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Had a cool fall engagement session up here in Estes with Taylor and Cory, who are out in this neck of the woods contemplating a move from Texas. We went to a favorite place of mine just outside of town as the sun set, and found ourselves some gorgeous golden light to complement the bright fall colors. Here are some favorites. Congratulations, Taylor & Cory!

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It’s usually toward the end of August when my life gets the busiest, and this year is no exception. I’ve been busily editing and have had a hard time freeing up time to blog, but here’s a quick peek at Megan and Paul’s recent engagement session in Estes Park. We shot at a favorite place of mine called Lilly Mountain, amongst some gorgeous rock formations with awesome views out over the Continental Divide.

These two are getting married in Colorado in December and I can’t wait to shoot their wedding; they’ve got the best attitudes ever. I called Megan the morning of our shoot to tell her that the weather looked ominous and to ask if she wanted to reschedule, and she said no. They wanted to wing it! So they drove up to Estes and we ventured out into a storm full of rain, thunder and lightning. Megan brought along an umbrella, but it promptly fell apart and was happily cast aside. As a result, all three of us wound up drenched — the only thing dry was my camera, which I’d wrapped up in a garbage bag. Our efforts were beyond worthwhile, though, because every so often the clouds parted and the rain stopped and some of Colorado’s most epic evening light came streaming onto us.

When night fell, we ran down Lilly Mountain as thunder boomed overhead. At one point, an 8-pronged lighting bolt hit about a half mile away and made us run a little faster

Here are just a few of the shots we got in our storm.

Congrats, guys, see you in a few months! Next time you’re in town you have to come by for a drink!!

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Here’s something that doesn’t happen every day: Not only did I get to photograph a wedding proposal, but one of a fellow photographer, and one with a photography theme. Fun proposal photos to follow…

David first contacted me a few weeks before he and his now-fiance Claire, an awesome children’s photographer in Dallas, were headed out to Aspen on a little trip. He planned on proposing to her either on the 3rd of the 5th of July, sometime early in the morning at the Maroon Bells. I was shooting on the 2nd in Vail, so after a gorgeous wedding, my wife and I hopped in the car and headed off toward Aspen so we could catch David and Claire early the next morning.

The morning-of, I sent David an SMS telling him what we’d be wearing, but I was scared to do it. What if he was in the shower or something, and Claire saw? I deliberated on how and when to contact him, and while I was staring at my phone, an SMS arrived from him. So I quickly responded and hit him right back, since I knew he’d be in front of his phone.

We arrived at the Bells and as luck would have it, wound up parking right next to each other. I saw David while I was unpacking my monster 500mm wildlife lens, and followed him into the men’s room where we hatched the final plan. It was all a little seat-of-the-pants, so it was good to finalize plans face to face. In the bathroom. Kinda weird.

Anyway, he left and wandered off to meet Claire. We decided that it was going to happen at 9am, so Rannveig (my wife) and I followed them to the lakeshore. David and Claire sat down on a rock, Rannveig camped out in the bushes with the 500mm, and I wandered up behind them with a 70-200 and pretended to be taking pictures of the mountains. Every time Claire so much as turned her head, I looked away and started off into the hills. I felt like a bit of a peeping Tom, but whatever, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

David had Claire on his right side, and his phone in his left pocket. As the hour approached, he kept leaning over to check the time. 8:59:00? Check. 8:59:15? Check. 8:59:30? Check. One last time he checked, and then it all began.

First, he stole Claire’s camera and took some pictures. I think he was getting warmed up…

Then, he told her he had a gift. A camera!

It was an old Brownie Bullet camera, and he’d hollowed out the inside and made a small ring box. He carefully positioned the ring so that the diamond shined through a little red window on the back, where I think the film label used to go. Here’s what it looked like. Clever, David! You get major points for this!

Next, he handed it to her and had her take a picture or two. He was hoping she’d see the diamond, but it didn’t work out that way. Claire handed it back. It didn’t work!

So… David had to take charge. He also tried to take a picture with it, but that didn’t work… So he just opened it up and got down on one knee.

Here it comes! Wait for it… Wait for it…

Will you marry me?

She said yes!

Afterward, we approached them (Claire had figured we were just bigtime camera geeks) and introduced ourselves, and we spent the next little bit shooting some engagement photos. Didn’t wait long to get engagement pictures done!

Congratulations!! Totally stoked for you! Thanks for inviting me along for such a big part of your lives!

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Amy and Matt are getting married in just a few weeks at Red Rocks, so we spent a recent afternoon traipsing around Buttonrock Reservoir outside of Lyons. Somehow during our engagement session we got onto the topic of ghosts — I think there’s a ghost in my house — and Amy listened intently. Turns out she’s got some family members who have experience in dealing with spirits. I’m definitely going to be all ears when we meet at the wedding!

