archives of older projects and fun things I experimented with and say 'that was kind of cool--what was I thinking?' All I know is that this is called "Sand Mandarin Woman". It is the mandarin character for 'woman' and the pink striated backdrop that looks sort of like muscle tissue is beach sand from Sanibel Island, Florida. Let me know if you can see the lightning shape in the picture. Or the crab.

Every Day is Goggle Day

Forget ever trying to get Ellie's goggles off--she not only swims with them on, but loves to eat, play, take a bath and even sleep with them on. Can't believe this one started preschool last week. Hope her teachers don't mind the goggles! These aqua-tinted scenes put her underwater in our living room without having to build an indoor pool--always a $mart move in uncertain economic times.

Broker Headshots

We posted up broker headshots for the Colorado Group this week. Here is a link.



The architectural detail shots in the upper right corner of each page are ours, as well. Doing broker headshots does differ from environmental portraits. You get 2-3 minutes per person with the quick headshot. Environmentals usually run from 20-60 minutes and are much more creative and dynamic. But there is a place for each.

Anyone Want a Neon Sign?

I detoured off I-70 last Sunday--too much traffic and needed a break from drive from Glenwood. Enroute to the Idaho Springs java place, I saw a vintage neon sign being torn down. I shot this sign last fall when it was still intact (first image). By the way, I love the richness and grunge texture encrusting these old neon signs, intact or lying forlorn across a soon-2-B-gentrified property. But the Peoriana Inn has seen better days and the sign out front sure could use a new home. It would be fun to have my own vintage neon sign retirement home be a great place for 'seasoned' signs to spend their final years in dignity? I know there is the neon sign graveyard just off the strip in Vegas, but there are so many other striking signs beyond the realm of the casino sign. Time to start getting land and a some sign inventory!

Senior Session with Casey

There really is a different feel to shooting senior portraits versus a wedding. With a bride and groom as a couple, I find it can be quite easy to put them at ease in front of the camera, as they have each other to play off of. But with a solitary portrait, especially high school seniors, it usually takes a little bit longer to break the ice and to get in the zone for being photographed. But the results are fun and very individualized, especially when you let them play! Casey is a pretty dedicated skateboard enthusiast, braving his share of broken bones yet not giving up one of his passions.

Peyton's First Day

Baby Peyton showed up for her first portrait session Friday morning. She was very prepared, looking cute and swaddled like a burrito, her skin perfect and not a hair out of place. For being just 4 hours old, she certainly has it all together! Catch the whole shoot here to see just how ridiculously good looking she is!

Urban Funk in a Corporate Portrait Session

Got to hang out and shoot a portrait session for an attorney friend recently. Jodi is a great lawyer starting up a new law firm in Denver and wanted to create something special and not so stuffy for her new corporate image. So we loaded up and took a few clothing changes down to Pearl Street in downtown Boulder, Colorado and made a whole new look for her. This is not the traditional feel of a conservative lawfirm. And I love it! My guess is her existing and future clients will love it, too. Bright colors, scratchy and rich urban grit come standard here...stuffiness and boring sold separately.

Collages and Clusters

I put this collage together from a collection we shot for a Boulder commercial real estate firm. The task was to photograph several architectural structures around the city and then create a display for their office lobby and hallways. We had previously done a collection of our landscape images, but the architectural images were to complement the natural scenes with some man-made vistas. If you are around The Colorado Group's offices on Iris and the Diagonal Highway in northeast Boulder, step in and check it out. And they rock in the commercial real estate market, too.

Love This One...

Short of shooting a wedding in the Himalayas, you won't find too many wedding venues straying from sea level as much as Ten Mile Station in Breckenridge, Colorado. Perched on the slopes of this stunning ski town at almost 11,000 feet above the ocean, bring extra oxygen bottles for your guests (and even the hired help!) But Colleen pulled this pose off in high style (and without supplemental oxygen), combining strength, beauty and fashion. Love the weighted hip that forms such an appealing S-curve and shows off the dress--FABULOUS!!

Wedding Testimonial from Camilla & Ryan

Thank you to Camilla and Ryan for their kind words about us. We had a fun day shooting their wedding in downtown Boulder. My favorite line is at the very end of their comments (an inside joke about liking us so much that they promise to use us for any future weddings of theirs! Here is what they had to say:

Ryan and I got married on 22nd May, and had our wedding reception on 23rd May 2009 in Boulder, Colorado. I knew that photos were one of the most important parts of the event, and I wanted to find a photographer I could trust. I have to admit that I was very nervous about the photos, and wanted them to be artistic and meaningful and reflect the beauty of the occasion.

I spoke to Marc on the phone and found him so easy to talk to, and when we met for coffee to discuss what we wanted he was just as laid back and enthusiastic about his job. You could tell that he loved being a photographer and took a great deal of pride in his work.

