The Steve Z Photography Blog

We started off the day casually with  some getting ready and dress shots.  The Pinnacle Club is the highest public place in Denver and a fantabulous place to have a wedding. As long as you like heights and scenic views of course.

We got everything straightened out in time to do some window portraits . . . yup, it doesn’t get any more classically beautiful than this. This whole wedding was a bit of a departure from my usual outdoorsy style of wedding. So I decided to change up my editing style to honor the tradition and heritage of the culture.

Most of my day was spent shooting in a photojournalist style. Sometimes it’s nice to be there just to observe and capture what is going on. Sometimes it’s a tough call, whether to manipulate and arrange things for a better shot or to sit back and just capture what is going on. On this day it was easy, because there was A LOT going on!

I had all of about 15 minutes to try and get some creative shots of Ali and Noam. I also had the choice of 1) in the lobby or 2) on the street in front of the hotel. I hate choosing so I did both.

The Pinnacle Club encompasses both the 37th and 38th floors. These next two photos were taken on the 37 1/2th floor.

And now finally we get to the long awaited chair dancing! There was moderate singing and dancing throughout the day in the halls, but that was just a warmup for the entire wedding congregation to get on the floor. Noam’s dad Buddy is having a great time right about now!

And here Ali is having a great time, um, of sorts . . . who’s afraid of heights?!?

Then came the part where the bride and groom were seated in chairs, and everyone takes turn dancing before them. I take ‘everyone’ quite literally. Everyone was PSYCHED! William gave me a hug!

We’re going to wind this party down slowly with a little slow dancing by the couple, with Denver far below in the background. Mmmm, that feels good. Until next time . . . Steve Z out.

With the bad joke meter already pegged at 10, we blast off into another episode of the Steve Z Wedding Blog . . .

Christine and Matt got married on July 4th. Matt says that it’s a good day for an anniversary because he won’t be able to forget it. That must have been what my Mom was thinking when she married my step-dad on his birthday!

You’ve seen Matt before on this blog. He was a groomsman in Leah and Matthew’s wedding. You didn’t recognize him because he was wearing a Speedo. He looks even happier now with his girl coming down the aisle.

Well other than that post, both Matt and Tina were posted on this blog after their engagement shoot. I guess I forgot about that one, mostly because the image of the Speedo boys has been burned into my retinas. Ok, I need a new image . . . Christine is yet another hot Boulder triathlon girl. I’m getting a lot of triathlon brides, it seems these guys are snatching them up like they are going out of style. But that’s silly, how can beauty like this ever go out of style?

Maybe in LA they will figure out a way. But here in Boulder, we like it fit and natural. And the Red Lion in has a scenic, outdoor ceremony and reception location. I love a venue where I can take a wide angle ceremony shot.

The Red Lion is right on Boulder Creek, just a little ways out of town. It was smokin’ hot, but we had some nice shade to shoot underneath.

And even shadier than that was the tunnel underneath the roaring highway, next to the roaring river. It wasn’t nearly as shady as my humor, however. See, look in their eyes, they are clearly laughing at me, I can tell.

And even funnier than that, is playing with big gobs of whipped cream. There were lots of people having a great time in the reception tent. I was one of them!

But it wasn’t all goofing around . . . Matt and Tina revealed some serious top secret dance move training for their first dance. I love this image, Matt is like, “Yeah baby, I’m the man, and I can twirl you all night long!”

We’ll wrap things up with a little long exposure night shot looking back up at the Inn from Boulder Creek. Silky.

Hey everyone, thanks for checking out the pics, and double thanks if you even bothered to read all this jibber jabber! Finally we have a slideshow with a lot more photos. Check it out! Until next time . . . Steve Z over and out.

View Christine and Matt’s Wedding Slideshow on its own page by clicking here.

Heather and Jim are the raddest wedding clients you can get. Heather and I have spent many late nights sending late night emails around. It’s cool when your clients become your friends as well. We shot our engagement shoot way back in October when the maples were in full color at the Mapleton school. You can view those photos HERE.

