Estes is the Bestest!!

Happy New Year and all that jazz. Now that it is nearly February, I suppose it is time to start a New Years resolution of blogging weekly. Yes, I have already broken that resolution but so be it.... add it to the list of resolutions that went down the drain on January 2nd.

So we had the privilege of doing the St. Louis Best Bridal show on January 4th (also my sister's birthday, Happy Birthday Theresa). It was a very busy show with tons of fresh faced brides, recently engaged after the holidays. Near the end of a very busy day we got to meet Zach and Rachel. They were looking to book a fantastically fun photographer to cover their wedding reception in the fall and we immediately hit it off (they are cool, we're cool... match made in heaven.. Actually, they are way more cool than we could ever hope to be but I am hoping to resolve to be cooler this year...... damn... another resolution shot in the foot, no offense to Plaxico Burress of course, in the event he is keeping up on my blogging).

We had to ask them "why just the reception coverage" and they mentioned that they would be running off to Colorado to get married in a couple of weeks then having a reception this fall. After some tough interrogation -arm twisting and bright light in the face is my favorite- we discovered they were getting married in Estes Park. After rattling off a couple worthless facts about Estes Park (one of my favorite places in the world) Sam told them they should pack us up and drag us along. We laughed, joked and set up a consultation. Low and behold we were able to work out a deal to get us to Colorado and for Zach and Rachel to get a kick ass package that included Colorado and their reception back here in the fall. I am fairly certain that it was the other 1001 worthless facts about Estes Park that I knew that convinced them they would just have to have us in the mountains with them. Did I mention that Zach and Rachel are both REALLY good looking and we were practically begging them to stuff us in their luggage so we could work with them? Oh, I forgot that part? Resolution number 18- inform the public of the whole story, strike-through that one on the old New Years list as well.

To make a long story now terminally long, Zach and Rachel got married at the Black Canyon Inn near the base of the Rocky Mountain National Park (under the shadow of Longs’ Peak, the highest point in RMNP at an elevation of 14,259 ft., depending on who you ask, and yes, I am a dork for knowing that) It was breathtaking. It had long been a dream of mine to shoot a mountain wedding and I finally got that opportunity so many thanks to Rachel, Zach and both of their families for putting up with my Estes trivia. The weather in Estes, as the locals put it, had been "sucky" for a month straight. Clouds, cold, grey, and gross. But the day we arrived the sun came out, the Hallelujah chorus wafted down from the mountains as if being sung by angels, and the thermometer settled in at a glorious 50 degrees during the entire wedding weekend. This was made all that sweeter by the fact that it was 4 degrees when we left Saint Louis. The weather afforded them the luxury of having their ceremony on the deck overlooking the mountains. Stunning, that is about all you can say. It leaves you kind of speechless when you see it.

The morning of the wedding set the bar pretty high for the rest of the day. Our groom decided to go snowshoeing up in the mountains while the girls did hair and makeup at the historic (and very haunted) Stanley Hotel, . This is the same place where Stephen King had the inspiration for and began writing "The Shining" while staying in room #217. Samantha jumped at the opportunity to go shoot with the guys while they adventured into the great unknown (or a well marked and highly traveled hiking trail in this case), and I was more than happy to hang out with the girls for hair and makeup at the Parlour Spa in the Stanley. Fortunately for the girls, I would be brave and strong and able to protect them. Fortunately for me, the spa was nowhere near room 217 or the haunted area of the hotel.

Sam kept up with the guys during the entire hike. I guess all of those years of backpacking the Swiss Alps finally paid off. (Cross off #8, stop making up stories about other people) Sam called it one of the best experiences of her life. She took some amazing photos of the guys up in the mountains. Very hard and exhausting work, but the benefits are going to be well worth it. We cannot wait for our next bridal show in February so we can display some of our favorite shots from this destination wedding. You should stop by and see us. Even if you are not getting married, the shots are that cool. We are going to be at the Coronodo Ballroom on February 8th for the Saint Louis Best Bridal's Best of the Best Show (is it me or is that a lot of BESTs'?). It should be a great time and I'm sure we will be in rare form that day. Probably giving away the farm like we tend to do at bridal shows. So please, come up, say hello, and talk us out of some free photography stuff for your wedding. If that event is not your "cup of tea" then try to visit us at some other upcoming shows this year. I will be blogging about additional upcoming dates in the near future.

