Cocetti Girls- Daniel's Park

The Cocetti's are one of those families you wish you could have been born into, or at least marry into! They are close, they are fun, they are Italian (YES!) and they make some AWESOME wine (Grape Feet Red anyone?!) I met David Cocetti while pouring some of his wine at Highlands Wineseller awhile back and I just fell in love with his whole family. When I needed a young woman for some photo ideas, I thought his beautiful daughter Tanisha would be the perfect fit. We actually never met until the shoot, but with all the texting and facebooking we'd been doing, I felt like I already knew her! Her lovely mom, Barbara joined us later on and I can honestly say, I haven't laughed so hard in a LONG time.

Tanisha, you are truly beautiful. You have a sparkle to you that I just love. Your smile and your eyes are so gorgeous, I thought they might break my camera. As if that weren't enough, your inner beauty shines just as bright. It was a pleasure getting to know you and photograph you. Barbara, you are so much fun and I can tell what a great mom you must be from the wonderful daughter you have raised. Thank you guys, it was a blast.

Tanisha rocked her old prom dress like a supermodel.

Gorgeous...simply stunning.

I want to bring Tanisha with me on all future photo shoots to teach people how to pose.

The Lovely Barbara!

My favorite one of the day!

Cocetti Girls Teaser

I wish I had time to edit all of these tonight and put them up...but there are too many good ones and not enough time. Tanisha rocked it. Here's a little sample!

My Big Secret

It's been difficult, but I've held it in. And now it's almost time to reveal it. I know, the suspense must be killing you! Let's just say I've been working on something that I am very excited about and that I can't wait to see come to fruition. Something that has been fun, difficult, and totally worth it. It involves me, and 6 other photographers that I have the utmost respect and admiration for. And besides being awesome photographers, they are some of the best people I know. I'd like to take a moment to introduce them to you so that when the secret is out, you'll have some background on all of them. The are in alphabetical order because I love them all equally =)

Jess Apostle- This girl e-mailed me out of nowhere and has been nothing but sweet, positive and helpful. She lives in Ft. Collins and is an amazing wedding and lifestyle photographer.


Mike Buchanan- Mike was in my graduating class. Honestly, I don't think we ever had any classes together, but we were always friendly. He is an awesome dude with one of the sweetest wives around, as well as a dang good photographer in the San Jose area.

Abriana Chilelli- Abriana knows Jess. When Jess told her to contact me about this project, she did. And she totally rocks. She's originally an east-coaster like me, but now lives in the Ft. Collins area as well. She specializes in children and family photography.


Ashley Maxwell- Hands down the most influential photographer in my life thus far. I can't even describe to you how beautiful her images are. She and her husband Jason just opened their own studio in Willow Glen and they rock. We met in yearbook in high school and Ashley is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. RALLY!

Delbarr Moradi- Another yearbook buddy of mine. My high school sure turned out a lot of photographers! Delbarr is intelligent and classy, but also has a killer sense of humor. Oh, and she is insanely creative. She and her hubby run a design company in the San Fran area. They also rock.

Kym Vitar- You all know Kym by now, since I am always blogging about her! Another Valley High School graduate turned photographer, Kym is fun, sweet and a wonderful mama. All that, and she's a wonderful photographer as well in the LA area.

So, you can see what kind of caliber I am working with here. I couldn't be more excited. My secret should be out of the bag by next week and I'll be sure to let you know when it is!

The Witsell Family- DEKOEVEND PARK

I have had the pleasure of working with Bridget at the Highlands Wineseller for almost 3 years now. Not only is she my coworker, but she is also my friend. My girls adore her, and I think it's safe to say the feeling is mutual!

Bridget has two boys of her own, Kellen and Ryan. Since Ryan is about to graduate, I thought it would be a good time to snap a few photos of them. As you can imagine, the boys were not super excited about doing a photo shoot, but they were good sports and we had fun (especially when Evan put on some music!).

It was one of the gloomiest days I've ever seen and I was just praying it would not rain during our shoot. Thankfully, it did not! Bridget had a spot in mind at the gorgeous Dekoevend Park where she runs on a regular basis. I love it when my clients pick their own spot, and I especially love it when they are as beautiful as this one!

Boys, thank you for putting up with us. I promise in a few years you'll be glad you did it. Bridget, you are one of the classiest ladies I know. I hope you guys enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Couldn't have asked for a better model or a more beautiful background!

 Bridget and Kellen

Bridget and Ryan

My favorite one!

The Witsell Family- Sneak Peak

Here is a teaser for you Bridget! I'll have the full post up in a day or two.

April Showers Bring...

Well, you know the rest. Though I know rain is a good thing, it is definitely a downer when you have an outdoor photo shoot planned. Since I'm not sure if it will clear up by then or not, I decided to post something a little Spring-ier.

Out of nowhere it seems, flowers have been blooming all over my neighborhood. I just had to get my camera out and shoot a few. Hope they brighten your day.

Piet & Cindy- Just For Fun- Red Rocks Ampitheater

My family has known Piet for MANY years. Almost two years ago, he married his lovely wife, Cindy. Luckily, they live close by and they are very adventurous, so I thought Red Rocks would be the perfect spot to shoot.

