Archive for the ‘Portraits’ Category

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Anne comes home to Boulder for her senior portrait.

08.25.2010 - By Peter
Categories: Portraits
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Anne lives in Japan, She is not Japanese! She moved to Japan a year ago with her parents for an exciting career opportunity. I photographed her brother a few years ago so now it was Anne’s turn. She wanted an urban look from her home town of Boulder. Shooting in Boulder is always an adventure. This night we were shooting in an ally and at one end we heard loud music and a guy on a bike passes with a huge boom-box bungeed to his bike. He passed and as we were looking through the narrow opening of the alley another bike comes by with blaring music. We were in awe as another 150+ bikes pass the mouth of the alley like the pied piper with mice following. We watched for 5 minutes as a mass of bikers rode by, Some in costumes others looking like they just got off work. I love Boulder for just these little surprises you get at random.

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Posted in Portraits

Erin and Jake: A family portrait and Snoop Dogg cover

08.19.2010 - By Peter
Categories: Family Portraits, Portraits
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I was honored when Erin Browning from The Oxford Hotel, one of the best and most notable wedding planners in Denver called to create a portrait of she and her husband and their cherished family dogs Jesse and King. Jesse is a border Collie with strong will over King who is a sweet Boxer that is totally Blind. Yes, King has no eyes at all. He still runs around and plays just like any other dog and on a quick inspection you wouldn’t have a clue that he is completely blind. He will occasionally run head on into things but he seems to shake it off and keep on going. Dogs can be one of the hardest subjects to photograph. Getting them to look in a certain direction is something they really don’t like to do much. With King I thought to myself, how do you get a blind dog to look at you? My normal tricks of throwing things and jumping around like a deranged lunatic were unnoticed by King. Finally I thought does it really matter if he is looking. Many of my best portraits of people have them looking in another direction. Then I tried to capture King and Jesse as they normally are. Once Erin and Jake saw the images, they gravitated toward the images that were more natural and free. This is true with the exception of one image. They wanted me to create a fun image of their family that was inspired by a Snoop Dogg album cover image from “No Limit Top Dogg” but with their own twist. This was to look like a studio image with distinctive lighting and much emphasis on the family and each dog wearing a tee shirt and gangsta chain collar featuring a pad lock clasp. To make this even more interesting we were going to create this image in the tundra around a high alpine lake at nearly 13,000 ft  in the Colorado mountains. Yes, this seemed ambitious and to top it off we had gusty wind and cold temps in the high 30’s. I love a challenge, and fortunately so do Erin and Jake, so we charged ahead and I am so glad we did. This image will be a 20×40 inch print in a black frame that will hang over their fireplace as a conversation piece.

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Posted in Family Portraits, Portraits

Avid 4 Adventure - An amazing summer experience for kids!

06.29.2010 - By Peter
Categories: Adventure, Portraits
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Avid 4 Adventure is a Boulder, CO based company that works with children to inspire life-long active outdoor lifestyles and environmental stewardship through experiences that provide personal development and memorable family adventures, while addressing the logistic needs of parents. Each week at Avid 4 Adventure summer day camps, kids rock climb, mountain bike, hike, kayak, & canoe. These kids get regularly exposed to so many great outdoor activities over the course of a summer. They develop a strong sense of self esteem through accomplishment.

I was really interested in photographing these active kids. I see the sedentary lifestyle of so many kids these days and have really battled that with my own daughter taking her into the natural world on adventures as often as possible. Photographing the amazement, challenge and exhilaration in reaching the top of the cliff in these children was a real treat. As if a photo shoot is not a challenge enough I wanted to be right there with the children in the midst of the crux of the rock climb. I photographed much of the day perched on a small ledge half way up the rock they were scaling. I feel this perspective is key to really seeing all the emotions that cross their faces during the climb.

Enjoy viewing all the images by clicking this link: Rock Climbing with Avid 4 Adventure June 25th, 2010

Avid 4 Adventure will provide all the parents a password to see the gallery of all my images.

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Posted in Adventure, Portraits

Jason & Jessica’s Engagement

05.26.2010 - By Peter
Categories: Engagement, Portraits
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Spring has sprung, It’s time to get to Red Rocks! I have been photographing in and around Red Rocks park outside of Morrison, Colorado for 8+ years now. I always try to create something new and fresh when photographing in a familiar location. This gets to be more and more of a challenge than going somewhere new. Getting a new and exciting image is what this is all about for me. Pushing creativity to the next level is my goal in work and play.

Jason and Jessica have a fun, easygoing and adventurous personality. I partially joked that they were getting a workout from all the things we were doing. I can say I was, I climbed to the top of the boulders creating a cave to create an image that I an really proud of. I’d rate the climb at least 5.8 and a bit dicy in my running shoes with a $8000 camera hanging from my shoulder.

We had a great afternoon in Red Rocks, I am really looking forward to this summer and all the great images and new places I will photograph. Coming up soon is Jason and Jessica’s wedding at the top of Keystone. That will be another great day I am really looking forward to!

A sea of red rock, I call this spot the wave. It is one of my favorites at Red Rocks.

In this image I really love the layering and how Jason and Jessica become part of the landscape with lots of depth and color!

The Cave, this is new as I have never photographed in this cave before. I really like it and hope to find dozens of more angles on this spot.

180 days in Jail and $999 fine for climbing rocks at Red Rocks. Isn't this a bit excessive for climbing a rock? I had to get this image, sometimes bending the rules for a great shot is a compromise I am willing to make. I love the colors and composition of this image.

Love and swirly backgrounds....

I really liked the form from the silhouette of the Yucca plant. Then adding Jason and Jessica in a quiet moment really made this image for me. A great ending image for their book.

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Posted in Engagement, Portraits

The Gawey Family Portraits

05.18.2010 - By Peter
Categories: Family Portraits, Portraits
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I had the pleasure to Photograph the Gawey family on a wonderful spring afternoon during our recent tour of Oklahoma. Coming from Cold almost warm Colorado to the full spring of Oklahoma was like having a time machine. Kathy and I really enjoyed getting to know the Gawey’s.

Posted in Family Portraits, Portraits

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