It’s a fact. Medical Marijuana is now legal in the state of Colorado with a valid State of Colorado medical marijuana registration, and there are literally hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries in Denver alone. The Releaf center contacted me to do some “branding” for them. They wanted some images that could portray who they are as people and as a business to counteract some of the negative cliches surrounding the industry. Many people out there have the perception that “growing” is a job for a bunch of hippies who can live the dream smoking pot all day, while making money off of high school students. Of course some serious pot connoisseurs can set up their own “hydroponic” system in their closet at home, but to grow thousands of plants and hundreds of strains as medicine is a completely different ball game. These guys are extremely professional, extremely organized, and are working many, many hours in this warehouse to produce some of the finest medicine in the state. I also want to add that the green thumbs over at the Releaf center are not smoking joints while trimming their plants….
I am a photographer who shoots primarily weddings and family portraits so I was a bit hesitant to post this, as my readers could be more conservative on the issue, but I honestly couldn’t think of a reason why this should be “taboo”. Whether we like it or not ( and I happen to like it), marijuana is now available as medicine, and dispensaries are popping up like coffee shops. However, not all dispensaries are created equal, and I wouldn’t blog about just any. Beyond the fact that the Releaf center is just down the street, and is friendly neighbor, I was surprised and impressed to hear about all that they are doing. In addition to selling medicine, both plant and edibles, the Releaf center offers a slew of services to their members including educational classes, housekeeping, free meals, day spa treatments, discounts at other local business and RTD transportation assistance. Believe it or not, the Releaf center is not just a hole in the wall, glorified drug dealer. It’s a healing center that sincerely cares for its patients. For more information and a video tour of the center, check out their website: www.thereleafcenter.com.
When Megan and I were talking about what she had in mind for their engagement photos, she said “Ryan’s not really the PDA kind of guy. I think we might be more “squirly”. But as squirly as these two might appear, they simply adore one another. PDA was not an issue, as they cuddled and loved on each other the entire session. I really click with Megan and Ryan—they are my “kind’. Straight forward, and maybe even scrappy, these two wear bleeding hearts on their sleeves.
Meet another favorite family, the Sperrys’. I’ve been photographing Malia and Bill since Malia was pregnant with Elora! Now look at their gorgeous family of four! Spicy and sweet, Elora and Sorren never fail to keep me entertained. They lavished me with chocolate, their toys and even gave me hugs and kisses when I left—which always melts my heart!
Today was the first day I actually met little Tucker… and boy is he a riot! He’s cute as a button and pretty much brilliant. I loved working with this little tyke—equally as much as I have loved working with Tiana and Alex whose wedding I shot back in 2007. And Tiana is pregnant! So I’m looking forward to many more sessions with this adorable family in the future….
Just two weeks old, Cecilia had her first photo shoot. My goal with these images was to really depict the newness and awe of having a newborn baby in the home. Parenthood seems to come quite naturally to Amy and Matt –they are completely smitten–as they should be. Cecilia is simply perfect. Congratulations Matt and Amy and welcome, baby Cecila.
I call them “My Bregman’s” because they are like my poster family. I’ve been photographing them since Mia was two and Alexia was pregnant with Max. It’s been so fun to get to photograph them every year and see the changes. And major changes there have been, including baby Max, then baby, Milan! To top it off, The Bregman’s created Vuka–a natural energy drink which is taking the nation by storm! It’s delicious, natural, colorful and well branded. Lexi and Darian sent me home with a case and I’m hooked!
Lexi emailed me on the day of the shoot because it was too cold to do photos outdoors, and well–the Bregman’s aren’t really the outdoor park type. We decided to do the shoot at the Vuka warehouse. The florescent lights, the colorful walls, the stacks of energy drinks, an old helicopter, the unconventionality of the Bregman’s and the edgy space made for a very fun shoot where I was able to really capture the season of this busy family’s lives.
Hua and Francis were married on 10/10/10…. a very lucky date. Hua knew that this would be the date she would be married on, even before she was proposed to. And lucky it must have been for me, as well because Hua and Francis’s wedding pictures are some of my favorite images from a wedding, photographically speaking, that I’ve ever taken. Maybe it was because it was technically my last wedding of the “season”, or maybe it was the fact that Hua and Francis completely trusted me to do my thing and tell a story with the images, but if I do say so myself, the photos came out looking so intimate and chock full of emotion, that you will surely see them all over my updated website and studio walls. I love them. Congratulations, Hua and Francis! Thank you for trusting me to capture this beautiul, sacred day….
