Portrait Photography | Peter Holcombe Photography Blog

We are featured on a new Colorado Professional Wedding Photographer site

04.18.2011 - By Peter
Categories: News
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The bar for quality wedding photography is always being raised by the true professionals nationwide but also here in Denver, Boulder and Colorado. A new web site Professional Wedding Photographers of Denver has been created to help brides and grooms find the true professional wedding photographers in Denver for weddings on the front range and beyond. We hear so many horror stories about botched weddings shot by good intending but unqualified people that are hired by a bride and groom that are willing to sacrifice a true professional to save a little money. During the wedding planning this might seem like a great plan but afterwards it often leads to much regret and dashed hopes of quality images as a heirloom keepsake.

The Professional Wedding Photographers site is a new creation to spotlight the true professional wedding photographers working in Colorado today. To be featured on this site you have to have the Certified Professional Photographer credential (CPP) that is issued from the Professional Photographic Certification Commission. Those who have earned these certifications have passed a comprehensive written exam measuring their technical expertise, have successfully submitted their work to a panel of judges for review and approval, and abide by a professional code of ethics. A photographer must re-certify through the Professional Photographic Certification Commission to show that they are maintaining a high level of technical and artistic competency, assuring that their clients’ expectation of the standards of excellence are consistently being met.

Kathy and myself have been CPPs for quite a few years. When asked by couples for a referral of another photographer when we have their wedding date already booked. The first qualifier to finding a competent and professional photographer is making sure they are a Certified Professional Photographer then that the client is drawn to the photographers style and personality. This is key to having successful wedding photography.

Please use the links above to gather more information on hiring a CPP photographer.

Tags: Colorado, Colorado Wedding Photography, Denver, Mountain Wedding, Mountain Wedding Photography, Portrait Photography, Professional Wedding Photographers
Posted in News

The Givens family; family portraits in the mountains near Boulder

04.11.2011 - By Peter
Categories: Family Portraits
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The best complement in photography is to have another opportunity to create images for a past client. I had photographed Joel and Lindsay’s wedding in 2006 and now two has become three. Their daughter Aubrey was so cute and quite a trooper during the course of the shoot. She was all curiosity and smiles, playing with pine cones and feeling the rough bark of a ponderosa pine tree. It was a nice warm February day in the mountains outside Boulder, Colorado to create a family portrait. Here are some of my favorite images, Please enjoy!

Tags: Boulder, Boulder Portraits, Children's Photography, Colorado, Family Portrait, Mountain Portrait, Mountain Wedding Photography, Portrait Photography
Posted in Family Portraits

The Inslee Family

08.25.2010 - By Peter
Categories: Family Portraits
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It was nearing the end of summer with the oldest child of the Inslee family headed off to college in Arizona and the youngest starting 1st grade it was the perfect time to create a family portrait. These are the pivotal times in a family’s history that should be documented. We had a great time photographing them and getting to know the whole family better.

Tags: Boulder, Colorado, Mountain Portrait, portrait, Portrait Photography, summer portraits
Posted in Family 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.

Tags: Alpine, Colorado, Denver, Dog portaits, Family Portrait, Mountain Portrait, Portrait Photography
Posted in Family Portraits, Portraits

Bart and Patty’s whitewater kayaking engagement on Westwater!

04.16.2010 - By Peter
Categories: Destination, Engagement, Portraits
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So how do a guy who owns Golden River Sports, a kayak and fly fishing store in Golden, Colorado and a girl who is a professional kayak guide and instructor with Reniassance Adventure Guides throw an engagement party? They spend two days on the Colorado River running Westwater Canyon with all their best friends!

It was the perfect way to celebrate Bart and Patty’s engagement. This trip consisted of seven rafts, nine kayaks and twenty five people. We spent two days on the river and a night at the Little Dolores Creek confluence camping out next to the river. When I say “camp” you might think freeze dried dinners and water from canteens, but not this crowd. The pork tenderloin was hot, the beer was cold from the keg and the campfire was raging. This was living. An amazing dinner that would make many 4 star restaurants proud to have on the menu. As the sun went down the camp fire stoked up and the party carried on into the night.

This was really fun for Kathy and I to photograph as it was more than an engagement shoot but a journey with a fun adventurous story. It was full of visual content. I loved the colors of the kayaks and rafts on the river and the people with a zeal for life. We took Bart and Patty aside once at camp and used the best natural light of the evening to create portraits that really showed their love for each other and being on the river together. Passions really show through when you get someone into their true place of tranquility. This was really amazing to see them relax from the chaos of loading the boats at the put in to the first little riffles on the river to the larger rapids. The further down the river we went the more they relaxed and got into just being in this beautiful remote environment.

Please watch this video to get a feel for Bart and Patty’s super fun engagement party!

Bart and Patty’s Westwater Engagement weekend from peter Holcombe on Vimeo.