The Steve Z Photography Blog

I’m off to Mexico.  Check ya in 3 weeks. I have access to the interwebz. The Dark Side Blog will rise again.

It was boiling over Houston . . .

. . . then into the calm of Mexico . . .

This portrait session features images taken from my preferred view of the Flatirons in South Boulder, and one fantabulous family. We organized what was to be my last shoot for 2009 as a brother-sister reunion Christmas gift for their mom.  The ‘Boulder is a small town’ portion of the story, is that I originally met Brandy at the 303 Vodka headquarters right here in Boulder, Colorado.  Conveniently located next to my friends at Green Guru, the manufacturing facility was the perfect warm up spot for a couple of the Cruiser Rides this summer!

John Albers is the Executive Director of the American Animal Hospital Association here in Colorado. He contacted me for some professional business portraits that were a little more interesting photographically than your standard studio headshot. We chose the urban landscape of Downtown Denver and the inside of the Colorado Convention Center as the backdrops. I brought along some studio lighting so that everyone on the street knew that I was serious. Well, not really. I brought the location off camera lighting setup so that I was assured to have great light no matter what background I chose. But the first reason sounds funnier to me right now. A blend of serious and silly: Steve Z Photography. There you have my marketing slogan for the day!

Like many of us in Boulder, Chautauqua Park holds a special place for the Ganey Family. We scored a perfect day in late fall with sunshine and a temperature near 60 degrees.  We started off with an attempt at a human toboggan, but there wasn’t quite enough snow to pull it off.

Dawson shows his many sides: On the left: Super Model Dawson shows off his Blue Steel look.  He says that Magnum is almost ready, but he can’t unleash the beast until he’s tamed it. On the right: Strictly Business Dawson -there’s a tree that needs climbing, and he is just the man for the job. Just keep your camera out of the way, buddy.

What are those memories that you remember longingly from your childhood?  I’d have to say that roughhousing and playing in the leaves probably rank pretty highly on a lot of peoples’ lists.  I love this shot, it is a true captured moment.  A split second of time that tells an entire story.

A classic fall day in Boulder is the perfect time for a little Engagement portrait action. Jacqui, Dan, and I took off around downtown, and what we came up with was blend off fun, some tilt-shift, and just a touch of weird (it is me, after all).

We just happened upon this double swing. I love their expressions in the photo on the right.

Just another gorgeous blue sky, and the view from a parking deck downtown.

The color of the wall is killer, topped off by Jaqui’s killer posing.

Yeah…so I’m a little weird…you know I’m a nerd for some sweet tilt-shift radness.

The leaves had mostly fallen off the trees, but I found a little patch in the parking lot of a bank!  A little low angle perspective and no one will know the difference!  Thanks guys, and I hope you have a great wedding!

Fall is a popular time of year for family portraits!  For this shoot I traveled down to Arvada to the Ingalls’ home for a session with 15 month old Wyatt.  The family home is in horse country, and Wyatt is getting ready for some rustlin’ in the near future

Wyatt was quite a busy little toddler, toddling his way all around the yard playing with his favorite things. He was quite challenging to get to look at the camera for the famous Holiday Card shot, but he was no match for 5 frames per second of camera shooting speed.

For a parting shot, I have a funny little sequence. Wyatt was pretty intent on holding rocks and sticks for most of the shoot. While trying to take some portraits, he was very pleased at his ability to chuck rocks at the photographer.  This was almost a very expensive shot!