The Steve Z Photography Blog

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!

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.

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!

Now it is time for my annual Fall family portrait shoot where we play with leaves in the backyard! It is definitely one of my favorite shoots of the year, because there is no better way to not feel like a kid yourself than to be buried in a leaf pile by a two year old.  That musty leaf smell brings back memories.   Thanks to the Lutt family for such a wonderful day!

It has been a while since I have updated the blog, but has not been for a lack of photo shoots! I’ve been busy capturing fall portraits under the leaves and in the studio. So we will have quite a few new posts coming in the next couple weeks. I can’t hide that it has been a while since this shoot with all of the green leaves on the trees The tree canopy of Ebin G. Fine Park provides some cover from the hard light of summer, and the playground and creek offer plenty of exploring opportunities for toddlers. Thanks for the great shoot Faulkners!

Now that the wedding season is winding down, I’ve been enjoying a change of pace with my photography work.  I’ve been having a great time working on the portrait side of the business.  Today we have some fun shots taken from a shoot with the Maloney Family.  I enjoy taking spontaneous and creative photos that capture the essence of who these girls are at this point in their lives.  Milk mustaches are cool!

The results of this capturing of these little characters runs the full gamut.  From a young girl busting out her best senior portrait pose at age 9, to another child in the midst of an uncooperative meltdown at age 4!  I love the pouty face behind the horse; it cracks me up every time!

Another great thing is shooting in the middle of a favorite activity!  When the paints come out there is certainly going to be fun to be had!

Especially when we get to face paint on Mom!  Now here is something that doesn’t happen every day, that’s for sure!

Finally we have an action sequence of a cartwheel.  I love motion and spontaneity!