Kathy and I have just returned from shooting Alex and Diana’s engagement session in the Big Apple. It is such an incredible place to photograph with an opportunity for a great image around every corner. I think we walked a thousand miles over the last three days, and loved every second. NYC has so much energy, and something is ALWAYS happening. Alex and Diana lived and met here before moving to London, England. Being the location of much of their courtship, NYC was the natural choice for their engagement session. We had a great time following them through their past looking at their apartments, favorite hang outs and learning about their experience living in the big apple.  I feel like we found the essence of their engagement in this place. As I look through the images preparing to start designing their engagement storybook I see so much emotion. I am so inspired by many of my clients: their energy, passion, lust for life and willingness to share a few of these moments with me and my camera is what it is all about.  I am really looking forward to Alex and Diana’s Wedding this 5th of July. Thanks for a wonderful experience! 

We had just returned from our destination portrait weekend in Death Valley, CA and received a call to photograph the Ciero family in Beaver Creek.  They were flying in from Miami for a week of skiing and Colorado fun and wanted to have a family portrait made for their Christmas card.   Take note to all who read this, IT IS NOT TOO EARLY TO CREATE YOUR 2008 CHRISTMAS CARDS!  We normally would have been booked on such short notice but had planned a couple of days to catch up after two weeks out of the office.

It is always a great time to go up to Beaver Creek, especially in the spring. We captured the Ciero’s family portrait at the base of Beaver Creek and then I went along to capture them at the ice skating rink. It was so fun in the nice warm spring weather with them zooming by on ice skates. I love capturing moments like this - there is so much to photograph and everyone is so natural and just having fun. 

They called back the next day to see if I could come back up and capture some snowboarding and that they really liked the idea of creating a book to remember this great time. So I headed back up to Beaver Creek, brought my skis and was ready to shoot on the slopes. We had great weather again and had a blast on the mountain. What a treasure these images will be as the kids grow up and life gets more complicated with collage and then careers - they will be able to relive this time in there lives forever. 

I had a great time getting to know this family and the Ciero’s already have plans to return to Beaver Creek for Christmas this year. Maybe we can make the next Christmas card and capture that adventure as well…..   

Click here to see the Ciero family vacation storybook.

Finally we are in Death Valley at a far off the beaten path place called the Racetrack Playa. This is very far from anywhere closely resembling convenient. It is one of the most spectacular places I have ever been. I first ventured here after seeing a picture online of these mysterious moving rocks. They crept all over this vast dry lake bed, leaving their trail in the dirt showing their passage. Some of these trails were hundreds of yards long until they faded into the dry cracked mud. From that first visit and through several others I always wanted to find an adventurous client to bring out here for a portrait session. 

We have scheduled this as a location for a “Destination Portrait Weekend” last year and no one was brave enough for the Death Valley experience. This year, that all changed. Once we posted this as an option again, Jesse and Linnea were very interested and wanted more info on this strange place in the Mojave Desert. Once it was explained they were totally onboard. 

We met out at the Racetrack in the afternoon and photographed till almost dark. It was so fun for me to finally have my vision for their portraits come full circle. I was creating images I’d dreamed of four years prior. This is one of the most invigorating feelings as an artist. I have so many ideas locked in my head waiting for the right circumstances to bring them to life. It was now near sunset and I had another idea I’d dreamed of, to photograph a bride in this environment. Linnea went back to the RV to change into her wedding dress that she brought from Colorado. I then spent another hour photographing Linnea in her dress on the massive dry lake bed. As it started getting dark the sky turned a dark cobalt blue with a rim of black mountains. This was a stark contrast to her glowing white wedding gown. I hope this was as great an experience to Jesse and Linnea as it was for me. 

The next day we photographed in another part of the park. This was a mountainous area that looked much like what I imagine the moon to be like. We used many features from giant boulders and flash flood eroded canyon walls to hillsides of Turquoise. Jesse and Linnea have told me they had a wonderful time and thanks for taking them to somewhere they would have never gone otherwise.  