I had tons and tons of time to shoot the ‘Getting Ready’ portion of this wedding. What a luxury to not have to run around like a crazy person and squeeze these shots in as an after thought. Extra time pays dividends: check out these sweet detail shots of the rings and the dress. Shots like this take more time than you might expect, mostly because I’m a crazy stubborn perfectionist when it comes to these things. The MOB was overheard at the reception saying, ” . . . and he treated those rings like people.”

There was also plenty of time for a girl party in the bridal suite. Champagne, dancing on the beds, singing into makeup dispensers . . . good times!

I really dug the interior of the historic Hotel Boulderado. You just can’t duplicate the style, heritage, and quality of the furnishings from previous times in history. The red velvet led me to style the entire wedding slideshow with this desaturated reddish look. No, it’s not done yet, look for that coming soon.

The ceremony was held in the landing that overlooks the lobby. It was quite a unique shooting experience, I’ll say that much!

For our portrait session we headed out to two locations. The first was one of the historic old churches in downtown Boulder. I like columns.

Jim, being the real estate mogul that he is, got a hold of a 1930something Chrysler Airflow limousine from Tebo . This was my second restored classic car of the season, and the color even matched the maroon in the Bridal Suite! I talked the driver into taking this beast to the top of a parking garage which was the best place I could think of to get some scenic shots. The car almost didn’t start, almost didn’t make the corners, and almost didn’t have the brakes to get down, but we made it back safe and sound. Yes, I’m always pushing the limits of what I can get away with!

The reception rocked out with a bluegrass band. My favorite was the Journey cover. I think it was Heather’s favorite too! Normally I don’t bust out my falsetto at paid gigs . . . but I’m a kid from the 80s.

One of my favorite parts of the reception is getting down low and shooting pictures of all the little rockers on the dance floor. How cute are these guys? Seriously.

Alright well that wraps up another blog entry from Steve Z’s world. Thanks for reading.

How do you know if you have all of the elements of an uber-Boulder Engagement Portrait Session? Let’s see, first off, you HAVE to have a smiling portrait in front of the Flatirons . . . bonus points if it is NOT taken from the worn out rock or the fence at Chautauqua Park.

Next up the couple should be dressed as casually as possible. Flip-flops? Affirmative.

Do you have action sports involved? Are beers being consumed and technical prowess being displayed?

Do both the gal AND the guy have shaved legs?

Does the girl have legs of steel that are still all pumped up from the day’s triathlon training?

Yessir, these guys are WAY Boulder, and so am I, so we had a good old time riding cruisers and drinking barley sodas on the bike path. Jason owns Pedal Pushers Cyclery down in Denver. He actually found me from my other blog, and the photos that I posted from the State Cyclocross race in Lyons. I shot a picture of Whiskey Dave that Dave linked to on his blog . . . and Jason knows him . . . and you get the idea. Bike brothers keepin’ it real.

OK so I can’t have a photo shoot that is typical or ordinary so I have to interject some of my unique style at this point! Swirly, twirly, blurriness. Yee-ha!

“Hey Katie, now why don’t you blow this Dandilion of Death into Jason’s face?”

Well thanks for tuning in, I’ll leave with a nice romantic lake by the mountain landscape black and white image. Awwww . . .

I photographed my first church wedding of the year at the Mountain View United Methodist Church down in south Boulder. The building is pretty impressive, I enjoyed the tall ceiling a lot and the air conditioning even more!

Victoria and Rick held a beautiful small ceremony in the company of their close family and friends. Afterwards we headed out for a couples’ wedding portrait session with some good ol’ Boulder scenery. I tried out a new location near the South Boulder Rec Center.

There was some nice variety of outdoor scenic terrain not too far from the church. Mountains, trees, clouds, a lake and bridge; and of course piles of goose poop which made for tricky wedding dress navigation.

Thanks guys, enjoy the memories!

Here is one more image from that last engagement shoot. I originally didn’t include this one because I found some of the train cars in the background ugly. But, I like the composition of the diverging train tracks. Anna’s brother liked the photo as well, and asked for it to be Artistically Mastered.

I’ve been drawn to textured images for a while now. I haven’t been posting any or working with the technique much, since it is really popular right now. I’m not sure of the longevity of photos like this, and whether the look will stand the test of time. Still, I enjoy the moodiness that it can create. What do you think?

And after Anna’s chiding, I’ve gone and done a second one, just because I’m enjoying the experiment.