Vail Newborn Photographer - Baby Holden

It's not every day that you get to do a newborn shoot in a Four Seasons, but that's exactly where I got to do Baby Holden's newborn photo shoot.  With some help from a good friend who works in valet there, I was able to haul my backdrops, lights and props up to one of the gorgeous residences there.

The Falkes moved in across the road from us about 18 months ago and we became instant friends.  We both had fluffy white dogs, sons that were the same age and then we were both pregnant with our seconds boys at the same time.  Peter worked at the Four Seasons in Vail and recently received a great promotion that meant they needed to move.  So in the space of a few days, they managed to sell their house, have a baby and move to Chicago.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it!  Somewhere in between, they had a few days that they could take up residence at the Four Seasons here, so that's where we did the shoot.

He is such a handsome wee chap and we had a great time getting the photos!  I'm sad to see the Falkes leave the Valley, but I'm also really excited for this exciting new chapter in their lives.

For more Vail Newborn Photography, go to The Newborn Collection.

Vail Photographer - New Logo and New Look for White Starfish Photography!

It's taken a little while to come to fruition, but I'm happy to announce that White Starfish Photography has a new look! 

I'm going to be moving ahead in small steps, but the first was to start with my brand new logo, designed by Caro Creative.  You might wonder why on earth somebody who is completely land locked would name their business after a sea creature.  When I say completely land locked, I mean it.  The closest beach to my house is a 14 hour drive away.  It makes me feel nauseous when I think about how far away the ocean is.  Keep in mind that in New Zealand, the FURTHEST you can ever be from the sea is a 2.5 hour drive!

So the story starts way back in 2006, when I was newly engaged and I was busy running around getting ready for our wedding.  My maiden name is Te Whetu.  Te Whetu is a Maori (native New Zealander) name and it's literal translation is The Star.  My husband's last name is White.  When I was trying to decide what to use for the table center pieces at our wedding, I thought about the combination of our surnames, mixed with our beach wedding and this led to the natural choice of using white starfish.  I took a pottery class at Colorado Mountain College and I crafted all kinds of different white starfish that were scattered all around at our reception.  I liked how the little creature symbolized our relationship and now it has just stuck with me!

It took me some time to come up with the logo though.  Designing a logo isn't very easy, but thankfully my good friend Caro is a design expert.  I had to marinade on it for a while, but I finally came up with the concept and here is what it means.  Each of the legs on the starfish are in the shape of a koru.  A koru is motif that is used consistently in maori art.  It is based on a fern frond, and it symbolizes new life.  I wanted to feature koru in the starfish because most of the events that I shoot are representative of a new life.  Whether it's the new life together that a married couple have chosen when I shoot a wedding or quite literally a new life when I shoot newborns.  I also chose to use 6 arms on the starfish because starfish are commonly found with 5 arms and I want my photography to be anything but common!

As I mentioned earlier, it's happening in steps.  Here is a copy of the new logo and the new website will be up and running in a couple of weeks.