We still have some openings for other destination weekends later this year. see the previous blog posts for more info on that. 

Thanks again Jesse and Linnea for your adventurous spirit and fun, relaxed attitude. I think your love really shows in these images. 

   Click here to see Jesse and Linnea’s engagment storybook.

      
We got a window put in our van this morning and we are now rollin’ to Death Valley just over the California line from Vegas in our rental R.V. This is a 24 foot, six sleepin’, water runnin’, toilet flushin’, shower havin’, microwave nukin’, crusin’ home on wheels. This is going to be a great help in shooting Jesse and Linnea’s engagement session on the far side of no where (that’s past the middle of nowhere). It is going to be great to spend time on location and not have to do the LONG (100 mile) drive back and forth to the nearest hotel. It will also be great to have a place for them the change clothes and do touchups to hair and makeup. We are also going to be shooting a bridal session with Linnea and having a place for her to get in her wedding dress will be great. Kathy and I feel spoiled and Abby our three year old daughter thought it was great that we could drive around in this house. Here is an image from the first nights parking/camping lit by full moon on a dry lake bed just over the CA state line.

We had just finished our convention (WPPI) in Las Vegas. As we packed up the bags in our hotel room in Bally’s, we get a call from the hotel security. “Do you own a gray Honda Van” the security guard on the other end of the phone asks? Kathy replies ”yes”. “It has been broken in to, you might want to get down to the parking garage” the guard said. This is a terrible feeling. We suddenly do a mental inventory of the contents of the van - What might had been taken… We had taken all the “essential and expensive” photography equipment into our room.  I quickly made my way to the parking garage to find two very nice guards waiting. The passenger side window had been smashed and glass had exploded inside the van and all over the cement below. The power cord to our GPS unit hung over the sharp edge where our window once was. On closer inspection the glove box was open as well. All in all, we got off really easy. Two iPods and two GPS units were taken. One iPod was my newest and featured many movies for my daughter to help her pass the time on this long road trip. The worst was my old GPS that had so many amazing locations that I had or was going to return to photograph in. I had collected these locations over the last eight years. I can remember many of them but others will be very had to find again. Oh well it will be a great new reason to explore to find better locations to take my clients to create images in. I am normally very diligent about getting things of value out of sight when parking but I guess the iPod was in plain sight and it was too much of a temptation for someone. Sometimes Vegas doesn’t seem so fabulous contrary to my last post…….

We are in Vegas at the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) Convention. Kathy, Kim our Director of Marketing and her husband Lucas and I have had a great week of learning and camaraderie with photographers from all over the world. We are off to Death Valley, CA tomorrow to get ready to shoot Linnea and Jessie’s Engagement sessions over the weekend. Check back soon for an unusual view of this session. 

New York City, NY- May 1-5

 We are so excited to add New York City to our list of destination portrait locations for 2008!  Imagine creating beautiful images running through the streets of New York - hanging out in Times Square, window shopping on 5th Avenue, a picnic in Central Park, an evening on Broadway, and beyond.  We are only offering 3 sessions in this fabulous location!  Call today to book your session and document your experience in the Big Apple!

Our Fine Art Destination Portraiture series offers families and couples the opportunity to escape everyday reality to a variety of scenic locations and capture the tranquility that accompanies a relaxing vacation in one of our Fine Art Portraits. Sessions are extremely limited; so call today to guarantee that your family will be immortalized in paradise with a Fine Art Portrait by Peter Holcombe Photography.

March:

Las Vegas, NV. March 21-22

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, as long as you don’t do it during your photo shoot. Vegas offers so much fun and opportunity for energy filled portraits. We did 3 separate shoots in Vegas last year and had to make this open to the destination portrait weekends. Opportunities in Vegas are the obvious places along the strip but also the Vegas sign yard (where all the old Vegas neon signs are stored) and Red Rocks recreation area for desert beauty.

Only 4 sessions available.

