Part of the appeal of being a location portrait photographer is finding new, creative places to shoot. I enjoy the challenge inherent in discovering compelling scenery, interesting buildings, and unusual props to add visual interest to my portraits. Boulder is not a huge town, so I often venture beyond the city limits to achieve this. I’m usually looking for somewhere that I can combine Colorado mountain scenery with unexpected architecture and buildings that allow me to use light as a powerful element in the portrait.

Tracy and Cotton were up for the adventure of having their engagement photos taken in an unknown location, so we headed out to a rustic farm north of town. My two favorite spots were the grain silo and the barn. The radial symmetry of the silo combined with a super wide 14mm lens created a very striking composition. Inside the barn, the sunlight streamed in through cracks in the vertical wood siding, allowing me to play with different light and shadow patterns. The trick was to balance off camera lighting so the couple was illuminated without losing the shadows.

In addition to the architecture on the farm,  I also captured some of the beauty of the Front Range mountains in the evening with a scenic landscape image that will look great on the cover of their Guest Signing Album. It’s also important to bring in some humor and unplanned action into a shoot, so I included an image of the goat petting session. What’s an engagement shoot without farm animals anyway?

Hello there and welcome to a new year of fantabulicous photography action with Steve Z! We’ll be kicking off 2010 with some Boulder engagement photos with Caitlin and Phill. We shot at Settlers Park in the Red Rocks Trail area since it is a great location for year round shooting.

Here we have Zulu, looking quite handsome with steely blue eyes. There is nothing cooler than having a name that starts with Z.

And no engagement shoot would be complete with out my signature weird tilt shift photo.  There was quite a setup to get this photo, including off camera lighting at the center of the tree.  Not to mention the perils of the invasive Russian Olive Tree . . . thorns!

And here they are, up close and personal. I’m looking forward to the wedding and having some fun up in Winter Park in July!