T5 Photography

It was 6am in October and I woke up to a text message from my sister, Sara. Sara and her husband, Jeff are pretty much the best people ever and they travel the world. They are the reason why my wife and I have a huge love of traveling and we traditionally have always been looking forward to “the next trip” with them… then we had kids and the game changed. Don’t get me wrong, we still travel, but we hadn’t both been out of the country together since our first child was born in August of 2014. So when I leaned over and read the message from Sara asking if we wanted $400 round trip tickets to Paris, a rush of excitement was then followed the harsh reality that it probably wasn’t going to happen. Especially since Sara told us it was a limited offer and we would need to decide within the next 8 hours.

It’s fall of 2005 and I am a senior in high school and captain of the baseball team and as a senior you’re supposed to pick a freshman baseball player to keep under your wing… and haze, unfortunately. Teenagers are the friggin worst and I was no different. My freshman was Charlie Scheuber. I must of not been that big of a jerk to him in high school because he called me once he got engaged for me to potentially be his wedding photographer. So, I set up a meeting over drinks to see Charlie again and to meet his fiance, Jacki.

Sometimes you don't need an excuse like a wedding or engagement to do a photoshoot. Sometimes all you need are some beautiful people, a fun idea, and some well, fun. I have a lot of beautiful and fun friends but Tamsen and Alyssa might just take the cake... or cotton candy and popcorn on this occasion. 

It's a pretty unique thing when your best friend meets someone and falls in love, then that person becomes one of your best friends too. I usually start out with a blog by mentioning that the couple I'm writing about is a friend, but Chuck and Eliza are way more than friends... they're my family. Not by blood but by choice. These two incredible people make my life shine so much brighter, I choose to call them family. 

If you've read my blog or know me personally, you'd know that I like to travel. Sometimes, I think I need to travel outside my home state to consider it "traveling". I couldn't be more wrong. Colorado has so much to offer and when it comes to Telluride, CO... it might just be my favorite city in all of Colorado. I brought along my wife and son on the trip and as we approached the city, we had a REAL conversation about moving there. We're not FYI. If you haven't been, go. Like, now.. it really is that amazing. Telluride and all of the surrounding areas makes me feel like I'm in the sound of music. I might just start singing. "The hills are alive....."

I met Rikki and Rian this last fall. They live in Portland, OR (my hometown) and Rikki works with my wife at Comcast. They took a chance at having a photographer from a different state capture their engagement and wedding photos because they said they "wanted to support someone they knew personally." I liked them already. Being from Portland gave us a chance to have something in common right off the bat but before I flew out to PDX to capture their engagement session, I truly had no idea what kind of friendship laid ahead.

I love to travel and I've thought about going to Cuba for a long time. The culture, music, sights, colonial buildings, the people... I could go on and on. The country did not disappoint. I got back a week ago and I can't wait for the next trip there. I don't know when but I will be going back one day. It was important to me to go now because the resorts and American money are literally laying in wait which will more than likely take away from the beautiful culture... in my opinion.

So, I'm back in Denver but my mind is still in Costa Rica. So much sympathy from you all, I know. I'm writing this blog in particular a little late because I wanted Kristin and Rick's wedding blog to get the priority. That was the whole reason I was out there in the first place so I guess I should post some pictures of them too.

The last few days you've probably seen some blogs and posts from Brian Mallik and I in Costa Rica. Well, the only reason why we were down there in the first place is because two great people fell in love and decided to get married in a pretty rad place, Costa Rica. Meet Kristin and Rick. Kristin was my neighbor when my wife Alysen and I got married in Costa Rica over 4 years ago. She met Rick a few years back and fell in love pretty quickly. I mean, who couldn't love the funny, genuine and positive person that Rick is! I got a text message last June from Kristin saying she was engaged and planning a wedding in Costa Rica... my initial selfish thoughts were if I was going to be able to go. She answered that thought immediately by asking me to shoot the wedding. After hard deliberation of .5 seconds I said yes.

After settling into the villa with everyone, Brian and I went down south about an hour to the trail of the Nauyaca Waterfalls. We drove on the trail until you couldn't drive anymore and then headed up towards the falls. The hike was about 2.5 miles straight up and was arguably the toughest thing I had done since being in Costa Rica. It wasn't the hike itself, although that was tough too. What made the hike tough was the heat. I felt like I had never sweat that much in my whole life. We finally get to the top and there it was... one of the best adventures I'll ever have.

Day 3 in Costa Rica was a little less hectic. Brian and I woke up, drank some coffee, edited some and then the monkeys showed up… They arrive every morning without fail to get their daily rations of bananas and photographs before continuing on their day. They got their fill and with full bellies scurried off. Brian and I then headed out to scout for the portrait session later in the day with Kristin and Rick. We scouted a beach called Playa Biesanz which is much less crowded than the main beach in Manuel Antonio. After we scouted and shot around a bit, we saw some people from the wedding on the beach and we purposefully got distracted with some “Guaro Sours”. Not a bad afternoon to say the least.

My two friends Kristin and Rick and getting married in Manuel Antonio in Central Pacific area of Costa Rica and I'm lucky enough to shoot it. In fact, I'm so lucky, they decided to have a 2nd shooter and I brought the one.. the only... Brian Mallik. Brian and I decided to have a two day adventure before meeting up with everyone back down in Manuel Antonio. We got a little hotel in Alajuela called La Rosa de America and it's rad. At breakfast I remembered how amazing and fresh the fruit is. After a few cups of coffee we headed out to Poas Volcano.

Rikki and Rian are my kind of people. I had determined that before I even met them because we decided on a brewery and wine bar for two of the three locations for their engagement shoot. I like good beer and good wine so we were off to a REALLY good start......

There are a few venues in Colorado that photographers drool over. Devil's Thumb Ranch is one of those venues. When I heard Sarah and Don were getting married there I was doing cartwheels on the inside and then I got to know them a bit and I got even more excited. It's one thing to photograph a wedding at Devil's Thumb, but it's another to photograph awesomely beautiful people at Devil's Thumb.....

This past weekend, I fell in love with an area in our amazing state. Telluride, Colorado to be exact. It is simply jaw dropping how beautiful it is. 360 degrees of pure awesome. A fitting place for Dustin and Taylor to take their engagement photos, given how awesome they are.....

When I found out I would be shooting Jen and Marco's wedding I was excited. When I found out their wedding would be in New York City I started doing cartwheels. As my career has progressed, I've gotten more and more opportunities to use my craft for seeing the world and capturing people's stories. This is awesome. I'm extremely fortunate to have these opportunities and can't wait see where my photography takes me.....