Some very menacing thunderclouds hung overhead as we drove, but thankfully the sun stayed out and we were able to roam all over. Piet and Cindy have a wonderful sense of humor, as you can see from a few of the "goofier" shots. We had a great time and even got to see some pretty cool wild animals up close and personal.

Thanks Piet and Cindy, you guys were excellent models!

Our little animal friends...can you see them all?

Oh my goodness Cindy...you can WORK it girl!

Here's some of the goofiness I was talking about.

Rockin' the cowboy hats...love it.

Did I mention Piet is a male model? ;)

Such a beautiful couple.

Piet & Cindy- Red Rocks Sneak Peak

Just a sneak peak for you all of our friends Piet and Cindy at Red Rocks. I'll have the full post up in a few days.

Getting Jiggy with My Macro Lens

Na na na na na na na....oh sorry, the title of this blog took me to a happy place where Big Willy Style's all in it. Don't judge.

Anyway, today I decided to get to know my macro lens better. I've used it before, but this time I just walked around my house and randomly shot some things. It can really get addicting after awhile!

 

Ummm...YUM. These are a fortunate leftover from my photo shoot with Kym Vitar. They tempted me for days.

This makes me feel so calm and peaceful...even though green tea is full of caffeine.



































Bella has the darkest eyes I've ever seen. When she was a baby they looked black.

Betcha can't guess what this is! Evan just brewed his first batch of beer. It was a pretty stinky process.

If you have a macro lens, or even just a point and shoot with a macro setting (it's the picture of the little flower on your dial) I encourage you to try it out. Try some funky angles on regular household items and see what you can come up with!

Photo Shoot With the Lovely Kym Vitar

Kym and I went to high school together in California. By some weird twist of fate, her best friend (who also went to our high school) lives about an hour away from me here in Colorado. When Kym told me she was flying out to see her best bud, I immediately booked her for a family session!

Being a photographer, you'd think I have a lot of pictures of my family. But, sadly  Evan and I have none of us with ALL of the girls. And we don't have any of just us to speak of either. To say this session was long overdue is an understatement!

We decided to go to Daniel's Park, which is absolutely gorgeous. We had beautiful weather, albeit a little windy. I had spent hours agonizing over what we should all wear, which of course was silly because in the end I ended up finding something right at my local Target (pronounce tar-jay for added effect).

You'd also think that since I take pictures, it would be easy and quick to have my photos taken. Au contraire my friends. I was like one of those annoying clients who doesn't know how or where to stand, and who stands behind the photographer and tries to get her kids to smile by making stupid faces. Clearly I belong behind the camera, bossing my clients around =) Luckily, Kym is a highly skilled professional and was able to tame my craziness. I haven't seen all the photos yet, but what I have seen is gorgeous. Thank you my friend, come back and visit soon!

 www.kymvitarphotography.com

Evan Almighty

Life is a funny thing. If you had asked me a year ago what I'd be doing in April of 2010, photographing people with my husband Evan assisting me would not have even been ON the list. Yet, here we are (and I am so thankful!)

As an ode to my wonderful hubs, I give you some highly unattractive photos of me taken by Evan himself. Don't get me wrong, it's not his fault they're unattractive- photographers just do not put themselves in "pretty" positions most of the time. And I DID ask him to photograph me while I was taking pictures, so I guess I asked for it. I think he did a pretty good job of capturing the bossy, demanding photographer that is me ;)

This one's not too bad. Am I taking a picture, or just pretending to? The world will never know...

I like to call this one Crouching Erin, hidden Evan.

Here's me bossing Angie and Neal around. Angie looks like she wants to fight me. I'm 99.5% sure she could take me.

Ok, I'm pretty sure Evan took this by mistake. I mean, it couldn't possibly have been that he got bored of my incessant bossiness and was distracted by this awesome bike, right?  That's what I thought.

Ummm...I'm not sure what to say about this one except that I am pretty much a midget.

I actually like this one. So I think I'll end here, on a high note. A big thank you to Evan. Without him this enlightening post would not have been possible.

Downtown Littleton, CO- The Jack/ Mainville Family

It was one of those days when I consider myself so lucky to be able to do what I do. It was in the seventies, sunny with a little breeze and Evan had the day off. He and I headed to Downtown Littleton to shoot Angie, Neal and Sidney, three of our good friends. It is Angie and Neal's one-year anniversary and they told me they didn't really have any professional photos of all of them together. I was honored to be the first to capture them!

If you've never been to Downtown Littleton, I highly recommend it. There are so many cute little shops, great textured buildings and one of the coolest costume shops we've ever seen, Reinke Brothers.

It took a bit for my models to loosen up in front of the camera (as it does pretty much everyone except for Matt!) but before long the girls were WORKIN' IT! Evan was there to second shoot and he got some great shots as well. And some not-so-great shots of me taking pictures. I'll get him back later.

I am thrilled with how everything came out. Angie, you are the most photogenic person I know...what a SMILE! And Sidney, your poses were perfect. Neal, you were a good sport being a male model for the day...you did great!  It must be tough having such an attractive family.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the day:

I love Neal's hat!

Can't you just feel the love?

Sidney was a natural. I barely had to tell the girl what to do...look out Tyra Banks!

Thank you guys, I hope I captured how wonderful I think you all are!