Vail Commercial Photographer - High Altitude Crossfit, Gypsum, CO

Summer is officially here, which means peak season for photos in the mountains has begun.  It also means that catching up on blogging and social media is a welcome break from all of the editing!

I always love to do a good commercial photography session.  It's a welcome change from the day to day and it requires some quick thinking on your feet, with as much creativity as you can muster.  My recent shoot for High Altitude Crossfit in Gypsum was all of the above and then some.  I like to work out a few times a week with my own awesome posse of fierce ladies, but these guys take it to a whole new level.  All before the sun has even come up!

The trickiest part of the shoot was the lighting.  Half of the gym was in really low light and there was little to no light coming in through the small windows.  Using a flash was not an option because you definitely don't want to temporarily blind someone while they're lifting insane amounts of weight. I was also trying to capture the movement with no blur.  The only answer was to turn up the ISO and use my 50mm 1.4 fixed lens at the lowest f stop possible without getting shakey.  The results were a much darker color scale than you'd see in my outdoor family photos, but it also gives them some great shadow, richer colors and a moody feel.  

Kudos to these great athletes!

Visit the website to see more Vail Commercial Photography

Vail Newborn Photos - Paige

I've had some great photo shoots with Tristan and Trevor over the last couple of years, so when their little baby sister arrived in March, I knew her newborn shoot was going to be high energy and a lot of fun.  As someone with two older brothers, I already had a sweet spot for Paige going into the shoot.  I can tell you, I don't EVER remember my brothers being this sweet though!

Both of the boys were fascinated by their little sister and very gentle with her.  They both wanted to give her loads of kisses and cuddles. She's a lucky wee girl to have such protective boys in her life! The boys were also really curious about my props and backdrops, so I was able to sneak in a few fun shots of them while Paige was changing outfits.

Newborns are my only shoots where I give clients all of their photos in both color and black and white.  I've added a mix of both below and the last photo is a side by side.  Sometimes it's just too hard to choose which one works best!

Family photos before we start the newborn session in Gypsum, CO

Love from big brother Trevor  - Vail Newborn Photos

Vail Newborn Photos - Paige was curious about what was going on

Gypsum newborn photos - snoozy, lazy cuddles with big brother Tristan

Vail baby photos with Paige

Vail baby photos - Paige and Tristan

Vail children's photos - Miss Paige

Vail studio photography - Trevor jumping into the spotlight with the portable studio

Vail baby photos - Paige

Hard to choose between black and white or color.

Visit the website to see more Vail Newborn Photos

Eagle Family Photos - Andrews Family

Getting 3 generations of family together can be hard, especially when they're scattered around the country.  So many families are in the same situation, so it's always great to be able to capture some of their time together.  This was the case recently for my dear old friends Matt and Tina when they had their families gathered together in Eagle recently. 

It's hard to believe that these were taken during ski season!  You can see all the snow in the hills, but it was completely dry where we were shooting.  Perfect conditions for little boys to run around and burn off some of that energy!

Visit the website to see more Eagle Family Photos.

Vail Newborn Lifestyle Photos - Brooks

When I do my newborn shoots, I take a ton of equipment with me.  I usually have to start packing the night before and I have a long check list that I follow every time, because all of the items are necessary.  

When I was asked to take newborn photos for Brooks, his Mom had asked me to do more of a casual lifestyle shoot with no props or backdrops.  I did newborn photos for his brother Ryder a couple of years ago using my normal set up and she wanted something different.  It sounds silly, but I was so excited to do a newborn shoot where I didn't have to haul half of the contents of my garage with me!

We had such a fun time shooting and I'm definitely a fan of this type of shoot.  I'm looking forward to adding more of this style to my portfolio.

Visit the website to see more Vail Newborn Photos.

Beaver Creek Marriage Proposal - Michael and Lyndsay

I've mentioned in previous posts about the amount of planning that goes into shooting marriage proposals.  This session was no different!  Michael had decided to propose to Lyndsay beside the Covered Bridge in Vail Village.  The one thing we didn't count on was spring coming two months early this year.  The Covered Bridge was a muddy mess and not an idea location for the big moment.  

With a few stealthy phone calls and emails, Mike asked to switch the location to Strawberry Park at Beaver Creek.  Strawberry Park is a nordic area, so no traditional skiing or snowboarding is allowed there.  So I packed up my snow shoes and camera bag and headed to the chair lift the next morning.  Mike had told me what they'd be wearing and I spotted them as I was getting on the lift and they were renting their snow shoes.

We had devised a plan that I would look like a tourist taking photos of the scenery and Mike would ask me if I could take a photo of them on his phone.  As Mike handed me his phone, I put it in my pocket and switched to my camera for the big moment.  As you can see from the photos, it went pretty well!

Visit the website to see more Vail and Beaver Creek Engagement Photos

Vail Family Photos - Shirleys at Stephens Park, Vail

A few years ago, I did some maternity photos for Rachel and Ben when they were expecting.  A couple of months later, we had one of my favorite newborn sessions when CJ arrived.  He's three years old now, so it was awesome to be able to take some photos of him when his cousins were in town.  

We decided to do the session at Stephens Park in West Vail.  As you can tell from the photos below, the snow was already beginning to melt so it gave us the best of both worlds.  We were able to take a few snowy photos and some on the grass.  These conditions are great for little legs because sometimes it can be hard for kids to get through the deep snow if we've just had a blizzard.  Also note the fact that we three three year olds in the group!

Here are a few favorites from their session.

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Vail Newborn Photos - Hale

Just like life on the farm, spring seems to be a busy time for babies of the human variety to make their way into the world.  I've got two newborn sessions this week, so I figured I better post the photos from my last newborn session with sweet Baby Hale.

Newborn sessions require more time and planning than any other type of photo shoot.  To give you an idea, the amount of items that I take with me will easily fill up the trunk and backseat of my car.  They include blankets, backdrops, backdrop stands, clamps, studio lights, light stands, props, bean bags, accessories, a heater and a heating pad - not to mention my camera equipment!

Thankfully, Hale was a dream and cruised right through his session.  Out of all of the equipment, the heating pad that I use to warm up the blankets is probably the most essential in making sure that the baby will relax.  Hale definitely approved of it.

Visit the website to see more Vail Family Photos.