I feel as though I should start handing out awards to all my clients for their best attributes; like in a highschool yearbook, “Most Likely to Succeed”, or “Prettiest smile”, or “Most Endearing couple”. If I were to pick the “Most Likely to close down a club”, Kacey and Chris would definitely take home the prize! These two little party animals designed their entire reception to be club with a VIP lounge for the wedding party—brilliant! Forget dinner and seating arrangements, there was nothing stuffy about this wedding—just dancing, partying and fun, fun, fun! I love Kacey and Chris’s spunk and the fact that they are best of friends who love to party together. They will live forever young…
Ingredients for a perfect wedding:
Get married at Beano’s cabin during the last week of September, or first week of October.
Hire a kick ass band from NOLA–particularly Big Sam’s Funky Nation. Be laid back and excited for your wedding—remember–it’s a celebration.
And last, but certainly not least, be present and feel every emotion to the core.
Dana and Brian did all of this and had the most splendid and perfect wedding in Beaver Creek. One of my all time favorites, in fact! Thanks guys–hope to see you around the hood!
Sometimes I run out of things to say about my clients. I just shoot so many weddings, that it feels redundant to say “they were so in love”, or “the day was so beautiful.” Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to say a thing at all, because I don’t ever want people to think that my words are inauthentic. But with Betsy and Pascal, I simply can’t say enough. They are two amazing souls whose inner light burns so brightly that I was simply honored to be among them on this beautiful fall Montana day. Betsy and Pascal are just those kind of people that you can only love. They exude warmth and compassion for those around them and are lovers of the earth. Their wedding was a simple, sustainable wedding in a field at the 320 ranch in Big Sky, Montana. They were surrounded in a circle by their closest friends and family and a bunch of little children. The day was abundant with love and life and laughter. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to photograph this amazing couple in such a beautiful state.
Alexandrea and Mike, although from Chicago, were married in Craig,Co over labor day weekend . They had an opulent Greek ceremony at the orthodox church followed by a 400 person reception at the Craig, fairgrounds. The tent design by Emily Campbell was sensational, with pink and gold up-lighting, a bazillion pink roses, and a beautiful table settings. And of course I could just die over Alexandrea’s dress. The day was filled with Greek tradition and many, many emotions…. It was a wonderful change for me to get to go to the Northern border of Colorado to photograph such a decadent Greek wedding Opa!!
Not 10 minutes ago I was meandering my way down the East bank of the Gallatin River in Bozeman Montana. Camera in hand, two glasses of wine in my system, and fresh autumn air that permeated my senses like Halloween night or a Friday night High School football game, I was seduced into a total stage of nostalgia. Funny that I say nostalgia, though because there is something so virginal about my senses when I escape and explore. Everything comes to life–everything feels new and fresh. Why is it that I have to get away from home and work to feel like I do right now? Alive. Present. Peaceful. I’m without internet service here, although I should throw my phone in the river because I’m still checking my email every hour. I’m also without TV, (and believe me, when presented with a good movie or TV series, I will toss a nature walk to the wind and veg out.). But right now, at 5:45pm on Tuesday, September 21st Bozeman time, I’m completely present and tuned in. I’m clear for the first time in what feels like months. And these words that are flowing out of me, like the river in front of me, are streaming consciousness and I’m experiencing a little bit of heaven. I am with pen and paper in hand, ready to freeze time and write about the most amazing hour of photographing, meditating and reminiscing that I just experienced, my first day in Bozeman…
Two “practices” came to mind while I was out drinking in this zen state–Macro photography and Haiku. Random and perhaps esoteric, these two art forms have been significant exercises that have grounded me throughout the years–both artistically and personally. When I was a junior in high school, I was already sure I would be a photographer when I “grew up”. Maybe not a photographer of weddings, but a National Geographic staff photographer, perhaps. I remember taking my first photography class very seriously. When Russel Croup, my instructor told me to find images that inspired me, I think I spent two months allowance on magazines and journals at Tattered Cover and cut out 100 images and them into an inspiration journal. I still have those. I also wrote a 10 page paper on Eugene Smith and soaked every moment of research up (which at the time was certainly out of character). But there is one thing that Mr. Croup said that has changed my life forever: “Within every two square feet, there is an image to be found”. Ahhh Haaaa…! For somebody as ADD as I am, this simple idea of macro photography has given me a tool to slow down and breathe — to stop, look around and be present in every moment—In every step that I take, there is virtually something worth noticing–worth capturing, in fact! Is this not the most freeing way to photograph? I took that statement to heart the first time I heard it and when given my first assignment, I photographed and experienced things that I would have never noticed. There were colors I’d never seen in my backyard. I saw shapes and textures that didn’t exist to me before, and I felt for the first time in my life that I had the “eyes of an artist”. Life came to life in my first roll of Kodachrome. So now—15 years later when I am feeling overwhelmed and overworked, as I often do this time of year, going out and making photographs and experiences on a “macro level”, is like an oasis. And the beautiful thing about it, is that I don’t feel like I have to make beautiful images. What is that word anyhow? Beauty is subjective (although maybe not in the wedding photography industry, but don’t even get me started on that—another blog post) To me, beauty is experience—it’s something, that for some reason, makes me feel something. Beauty is a little piece of eternity that I didn’t know was there. It has always existed, but I have never touched it, never smelled it, never seen it or never experienced it. But it almost always makes me feel as though sometime, in a dream or in a past existence, I have experienced “it” before.