Death Valley National Park, CA. March 23-24

We will be shooting on the Racetrack Playa; this is a little known area but is famous for it walking rocks. Yes, rocks that mysteriously move across the huge dry lakebed leaving tracks in the dirt. It is a very unusual environment. The stark isolation will create an amazing juxtaposition for a portrait.

 Only 4 sessions available.

Special: any bride willing to bring their wedding dress for an extended session will receive a FREE 30×40 portrait from this special shoot an $800 value. This is a personal project Peter is doing for an upcoming book and he needs models.

Zion National Park, Utah, March 28-30  

Less than a three-hour drive from Las Vegas, Zion is a treasure trove of canyon-land beauty. A portrait session here will be unlike like anything previously imagined. Giant soaring red rock cliffs, roaring rivers, some of the most sought after slot canyons in the world create just a few of the possibilities. This session is definitely for the more adventurous, but won’t disappoint. Plush accommodations can be had 10 minutes outside the park in Springdale UT, not to mention the best burritos on the planet.

Only 4 sessions available

May: 

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, May 14-16

Another new location for 2008, this is a beauty right in our backyard.

These giant sand dunes rise hundreds of feet out of the San Luis valley creating an immense variance of form and light. We will be hiking into the dunes for portraits on and around these giants.

June:

Vail, Colorado, June 13-15

This is a proven favorite close enough to the Front Range to be a day trip, although summer time in Vail can be a relaxing fun filled experience. We will be photographing in and around Vail at some of our favorite spots. Mountains, lakes, rivers, and in town for a more mountain urban feel.

Only 4 sessions available.

October:

Redstone, CO, October 3-6

This is the most popular so call soon as this books up every year. We have searched far and wide for the best fall color in Colorado, and Redstone tops our list. Redstone is a quaint artist community with a wonderful historic inn and several art galleries featuring sculptures using pure white marble from a nearby quarry. It is nestled in a valley carved by the turquoise waters of the Crystal River, and offers breathtaking scenery from every angle.

Only 8 sessions are available.

February 2009

Costa Rica, February 19-22

We will experience the beaches and jungles of this diverse country. Tropical waterfalls, roaring white water rivers, serene beaches with white sand and palm trees are just a few of the options for Costa Rica. Make this a well-deserved tropical getaway in the midst of the winter months. I am really excited for this one, as it is one of my favorite places to visit. Frontier Airlines has a direct flight from Denver making this easy and affordable.

Only 3 sessions are available.

Kathy and I just returned from the Senior Portrait Artist (SPA) convention in Tucson, AZ.

This is a convention for photographic artist specializing in high school seniors.

It was really great to be in the sunny-warm desert. This convention is different than most in that they supply models that are high school seniors from all over the country. We got to run wild having group photo shoots trying all the latest techniques in fashion and portrait photography.

We came home to new snow and temps in the teens, come on spring…

..

 Click here to see more of our current senior work

Another cold winter day in Denver but even the arctic air couldn’t cool Adam and Tiffanies love.

I really mean this! Adam was one of the most excited grooms of the year, and was full of nervous energy as Tiffanie approached him from behind for their first encounter. I really love capturing the energy when a couple meets for the first time on their wedding day, especially when it is just the two of them and they are free to be themselves and embrace the emotion of the moment; it is what this day is all about!

 Adam and Tiffanie had their wedding at Trinity Church in down town Denver. An amazing remnant of architecture with a modern city of skyscrapers towering overhead. What an interesting juxtaposition of old and new.

You can’t go wrong with a party at the Brown Palace, a Denver landmark associated with the finest quality. We really had a great time photographing in and around the Brown Palace with its endless supply of interesting architecture. Our two hours alone with Adam and Tiffanie seemed to fly by. The reception was a great time for all featuring a mashed potato bar served in Martini glasses, a festive Brown palace tradition.  I wish Adam and Tiffanie the best. 

Click here to see Adam and Tiffanie’s wedding day storybook.