The long and the short of my ghost story is that Jerry’s Wife (the ghost who came with the house) seems to like to flood things. When I moved in, despite having what I thought was a thorough home inspection, the roof leaked and every window leaked. Then the water heater blew up and flooded the basement, which lead to a 2 year remodel. Just a few months after it was finished, the dishwasher blew up and flooded the whole house, so I had to remodel the basement again, as well as the main floor. Then, while we were in Scandinavia last winter, Jerry’s Wife came along and flooded our bathroom in Norway as well as the livingroom of the unit downstairs. Damn!!

Turns out that my wife’s brother’s fiance, Maja, met Jerry’s Wife once while meditating here. Maja and Jerry’s wife communicated, and Maja learned that the ghost died in the upstairs bathroom, was kind of depressed, and the bathroom was painted red. When Maja told me this, I kind of shrugged it off, since, at the time, I didn’t believe in spirits and ghosts. Fast forward a year to the time I met a neighbor who told me that Jerry’s wife died in the upstairs bathroom. WEIRD. Fast forward another year to when I remodeled the upstairs bathroom: when I took the light switch cover plate off, the paint underneath it was red.

WEIRD, WERID, WEIRD.

Nothing’s flooded in about six months. Maybe I’ve got something coming, since the flood schedule is about one per year. Or maybe the ghost has finally found peace. Or maybe she’s just stuck in Norway!

Anyway, sorry for getting distraction. Back to our regular programming…

Amy, Matt — See you soon!! Stoked to shoot your celebration

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Kaitlin and Brian and myself spent a fun afternoon recently in the hills behind Estes Park as the sun set, and we managed to find some absolutely gorgeous light. Pretty excited to shoot their wedding in just a few weeks – these two share a beautiful connection and make things fun, and I anticipate their wedding will be a treat to photograph. Here are some favorites from an afternoon at Lilly Lake and Jurassic Park above it.

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Here are some shots of Shannon and David, who are having their wedding this year in Vail. I’m pretty stoked for their celebration — gonna be tons of fun. Lots of laughs and high energy, I’m sure. We scheduled a winter engagement session in Vail while I was out there in March, and the three of us tromped around Vail Village in the snow for an hour or so.

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Blaire and Scott are getting married this summer in Vail, so we scheduled an engagement session in Vail while I was out in Colorado in March. We headed up the gondola to the top of the mountain and had a fun afternoon playing in the snow. Right before we were leaving, we spied the tubing hill and managed to take a few rides before it closed. I went down on my stomach, backwards, shooting back at these guys as we careened down. Good times all around! Can’t wait for the wedding.

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I’m super behind with blogging but I thought I’d post this engagement shoot with Amy and Shawn, who are getting married in Denver next June at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I can’t wait to shoot the wedding — it’s going to be so much fun. A reception in the middle of a huge museum, with big dioramas in the background and an awesome couple. Woot!

I just chuckle looking at these pictures and remembering how cold I was while shooting them in the middle of a bunch of snow melt. It was fricken freezing, Mister Bigglesworth. I still can’t feel my toes. Stupid as I am, I elected to hop into a river at the start of our shoot instead of the end, which means I was wandering around, dripping, for the better part of two hours. I considered bringing a wetsuit, but for some reason left it at home. Instead I brought a thin towel, but that got wet before I did! Luckily the gorgeous light and fun companions kept my mind off things.

For the record, I have no idea how Amy and Shawn were able to hide behind that skinny aspen tree in the second shot. I looked up and saw only their heads popping out…!

When we were all done, we all went out to Thai food here in Estes Park and had a killer dinner together. I find it really weird that this tiny little mountain town filled with t-shirt stores and fudge shops has the most rockin’ Thai joint in the Colorado.

Anyway, I’m stoked for these two cats. Congrats, guys — can’t wait to see you in June!

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Monica and Nick are getting married in a few months in Denver, so we spent an afternoon cruising around Lumpy Ridge shooting their engagement photos. These two are totally hilarious, and have a knack for cracking each other up (and for cracking me up, too). I can’t wait for their wedding.

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I just recently shot Jenni and Brian’s rockin’ wedding at the top of Aspen Mountain, and I got to spend a little bit of time with them beforehand doing an informal portrait session in a really cool field with some old homesteads near Aspen. We only had about a half hour of shooting, but I think we came up with some cool stuff. Can’t wait to show you all the wedding pictures, but for now here’s their engagement. Stay tuned for more!