Marc used to coach Ryan's soccer team and had been a family friend more more years than Ryan could remember. I felt instantly very relaxed discussing this important occasion with Marc. He seems to grasp almost immediately what we wanted to capture from the photos and the style of the occasion. And he made the groom feel at ease when Ryan discussed sepia tones and black and white images.


Ryan and and I arrived early for a small private photo shoot before the reception began. I was so nervous when we arrived. I had never had a photo shoot or worked with a professional photographer like this. Never mind that Marc had suggested going down Pearl Street at one of the busiest times of the day, and in addition to that, it was the Boulder Creek Festival.
But as soon as Ryan and I saw Marc he made us feel instantly at ease. He was so excited about getting the right photos for us that it gave us the energy and confidence that we needed. Instead of being embarrassed and nervous about having out picture taken on a busy downtown street, with people watching, and sometimes cheering, we managed to get into the spirit of things and were grateful that the crowds were so happy for us. OK...I still felt a bit embarrassed, but I also enjoyed myself.

When we got back to the party everyone had arrived and Marc just went to work. He seemed to strike the right balance of natural photos with posed ones. He worked very well with both families; managing to get the photos that pleased them, as well as staying alert to what Ryan and I wanted.

Marc had to go away the next day to a family funeral and so I expected to get some of the photos the next week. But we got them on the Monday after the Saturday reception. When we looked at them we were transported back to that wonderful evening with our friends and family and the magic of celebrating our wedding with them. The quality of the photos was so good, and the composition excellent. But apart from that everyone looked like they were having so much fun and so at ease with Marc taking their photograph.

Marc was a joy to work with and one very talented photographer. When it comes to wedding photos I think that half of the battle is understanding what the bride and groom want out of the photos. And Marc did this effortlessly. Ryan and I have both agreed to hire Marc for our next weddings!

Photographers: How to Choose a Sunglasses Tint

After getting my eyes dilated during a routine eye exam yesterday, Paige Paddock, my eye doctor, gave me some good feedback about the benefits of which tint to choose for sunglasses. I needed to make a new pair, as my prescription just changed again. Another friendly reminder from the big guy upstairs that I will be turning 40 in a few weeks and that gravity sucks big time on all of our eyes. Enough to gradually cause my eyes to develop astigmatism, pulling my eyes out of visual alignment. Time to move to zero gravity--is there a cabin available on the promenade deck of the International Space Station? Might need it soon...
But here is what she had to say on which color tint to choose:

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Gray and Gray-Green tints: The most common type of lens color. Transmits all colors evenly without changing value of color. Light enough not to impair vision, yet dark enough to provide overall protection from glare. Excellent for bright sunny days. Grey tint is best for bright light situations like water sports because it blocks out the brightest of the sun's rays.

Dark Amber or Brown lens tints: A warmer, slightly brighter lens than the gray. Especially good at blocking the blue light commonly found in diffused light such as one might experience on a cloudy day. Brown/Amber can improve both contrast and depth perception, reduce glare and is a good all-around choice if you live in an area with changeable weather patterns. Brown is great for applications where distances need to be constantly judged, like tennis or golf or skiing or other sports requiring acute visual perception and contrast differentiation. Brown is also best for lower light situations, like fishing in the late afternoon or early morning. Brownish tint lens helps highlight the different contrasts in green colors and enhance visual acuity on the golf course.
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I would also add that polarized lenses are a major obstacle to professional photography. Any of you who have shot weddings or any portrait session outdoors on a sunny day while wearing polarized lenses know that you can not view your LCD on the back of your camera. So you have to go with your regular glasses and squint. For long bridal formals, eye strain gets to be a big problem. It is because the LCD screen is also polarized that when the 2 polarizations (glasses and the LCD) intersect, you won't see a thing on your LCD screen. So I will be switching to a tinted lens this time, most likely a brown/amber color.

Nikon/Canon: any new technology on the way that will improve the polarization on LCD screens so this won't be a problem in the future?

Touching the Pretty Stuff: Blue Lake

Did some experimenting with different post processing techniques. Cropping images into a medium format aspect ratio in a few of the landscape images with flowers in foreground. Playing with vintage styling, too. But that said, there was very little to do to improve upon what we had to work with up at Blue Lake this weekend. Ever notice that ringing in your ears from the overwhelming silence in the high country? If you have experienced this, you will know what I am talking about--a truly wonderful thing, full of peace. Then the sound of a distant waterfall ricocheting across thousand foot high walls of sheer granite. Tiny air bubbles trapped in the blue-green ice as a giant slab slowly makes its way to the east side of the lake. The piercing chirp of a marmot lazily checking us out from his perch 20 feet away. The melody of a peace-loving cluster of mosquitos as they gracefully whisper in my ear, drawing a bloodmeal from my neck. Aaaahhhh, the sounds of summer in the high country of Colorado!

See the images here:

An Unnecessarily Beautiful World:: The Gallery

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Families, High School Seniors, Babies

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Corporate Portraits Gallery

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