Zach and Jason at Bachelor Gulch, Colorado. Through the Lens Series - Entry 4

When I'm not playing Mum or running around with a camera in my hand, you can find me working in marketing at The Ritz-Carlton Club in Bachelor Gulch.  We host a weekly event for our Members at our Vail Club every Wednesday night and Zach and Jason had asked if they could provide some musical accompaniment at these events.  They came and played us a few songs as a demo before they played for our Members and I decided to take a few pics.  Here they are!

Click here to see more Event Photography in Vail, Colorado.

Marcy, Jen and Trace in Eagle Vail. Through the Lens - Entry 3

Marcy has to be one of the busiest women living in Vail.  She runs her own sewing and clothing alterations company, she's a well respected Doula and she's also the leader and founder of Mountain Mama Care.  Mountain Mama Care is a group of small businesses based in the Vail Valley that offer services to new parents and new parents-to-be.  There's no scientific evidence to back up my theory, but I feel like there's a baby boom going on in the Valley right now, so if you know of anyone that's expecting, or they've just had a baby, please have them check out the website - www.mountainmamacare.com.

It's pretty rare to find 3 generations from one family living here in Vail, but Marcy is one of the lucky few.  Her daughter Jen lives here also and we had a fun mini session last week with Jen's 4 month old, Trace.  Here are a few photos from the session.









Click here to see more Children's Portraits in Vail, Colorado.

Hiking in the Eagle Vail Snow with Precious Cargo. Through The Lens Series - Entry 2

I've lived in Vail for 9 years now, which means I've been lucky enough to have 8 solid seasons of free time to go snowboarding whenever I felt like it.  What happens when you have your first child at the same time as two of your friends that you've spent plenty of time cruising around the mountain with?  Well, spending a day on the hill pretty much goes out the window, but you look for alternative solutions for getting out amongst the white stuff.

Vail is having a notoriously bad season this year.  There's no way for me to sugar coat that with a frilly euphamism.  CNN has sent out their resident meteorologist to report from Breckenridge for a whole week on the sad state of Colorado ski resorts this winter, which is terrible PR for us.  We did wake up to a little miracle last Saturday though - powder, gnar, champagne, huka - SNOW!

Here's how 3 new-mothers-former-snowboarders managed to get out there and enjoy it with a winter hike.  I love Maxwell and Emma's His and Hers snowsuits.  See if you can spot my puppy in there somewhere.

For the record, I realize I'm in this photo and these pics are supposed to be of other people, but I just loved Max's little face poking out in this one.

Click here to see more photography in Vail, Colorado.

Park Hyatt, Beaver Creek Wedding in Colorado

It's always nice to be able to shoot for a family that you've worked for before. I shot Brice and Jen's wedding at Beaver Creek last year, so when Jen's sister Nicole asked me to photograph her wedding in Beaver Creek during the holidays, I jumped at the chance. It was a beautiful winter wedding at the Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek, overlooking the ice-skating rink at sunset. Congratulations!

To see more, go to Nicole and Kevin's Wedding in Beaver Creek, Colorado.

Click here to see more Wedding Photos in Vail and Beaver Creek, Colorado.

Through the Lens Series - Entry 1

Towards the end of 2011, I started thinking about what type of goals I would like to set myself for photography.  I was getting newsletter emails every day telling me what goals I should set and what I could do to improve my photography business for the coming year, but the problem with sending out those types of bulk emails is that you might end up with a thousand other photographers doing the same things to improve their SEO and make more money.

After a lot of thought, I decided that I just want to become a better photographer.  I had my plate full with great photography jobs last year, but sadly I don't take too many photos just for the love of it anymore.  I had so many people comment that I must have screeds of photos of my son and my family and the truth is that sometimes I get over worked and I just don't feel like pulling out my camera at the end of a long day.

So, my goal for 2011 is to carry some sort of camera and lens combo with me as often as possible and to capture the people in my life, just purely for the love of it.  In the process, I think it'll help to improve my portraits and my editing skills, and I should end up with a good collection of interesting shots at the end of the year.  Sometimes it's hard to find an interesting angle on things you see every day, and this is my way of stepping up to the challenge.

I'm hoping to do a post at least once a week.  A lot of photographers do a 52 week challenge each year, but the honest truth is that sometimes I just get swamped, like everyone does.  It's something to work towards and if I miss a week, I'm not going to beat myself up about, but there will probably be 2 posts the following week!

Enough rambling and on with the show.  Here is my first entry for the year and these were actually taken in the last few hours of 2011.  I won't go into the full story, but all I can say is that sometimes when you become a parent, the anticipation of going out for a big night can be more fun than once you get there.

Happy New Year!

Family Portraits in Vail, Colorado with Jeff, Suzanne and Briar.

Here are a few more photos from Thanksgiving, this time featuring Jeff, Suzanne and Briar.  Vail still pretty much looks like this.  Oh, what a winter we're having!





Click here to see more Family Portraits in Vail, Colorado.