Fast forward from junior year in high school to Freshman year in college at CSU. I was taking a class called “Knowing This Place”. It was a class designed to help us become comfortable with our new surroundings. We had a weekly assignment of going off campus somewhere to sit for an hour–it could be anywhere. After that hour, we were to make a drawing and write a haiku about our experience with that particular place. What an incredible exercise this turned out to be for me. To simply get off campus and go to a park, or a field of pumpkins, or sit on a rock at Horse Tooth Reservoir— It was incredibly grounding. The haikus and drawings for me were usually less about the place, as they were about the experience that I had in the place. And that is what Haiku often is. It’s a Japanese poem that is 17 simple “sounds” in three phrases of 5,7,5. which should sum up an experience–however esoteric. In Japanese, Haiku means “playful verse”. It should contain two juxtaposing parts in three lines—and should avoid subjective commentary. Without going into a lecture on Japanese poetry, you might see how the study and practice of Haiku has influenced my work. Especially when I’m photographing on a macro or very personal level. Haiku—I’ve missed you.
Without further ado, and without further explanation, here are some images from my first day in Bozeman, Montana. Namaste.
If I could photograph one thing for the rest of my life, over and over again, it would be this. Married for 66 years, with 5 children, 13 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren, Anne and James lead a legacy….
My friend Anne, (one of the granddaughters of Anne and James) flew me out to Cleveland, then drove me to a small town called Niles, Ohio to document the lives of this beautiful couple. Where do I even begin? I was so honored to be in the presence of a man who served our country for 11 years (he was in the first division of the Airforce during WWII), and a women who has an attic completely devoted to her sewing and a basement, to her canning. Anne and James lived in Japan to help rebuild the country after the war, where Anne delivered her own baby and removed her own tooth with sewing scissors (now, that’s the kind of woman I want to become). Today, Anne and James are still completely in love and share the most magnificent tomato garden that I have ever seen. When they took me outdoors to see this little piece of heaven, I saw them magically become 30 years younger. Spending time with Anne and James was medicinal. It was a glimpse of a future that I hope to one day have…
Brittany and Miles wedding in Sedalia, CO was one of my very favorite weddings of the year, thus far. I love being able to photograph in a new fresh venue and Brittany and Miles gave me that opportunity by holding the celebration at Brittany’s home. And it wasn’t just any home. This property which butts up to the rocky mountains, is surrounded by rolling hills, wild grasses and a sense of tranquility that only those who lived in the “wild frontier”, could match. The tent was incredible too—a mini DIA filled with antique lanterns, candles, flowers and lots of love…. To top it off, I had the most gorgeous couple to ice the cake. Perfect, Colorado wedding.
Julia and Andrew are my “continental” couple. You might remember that I flew into DC for their engagement session, but Julia and Andrew have lived all over the world and carry a little piece of everyplace they have been with them. Andrew’s father is French and a big group of his family flew in from France. I was excited to practice my language skills but to my dismay, my french is a little unpolished and I was “slow on the uptake” when it came to directing in French… haha. I tried. Who knows what I said to them in my muddled French diction.
Needless to say, the festivities were beautiful. Julia and Andrew are beautiful (I coveted Julia’s dress), their families are beautiful, the Cordillera Lodge and Spa was beautiful and the weather cooperated beautifully! And as you know, I love color and couldn’t get enough of the floral bridesmaids dresses and Julia’s bouquet–which blended perfectly. Ahhhhh…. the whole day was eye candy and a cultural delight. Congratulations, Julia and Andrew! I’m excited to see where you’ll be off to next…
Contrary to popular belief, weddings are one of the easiest events to photograph. I am speaking for myself of course, but there are so many wonderful moments and emotions and beauty, that it’s hard not to get trigger happy. Joleen and Ryan’s wedding was one of those perfect weddings with everything working for me. Marabou Ranch (now one of my favorite venues) was spectacular with its views and feeling of intimacy, Joleen was drop dead gorgeous, Ryan dapper and grinning from ear to ear, and the sky was perfectly overcast. But it was the moments from this wedding that kept me editing for weeks. There were simply too many precious moments of Joleen and Ryan spent with friends, and family that made this wedding especially beautiful.