All that being said, the wedding was great, the dinner/reception afterwards was awesome, and the entire trip was a huge success. I am not sure how to thank Zach and Rachel other than providing them with some of their best memories captured in pictures. I am not even sure if that is a fair trade but we truly tried our best to give them everything we could. I know I will have memories that I will never forget. I hope you enjoy some of our favorite pics from the weekend and check back often because I am going to be a bloggin' SOB this year. Oh wait, I already broke that resolution... Maybe I will start with monthly and try to improve from there.

Keep Smiling...

Zach, his father and father-in-law (about 5 hours later) snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park.


Bear Lake, one of the stops along the snowshoe hiking trail.


Longs Peak as viewed from the trail. Nice work Sam!


Our bride, Rachel on the deck where the wedding ceremony was held.


Rachel and Zach, up in the mountains of RMNP.


Looking gorgeous as we trespassed on the porch of a cabin in Glacier Basin.


Welcome to the Gateway of Rocky Mountain National Park (per their website, not just some title that I decided to bestow upon the town).


The road was closed about 100 yards behind us due to the snow in the upper elevations. This was about as high as we could get without getting arrested by Park Rangers.


Once the sun went down the temp dropped quickly. It was probably only 25 degrees in this shot but you could not tell it from Zach and Rachel. They were real troopers..... speaking of Troopers, remind me some day to tell you about Rachel's dad. HaHa, lol, Maybe I should keep that one to myself.

Breaking and Exiting

I am no police officer, and I probably don't want to know the answer to this question, but... is it illegal to exit a stadium after being locked in? I am pretty sure if you have to ask, it is.

After a couple hours of waiting for the Mizzou Tigers to finish up their practice, before being shellacked by Texas, we managed to enter the stadium and get onto the field for some amazingly cool shots of Jesse and Justin. I will drop a couple of them below so you can see what I am talking about. It is kind of a weird feeling being in an empty stadium like that. You can, surprisingly, hear a pin drop when all the sound is funnelled down to you at the 50 yard line. We started losing light pretty quickly so all you hear is click, click, click, CLANK... We stopped taking pictures long enough to laugh and comment on how that sounded exactly like a gate slamming shut. "Ha, Ha, Ha... surely not". A few more shots and we were out of there. Not so much. Trapped!! Trapped like caged animals. The damn security guards had locked us inside. I feel safer already about attending a Mizzou game in the future. Oh, yeah, right... caged animals... Instead of doing the sensible thing, like flagging someone down, calling the cops, or trying to reach campus security we decided the best thing to do would be to bust out by climbing around the gate along the wall with a 15 foot drop below us. Being the ever courageous gentlemen that we are, Justin and I decided it would be best for the girls to go first. They scaled up and out which left the most agile photographer in Missouri and his client in slick dress shoes hanging out behind the wall. We finally decided to bite the bullet instead of suffering the humiliation of sending the ladies to find help and save us. I opted to go first since it would be easier to find a replacement photographer than a replacement groom. While I am fairly certain I was slightly over the "weight to dangling photographer" ratio that was designed for that particular fence, I made it out alive and even went so far as to donate my shoes to the groom so he could make it out as well. I could not resist the temptation to stretch out his dress shoes as I waited for him to exit.

I hope this is the first of many adventures we have with J and J. They were very good sports and a lot of fun to work with. Maybe someday they will forgive us for turning them into common criminals and hoodlums.

We've captured Big Foot.........

Real or fake??? You tell me. I saw it with my own eyes and let me tell you, BIGFOOT IS REAL.

There I was, oblivious to the rest of the world, as I prepared our ring shot. Lens change, focus, click. It wasn't until after the event that we realized we had history in the making. Bigfoot had wandered into frame and in the blink of an eye, it was finally, truly captured on film (or CF Card, in this case). It is my hope that this blog will make it out to the world before the government tries to silence me.

