Go Rockies!

WOW! If the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres tomorrow night they will go to the playoffs for the first time since 1995. The Rockies have consistently been one of the worst teams in baseball for the last 12 years; but this year they have played so well. They finished the season by winning 13 of 14 games, their hitters are hitting great and their pitching has been excellent. All I can say is that I hope they win tomorrow night; and if they go to the playoffs I may have to find a way to get a few tickets.

Steve and Lori Got Married!

Steve and Lori had a very small and intimate wedding at the Boettcher Mansion last night. Jessica and I always enjoy the small weddings, everyone is so involved and so excited for the couple. We are so glad that we had the opportunity to photograph their wedding, thank you Steve and Lori. Enjoy...

People Who Inspire Me: Pop-Pop

I have been writing an ongoing series of posts dedicated to people who inspire me. I hope you enjoy it...

Pop-Pop was my grandfather, my mom's dad, and he was one of the most interesting and incredible people I have ever known. He was a music composer, a conductor, an artist, a teacher, a sculptor, a survivor and a great person. He faced cancer 5 times, and beat it four; had multiple surgeries and made it through every time; was in two horrible car accidents and survived both of them. He was twice a widower and through all of this he always stayed strong and had a positive attitude. He was always looking ahead, he never thought much about the past; always the future. He composed music into his 80's, did his morning exercises the day he died and always kept his sense of humor.

He was an honest person and always stood up for what he believed in. He treated people with the respect they deserved; all people. He had an incredible ability to strike up a conversation with anyone, anywhere and learn all kinds of things about that person. He was very good at seeing people for who they truly were and not just their skin color, or religion, or anything like that.

He lived an incredibly interesting, amazing and wonderful life. He was a great person, father, grandfather and husband. I miss him, but I know that he is in a wonderful place playing his trumpet and composing music and bringing life and happiness to everyone around him.

I think it is so important to remember to learn from the people who have gone before us and to learn from people that we admire. Here is a picture of him being honored at Loretto Heights College where he taught for almost 40 years.

Hawaii

As many of you know Jessica and I went to Hawaii with Jessica's family last week and we had such a wonderful time; we feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to spend that time with our family. Jessica's family is a bit spread out so it is always so much fun when we all get together. It was such a relaxing week, we sat on the beach, ate good food, went on a hike (that almost killed us) played in the pool and really just had lots of fun. Jess and I even tried snorkeling, thanks to everyone else telling us how cool it was. And we really did enjoy it.

I have two small pieces of advice. First, if you ever see a sign that says "Danger Falling Rocks: Unsafe Beyond This Point" please heed that warning. The second piece of advice is to be very careful if you ever use expedia to book your flights. Make sure you call your airline to check whether or not you need a paper ticket. Even if expedia tells you that you don't need a paper ticket; there may be a chance that you actually DO need a paper ticket. Our paper tickets were ironically waiting for us at the front door of house after one very long and frustrating night of traveling.

But we made it home, and it wasn't enough to put a damper on our trip. We had such a wonderful time and like I said, nothing is better than spending time with people that you love very much. I hope you enjoy our slideshow...

Bill and Kirstin's Wedding

We had the great opportunity to photograph Bill and Kirstin's wedding; and it was such an awesome day. The weather was perfect, everyone was so happy and we managed to get some great shots of all the little kids. Getting to meet their families was such a joy and we can't thank them enough for having us take their wedding photographs. Please enjoy their slideshow...

f-stop workshop

WOW! I had the most amazing two days with some of the best photographers around. James Christianson and Jenna Walker put on their second f-stop workshop and I learned so much. Jim and Jenna are two amazing photographers and people here in the Denver area and they shared so much knowledge with all of us. Chris and Katie Humphreys also came out from California to share some of their knowledge and it was so great to hear what they had to say. I also got to meet some great photographers in the area and I can't wait to form a better friendship with all of them. Thanks again to everyone involved!

Workshop Update

I just attended the first day of the f-stop workshop put on by two great photographers here in Denver. We have one more day tomorrow but I wanted to post a few of the pictures that I took today. Thanks to all of our models, I know it can't be easy to have 20 people taking pictures at once.

We Are Home

After a wonderful trip to Hawaii and an incredibly frustrating trip home (more to come about that later.) We are home safe and sound, I am working on the slideshow from our trip and I will have it ready soon. I will be in a photography workshop the next two days and I am very excited about it; it is going to be a great opportunity to keep learning and growing. I will also be returning phone calls and e-mails in the next few days. I hope everyone is well, talk to you soon. Here is one quick picture from our trip, enjoy...

A few pictures.

Just wanted to share a few pictures from our trip in Hawaii, we are having so much fun and we are so lucky to be able to share this with our family.

Speaking of family I wanted to wish my parents a happy 31st anniversary. They have been the biggest influence on my life and I am so thankful to have them.

Here is Jess and I after dinner last night. (Thank you Rachel and Ryan for the gift card, we really appreciated it.)


Here is our nephew Maddox in the sand.


And our other nephew Taylor at the beach.

We Made It!

After a whole day of traveling we made it to Hawaii, and I just wanted to share the view from our balcony. Talk to you soon!

We are going to be out of town.

Jessica and I are leaving tomorrow for a family trip to Hawaii and we are so excited. We are going with Jessica's whole family to celebrate her dad's birthday (I'll leave your age out Dan.) We will be there for a whole week relaxing and spending some quality family time with each other. We feel so fortunate to have this opportunity to go to Hawaii, but more importantly to go with people that we love. Please check back during the week as we will be trying to upload a few pictures. I hope everyone has a great week and we will talk to you soon.

Desert Solitaire

I just finished reading the book "Desert Solitaire" by Edward Abbey. He tells the story of his summer as a park ranger in Arches National Park. This is the first Abbey book I have read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. He is an incredibly descriptive writer and it is so easy to feel like you are right there with him. Thanks to my friend Jon for passing it along to me.



One of my goals this year is to read more. I have to admit I haven't lived up to it yet, but I just bought three books that I am very excited about reading. I will keep you updated about my progress.

We're Teaching a Class.

One thing I have always enjoyed is teaching, and now I will have the opportunity to share some of my knowledge. A few years ago I worked at the Lookout Mountain Nature Center where I taught nature programs. They offer all kinds of different programs for all ages of people. The people who teach the classes are great educators; and great people so I am excited to have the opportunity to teach a class there.

The class will be on Sunday October 7th and last 2-3 hours. The main focus will be getting people more comfortable with their digital cameras, and getting people outside taking some photographs. I will give some advice and tips that have helped me along the way as well as provide information for further learning. I am extremely excited about it and I know it will be a great time. The class is open to anyone who wants to sign up, so if you are interested please call or e-mail me and I will give you all of the information. You can also click here to see a copy of their program schedule; scroll to the second page and under the October 7th date is the information about the program. The phone number is also there if you would like to call them directly to sign up for the program. It will be a fun afternoon and I hope to see you there.

Michele and Lee are married!

We had so much fun photographing Michele and Lee's wedding, and everyone was very fortunate that the rain held off. It is so wonderful to be around two people who are so truly in love and perfect for each other. I always believe that the perfect person is out there for you, and Michele and Lee reassure that idea for me. I hope you enjoy their slideshow...