Joleen is such a beauty. I think she looks like Salma Hayek
I met Erin Hornstein about 3 years ago. We met up for a pint at Mcloughlin’s and she brought her sweet dog, Hudson. It was friendship at first gulp! I loved that there was another dog-loving lady in the wedding industry who not only lived in my hood, but also drinks beer and can have a good time without always wearing the “business hat”. Erin is authentic through and through and truly one of the most incredible women I know. She just has that “special something” about her. I am lucky to call her my friend (and florist)! I got to know Joe when he was the selling agent for my studio 18 months ago—we got to work pretty closely there for a couple of long hard months. I adore him. Erin and Joe are a spectacular couple with the world’s cutest pink-nosed dog. They will soon have another little Hornstein in tow—and I couldn’t be happier for them! Congratulations Erin and Joe.
I can’t say enough about Amy and Matt. Simply put, they are outstanding individuals who make an even more outstanding couple. I absolutely can’t wait to meet the baby that Amy is carrying. Amy and Matt chose to keep the sex a surprise (which I love, by they way). Based on the genetics of Amy and Matt, this little person is going to have one big, fabulous personality. He or she will be adorable, smart, gregarious and beautiful! I have loved working with Amy and Matt since their wedding just three years ago—it’s so fun to watch them start a family and to get to be a part of documenting these landmark moments of their life. I’m really so grateful for what I get to do for a living…
Amy told me that since she has been pregnant, she has had outbursts of the giggles. I want that hormone!
Jasmine and Danny flew in from Florida to have their wedding at one of my favorite venues, The Red lion Inn in Boulder. It couldn’t have been a better choice with the rain, the bag pipes and the wonderful guests who seemed to really appreciate the Colorado weather and the romantic ambiance it created. Jasmine and Danny were great to work with—very fun and laid back. The reception rocked with lots of dancing and laughter and of course lots and lots of love…. Congratulations, Jasmine and Danny. I’m really bummed out that you live so far away—I could see us partying it up, for sure!
Jasmine got ready at the West End Salon in Boulder. The bittersweet story around this, is that her good friend and owner of the salon, Deandra passed away just two weeks earlier from Ovarian cancer. It was a beautiful tribute for Jasmine to spend the morning at the salon with her close friends and family and of course, Deandra was there in spirit. The morning was incredibly moving.
I’ve been watching a lot of Madmen lately. It’s a television show on AMC that I’m pretty much addicted to when it comes to visual inspiration. It’s sexy Manhattan in the 60s—the set is mid-century modern and beautiful and well, the actors/actresses… even more delectable. So maybe that is why I’m so excited about Elizabeth and Drew’s wedding— It felt as though I walked into Manhattan circa 1963. Elizabeth’s style—elegant, classic and stunning was like Grace Kelly. And the vintage limo, the Curtis hotel, and the opera house, were just extra touches that made this a dream wedding. Thank you, Elizabeth and Collin for giving me the pleasure of being a part of this day. You guys are darlings—and your style impeccable.
On a completely different note, I’m going to put myself out there and say that photographically speaking, I feel like this wedding was a breakthrough for me. Something clicked and I was seeing things from a fresh perspective. I really honed in on this while editing the images for this blog post. I feel like I’ve been posting a lot of the “same” type shots over and over again. And while those images are my forte, I have been wanting to step out and post some images on my blog that speak to me on a more artistic level…. and I’m not even quite sure what that means. I just know that these images scream what I want to be doing more of, and what is getting my heart pumping these days, creatively speaking…
Alice and her mother are visiting from NYC, and because Alice gets her photo taken every year, Katherine thought it would be fun to do her 5 year old portrait in Colorado. This little free spirit was a delight to work with—she didn’t pose a lot, unless it was to make a goofy face, and while she is a city girl through and through, Alice toughed it out for some barefoot pictures out in the open space. What a marvelous age 5 is. I remember my first day of kindergarden, playing freely out in our street with the neighbors until the street light came on. and well—just being a kiddo…. ahhhh. Nostalgia. Thanks for the memories, Alice! You’re an urban princess….
After a couple of margaritas a couple of Sundays ago, I had a realization that I am missing out on documenting my own life because I’m documenting everybody else’s…. To be completely honest, I am usually just too beat and burned out to bring my camera to every function and document my life. Especially when people are expecting it. But if I could make images like these below, with no expectation, no demand, and no pressure—just for me, I would do it all the time. And I think I will.
As a lot of you know, my husband is in a band, Jesse Daniel and the Reckoning. Jesse grew up in Lyons and the band played a benefit in Lyons a couple of weeks ago for a girl he grew up with whose house burned down. Despite the unfortunate event with the fire, the event was marvelous. It was a great day to be in Lyons listening to live music—hot like hell, but a good crowd, cold beer, no expectations .
Also, if any of you are interested in following Jesse Daniel and the Reckoning, please friend them on facebook, Also come check them out on Thursday night at 9pm. They will be playing the Hi-Dive on Broadway. I’ll be there drinking many beers, as I don’t have a wedding on Friday!
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