Vail Baby and Family Photographer - Baby Gianna and Family

I got to do a fun session last week with the Flynn Family in Edwards.  I've had the pleasure of shooting photos for this family on several occasions and as the family expands, we just keep having more fun.  Gianna was 4 weeks old at the time of the shoot and she was such a perfect wee thing.  Big brother Declan was a total ham and had me laughing for most of the morning.  I've included a couple of shots in here that would normally be considered outtakes, but I think they also show the essence of their family.  

The Flynn Family .

Mom and Gianna had left the room, so this was a candid shot of Declan getting in some quality time with Dad.

This one would also be considered an outtake, but it makes me laugh.  It was supposed to be a shot of Gianna and Vicki, but Declan wanted to be part of it.  Gianna looks happy that he decided to join them.

Vail Family Photographer - Mother's Day Photo Shoot in Wildridge, Colorado.

Here are a few photos of Heather and her 3 sisters that we took last week as a special gift to their Mom for Mother's Day. They used to wear matching outfits as children when they had their portraits done, but they decided to coordinate with Tiffany Blue accents this time.  I love that it's not a common color to see in family portraits, and they did such a good job putting it all together.  Beaver Creek looks stunning in the background.  Can you believe we still have so much snow up here in the Vail Valley!

She Said Yes! Wedding Proposal at The Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail, Colorado

Mike contacted me a couple of weeks ago to let me know that he wanted to propose to his girlfriend, Mary in Vail and he asked for my help in capturing the big moment. We had torrential rain in Vail all day long and Mike and Mary were driving up here from Denver in a terrible mix of snow and rain. I spent most of my day checking on the weather radar and fretting.  Poor Mike - can you imagine how hard that must have been on him! When I used to help plan weddings on Vail Mountain, we always said 'the nicer you are, the better the weather will be'.  It would appear that Mike and Mary are the nicest people every because amazingly, we got a break in the weather and everything turned out perfectly. Especially seeing as she said yes! Here are a few of the photos, taken at The Betty Ford Alpine Gardens. Look at all of the fresh snow on the hills in the background.

Click here to see more engagement photos from White Starfish Photography

Sharon and Keith's First Wedding Anniversary in Vail, Colorado.

Off-season comes twice a year in our little mountain town.  From May-Mid June and October-Mid November.  From a photographer's perspective, it's one of the best times of year to take outdoor portraits because you're not photoshopping random skiers dressed in neon one-pieces out of the backgrounds of all of your photos and everything's either coming into bloom or the leaves are changing for the fall.

Sharon and Keith decided to come to Vail in the off season to celebrate their first wedding anniversary and they asked me to take some photos to capture the milestone.  We had a great time walking around Lionshead and taking advantage of lots of little spots that are usually blanketed with tourists.

I'm not a huge fan of using big filters on my photos, but every now and again I have a session that lends itself well to a few of the actions that I like from the Florabella Collection.  For example, the first photo is back lit by the sun, which is usually a big 'don't' in the photography world, but I used the Classic Color action to get the highlights on their hair and to boost the light on their faces, which I think worked well.

Here are a few photos from our session in the late afternoon sun.

Baby Josiah in Edwards, Colorado

It's been a little while since I've had the chance to shoot a newborn, so it was a lot of fun to shoot Baby Josiah the other day.  He was only 10 days old at the time of the photo session, but you'd never know he was so new.  He was so alert and interested in everything that was going on.  Unfortunately this meant we weren't able to get any of the lovely sleepy shots that we were hoping for, but it didn't matter because he has such lovely eyes!

Here are a few from our session that I really like.

Kate and Charles' Wedding at Eagle's Nest, Vail Mountain

 There have lots of new and exciting changes going on here at White Starfish Photography.  Firstly, I am now doing photography work as my sole job, which is exciting and daunting all at the same time.  This was always my long term goal and sometimes the universe has a way of pushing you into doing things, even when you think you're not ready.  Ironically, since this has happened, I haven't had 2 seconds to really sit down and think about it because I've been swamped with work, which is a great problem to have!

I'm a little backlogged on my editing, but I wanted to share some photos from a wedding that I shot earlier this month at Eagle's Nest at the top of Vail Mountain.  Kate and Charles' decided to get married the weekend before closing weekend in Vail.  I know I've posted about this before, but when I worked in Group Sales for Vail, we always said that the nicer the bride was, the better the weather would be on her big day.  The forecasts were calling for rain and snow for the day of the wedding, and every app or website I looked at said the same thing and it wasn't looking good.  Luckily, Kate was possibly the nicest and easiest bride I've ever worked with, and of course we ended up with beautiful weather for their outdoor ceremony and the photos.  The snow didn't roll in until everyone was inside for dinner and it made for a beautiful backdrop outside the giant windows at Eagle's Nest.

The ceremony took place on the 4th floor deck at Eagle's Nest at the top of Vail Mountain.  Not too many people know about this hidden gem.  I love it because it has the most spectacular views of The Mount of the Holy Cross, and it also gives the wedding party and guests some privacy as it's removed from the public eye.

The wedding was a great success, and also my last wedding that I'll be shooting for a couple of months.  When I was pregnant with Maxwell, I shot a wedding at 33 weeks.  I was 30 weeks pregnant when I shot this wedding and at a certain point, you have to stop and ask if you could really keep up with the pace that is required to be running around getting photos.  I've had a couple of requests to shoot weddings once I'm 38 weeks, but given how early people tend to have babies at this altitude, it was better to pass these leads onto my photographer friends.

Thankfully this was a great wedding to shoot.  One thing that I loved about this one was the amount of laughter between Kate and Charles.  All day they were making each other laugh, which helped both of them to relax and really enjoy their day.  They're about to embark on a year long trip around the world, so I congratulate them and wish them well on their new adventure!

Getting ready at The Landmark in Lionshead.

A quick moment of solitude before seeing the groom.

I love these next photos!  These were taken just before the saw each other for the first time on the big day.

The Landmark in Lionshead.

Walking through Lionshead.

We took the wedding party photos at the Gore Creek in Lionshead.

Eagle Bahn Gondola, on the way to the ceremony.

On the Gondola, Vail Mountain.

The wedding ceremony on the 4th Floor of Eagle's Nest, Vail Mountain.

The wedding ceremony, Vail Mountain.

Married!  

Wedding photos taken on top of Vail Mountain.

Wedding photos taken on top of Vail Mountain.

The Game Creek Cat was running that night and joined us for some photos!

Wedding Reception at Eagle's Nest, Vail Mountain.

First Dance at the Wedding Reception, Vail Mountain.

Wedding Reception at Eagle's Nest, Vail Mountain.