I really wish I was half as funny as I think I am......

Thank you to Heather and Chris for providing us with such an outstanding day. Chris works for the Bigfoot (www.bigfoot4x4.com) organization as their chief fabricator (and not the kind of fabricating that I do on a regular basis) and we were fortunate enough to be allowed to have the truck as part of their big day. Talk about fun (and dirty, and loud, and did I mention dirty), it is days like this that make me wish I would have never gotten rid of my old Jeep.

We got to spend the morning muddin with the groomsman. Did I mention that it was really dirty? Fun and Filth... I think that should have been the company catch phrase for the day. Granted, it might give people a really negative perspective on our company.

All of the pictures from the wedding will be posted on our website for the next 90 days if you want to look at just how messy the day started. I am adding a few more at the bottom of this post for those of you that don't really feel like browsing through hundreds of pictures. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Heather and Chris for including us in everything that day.

Oh man, I almost forgot.... they also had the best catering for a reception. Bandanas BBQ (http://www.bandanasbbq.com/). Sometimes brides and grooms can overlook the simple things that actually turn out to be the best parts of the day. Nothing hits the spot quite like a BBQ and cole slaw after a long day of shooting.

Partner Gone BAD!! A slasher story....

I should probably take a second to warn all of you of the dangers of being a wedding photographer... A midst the numerous other deadly hazards that must be avoided on a daily basis (such as blood blisters, paper cuts, hang nails, and a list of horrors to long to detail here) you have to be on a constant look out for the psychotic breakdowns of partners. After one too many "will you grab that battery bag for me" requests.... a partner that you think you know and trust can go and grab the nearest sharp instrument of death and come after you.

I have no idea if this not-so-rare phenomenon has ever been captured on film before now (cover your eyes if you must). As you can probably tell I am recovering from this brutal attack but I can assure you that there was much blood shed and unspeakable brutality. All of this during what I thought was a beautiful outdoor wedding reception.

PHOTOGRAPHERS BEWARE..... this too can happen to you.

October, are you kidding me?

As many times as you tell yourself you are going to blog on a consistent basis, there seems to be about 1000 more things that become more prudent on a daily basis. So... I have decided to try the middle of the night blogging approach.

We have been blessed by being able to shoot some of the most wonderful people this year. Our calendar just keeps filling up with great events and spectacular weddings. There have been so many unique moments since our last post that I don't even know where to begin so I will do my best to start adding some of them over the next few blog posts.

For all of our hundreds of fans who religously look to this blog for wit, wisdom and inspiration, my apologies. Fortunately the true number is somewhere around two fans but I refuse to use that as an excuse and I will do my best to provide the both of you with clever words that should keep you spellbound for days.

Welcome Home!

I know I planned on entering more updates than this......

Then, when I finally do an update, low and behold, it is simply to toot our own horn. Is that fantastic or what??

So the story goes something like this.....

Upon returning from two fabulous destination weddings in the Bahamas, I started to weed through the hundreds of Spam that accumulated during the trip when I came across a message from "The Knot" saying we had been selected as one of there "best of" for 2008. So at this point I am totally thinking it is a fake e-mail or a desperate attempt to gain advertising dollars with the magazine. But after some quick investigating I discovered that the e-mail was legitimate and we truly were selected in the "best of" issue. I really don't like to brag about what we do because it is way too easy to do more harm than good but I just can't help myself. Samantha and I are truly honored to be associated with some of the biggest names in St. Louis wedding photography. I feel completely overwhelmed by the entire thing and while I am not sure that we could get any busier these days... I hope that it leads us to many more wonderful events in the months ahead.

I would like to tell you that I am going to be a much more diligent blogger but I have a feeling that might be a bold face lie.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all of our current customers, future customers, and anyone else who just happens to wander across this blog site.

I am having a horrible time updating this blog, not so much due to the time or my horrible, horrible typing skills. It has much more to do with the incredible pain caused by yet another ridiculous New Years resolution. Diet, get in shape... there is no way those two things should be so hard to do. I think I will sign off of here while I can still lift my arms.

Have a glorious and wonderful 2008. I hope our paths cross on many occasions.