sarah & ryan

I'll be honest ... I don't really know how to write this one.  It's been in my drafts folder for several weeks as Sarah and I played phone tag, and it just didn't feel quite right to post yet... so here goes the original:Sarah and Ryan have been together for several years.  They've known each other since high school, and when I asked them how they met, Sarah joked about following him around until he gave in and started paying attention to her :)  Now they've fallen in love, they have an adorable puppy... and Ryan has cancer.  Everywhere.

As soon as Sarah contacted me about doing a session, I just knew it was something that was absolutely essential for me to do.  Ryan was in a lot of pain that day, but the images we got are sweet and real and wonderful anyway.  Meeting both of these awesome people has made my life brighter.  Sarah & Ryan : thank you, thank you, thank you.

As I mentioned above, I wrote this post a few weeks ago and have just been sitting on it until I got the okay from Sarah.  She stopped by the studio yesterday morning to let me know, over tears and coffee, that Ryan recently passed away.  We did the session at just the right time - within a few days of our shoot, he was in too much pain to leave the house.  Sarah, my dear - my heart goes out to you.  I know words are totally useless at a time like this, but I love you already and I can't wait to get to know you better.

If you'd like to make a donation to Sarah & Ryan's photography registry, please contact me directly.

If you'd like to join with me in making a donation to the American Cancer Society in Ryan's name, just let me know.

casidy & tyler (denver engagement photographer)

Casidy & Tyler are engaged, and I can't wait for their wedding next year at Devil's Thumb Ranch!  We had so much fun shooting their engagement session at a few of their favorite spots around downtown Denver.  Cadisy is paying a lot of attention to detail in her wedding planning, and I can't wait to see the results of her Anthropologie- inspired planning!

Love this cute look of exasperation :)

These reflection shots turned out to be some of my favorites:

Casidy, you're gorgeous!

We stopped for ice cream at Little Man in The Highlands

We had this great idea for a ring shot on the top of Tyler's waffle cone...

But I didn't really think it through all the way.  So sad :(

Then on to one of their (and my!) favorite bookstores, the fabulous Tattered Cover:

Yay!  Thanks, you guys, for such a fun shoot - I can't wait for the wedding! :)

angie & tyler (buena vista engagement photographer)

Angie and Tyler are engaged!  We had so much fun shooting their engagement session at Interlaken near Twin Lakes - a cool old abandoned lakeside resort from the Victorian days that's been partially restored by the historic society.  The fall colors are gorgeous!

I love all this dark & white striped woodwork.

Find the ring :)

Thanks again for a wonderful shoot, you guys!  I can't wait for the wedding! :)

crystal & dorthea (colorado LGBT wedding photographer)

Crystal is a long-lost friend from another life, and when she found me on Facebook and contacted me about doing a lifestyle / engagement session with her fiancee Dorthea, I was elated.  Marriage equality is something that I feel very strongly about, and I was honored to be able to document their love in recent weeks.  Crystal & Dorthea - you are wonderful people and I am proud to call you friends.

craig & bernadette (leadville wedding photographer)

This was one of those shoots that was just meant to happen.  Craig is an old friend of a friend and we haven't seen each other in years, but when he and his fiancee Bernadette booked me to shoot their 2011 wedding, I was thrilled!  We scheduled an engagement session for the day before I was supposed to leave to shoot a Seattle wedding.  No problem, I thought.  I'll just get home late, I thought.  Craig and Bernadette and I talked a little bit about the engagement session and came up with some great ideas and still had everything under control for the first part of the session, which we shot at the Silver Dollar Saloon in Leadville.Then, for the second part of the shoot, we headed up to Turquoise Lake near Leadville.  It turns into a dirt road, nothing extreme, but I drive a little VW Golf.  With not the best clearance.  Also with not the best history of keeping oil pans intact.  I heard a big thunk and my stomach dropped and I thought "Oh CRAP.  I hope that wasn't what I think it was."  So we get down to the parking area for the site and I drop to my hands and knees and look under my car... sure enough, lots of fat black drips of oil.  Yes, friends, I hit a rock and cracked my oil pan.  Again.  A few hours before I'm supposed to drive to the airport.  Honestly, my first reaction was just to start laughing hysterically.  So I'm sitting in the middle of the dirt road, just cracking up, and Craig reminded me that we should, um, you know, probably get going.  We sped back to town, and in the ten or twelve minutes it takes to drive from Turquoise Lake to downtown Leadville, I lost almost HALF of the oil in my engine.

"Well," I laughed.  "It's not like I'm going anywhere... we might as well head back and finish the shoot!"  So they were kind enough to lend me a mixing bowl to stuff under my car, and I hopped in with them, and we produced one hell of an epic shoot while my car was slowly bleeding to death.  When we got back to the house, Bernadette slapped some chewed up gum on the crack and I bought like six quarts of oil and just kept pulling over every ten minutes to pour some more back in.  All in all, it was a great night :)

Seriously - these two are so kind, so laid-back, so flexible, and so so great in front of the camera.  This has to be one of my favorite engagement sessions ever.  Turquoise Lake is gorgeous, but so is the intimate, playful  love that Craig & Bernadette share.  I know I'm blogging WAY out of order but I sort of felt like I owed them :)  I am so thrilled to be a part of their wedding!  Congratulations!

Yay!  What a great great shoot.